[2025] UKUT 110 (LC)

It appears that, historically, the Privy, the Washhouse and the Ashes Places were facilities used by the residents of at least some of the properties opposite. What rights were enjoyed, and by which properties, is far from clear. Title to the Privy is registered. It was originally part of the same title as No.2 Well Heads which had rights recorded as having been granted in 1928 to use part of the Ashes Places. When No. 3 was first registered in 1987 the Property Register stated that it had the benefit of rights to use the Ashes Places, Privy and Washhouse.

In 1979 the owner of No. 3 Well Heads, Marjorie Lofthouse, purported to assign the benefit of the right to use the Ashes Places, Privy and Washhouse by deed to Roland and Marie Lofthouse who owned and lived at No. 6 Well Heads. Similar deeds of assignment are also said to have been entered into by the then owners of Nos. 4 and 5 Well Heads. At that time Mr Lofthouse operated a car servicing and repair business from Nos. 6 and 12, on which a garage then stood, and from the Washhouse.

Mr Kirkman purchased the Privy, together with Nos. 6 and 12 Well Heads from Mr and Mrs Lofthouse in September 1988. He sold 6 Well Heads almost immediately. In 2022 the Privy and No. 12 were registered in the names of Mr and Mrs Kirkman.

Mr Kirkman did not acquire title to the Washhouse, the outside area or the Ashes Places in 1988. Mr and Mrs Lofthouse did not themselves have title and while they claimed to have been in adverse possession from at least 1979, that was not sufficient to enable them to claim possessory title. When the Privy was sold to Mr Kirkman, Mr Lofthouse made a statutory declaration concerning his acquisition of rights to use the Washhouse and Ashes Places by various assignments and his use of the Washhouse and the outside area.

The respondent’s name suggests that it is a pub company, but it purchased 3 Well Heads in 2019 as a holiday rental property. When Mr and Mrs Kirkman applied for first registration on 21 April 2021 in respect of the whole of the parcel of land shaded yellow on the plan and comprising the Washhouse, the Ashes Places and the outside area (“the Disputed Land”) the respondent objected, on the basis that in its capacity as owner of No. 3 Well Heads it had rights to use the Disputed Land. It did not claim to have any knowledge of the Disputed Land before its acquisition of No. 3, nor did it suggest that its predecessors had used it themselves.