Q. I’m writing on behalf of my father. He has a detached house in an estate. Many years ago, there was an alley between his house and his neighbour’s house that led to another part of the estate. That alley was closed up about 40 years ago, leaving a strip of footpath that led to a brick wall between their houses. About 10 years ago he and the neighbor were doing some work and essentially decided to each demolish their own garden walls and build a ‘party’ wall between themselves. They knew well that they didn’t own it, but they didn’t like the ‘blank’ space between the houses. Dad is now worried that it may stand against him if he ever tries to sell the property. Is there anything he should look at doing?
Dear Reader,
The first thing you should do is try to ascertain who actually owns the property. It is possible that it was owned by the developer who originally laid out the estate, or potentially by the local authority.
In general terms, your dad (and his neighbor) might now be able to look for ‘Adverse Possession’ – commonly known as squatters rights’. Your dad and his neighbour would need to prove the possession of the relevant part of the property was continuous and uninterrupted. They must know they did not have the consent of the owner of the land to take over the relevant portion of the property, that is to say that their possession of the property was adverse to the person who actually owned the property. Their possession of the property must also be ‘obvious’.
Your dad and neighbour will need to consider how long they have been in possession of the property. If the property is owned by a local authority (or other State body), he must be in possession for 30 years or more before making the relevant application. If the owner is not a State Body, then he needs only be in occupation for 12 years or more.
If your dad ticks most of those boxes, he will need to gather together evidence as to when the wall was constructed. Ideally, he (or your neighbor) might have access to receipts and drawings. He might potentially have dated photographs of the ‘enlarged’ property.
In order to make the application, he will need to take full advice from his solicitor and obtain a map showing the ‘enlarged’ portion of the property.
It occurs that both your father and his neighbor are in a similar situation and might well be appropriate for them both to make similar applications in similar terms.