🔒 Intention to Possess: The Legal Battleground of Property Rights

Law Sessions With Jennifer Housen’s Podcast

Subscriber-only episode

We continue our exploration of adverse possession in land law, focusing on the crucial element of intention to possess and examining how it applies in both registered and unregistered land contexts.
• Intention to possess is similar to the intention required to sever a joint tenancy – it concerns the present moment, not future plans
• Paper owners cannot unilaterally impose licenses on adverse possessors as the claimant's state of mind is what matters legally
• The landmark JA Pye Oxford Limited v. Graham case established that factual possession depends on all circumstances and confirmed these principles for agricultural land
• In unregistered land, adverse possession requires 12 years' possession, met occupancy conditions, no disability of the paper owner, and no future interests
• Different adverse possessors can combine their periods of possession in unregistered land, either through succession or when one dispossesses another
• Special rules apply for leasehold properties, with tenants unable to adversely possess demised property during their lease term
• The Crown has special protection requiring 30 years' adverse possession rather than the standard 12
When we return, we'll continue examining the limitations which relate to unregistered land.
💡⚖️ Let’s learn the law together—one session at a time!

Chapters

1. Intention to Possess: The Legal Battleground of Property Rights (00:00:00)

2. Intention to Possess Continued (00:00:10)

3. The Pye Oxford Case Study (00:04:07)

4. Adverse Possession in Unregistered Land (00:08:47)

5. Succession of Adverse Possessors (00:11:02)

6. Leases and Special Circumstances (00:14:22)

7. Episode Closing and Next Steps (00:16:27)