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Hello, On the 1st of september 1997 I agreed to rent 3 lockable units and an enclosed yard,I paid the deposit which equated to 2 months rent in advance,I was handed the keys to the units and was told that the rental agreements would be drawn up and deliverd to my place of work. This never happened and in the following 6 months I tried countless times to contact the owner but had no luck.Over the past (nearly 15 years) I have kept the units in a reasonable state of repair and have carried out routine maintainance on the units and the yard,over the last year some of the local residents have mentioned to me that the units are looking shabby and I am aware that 2 of these units require extensive roofing maintainance possibly new roofs.I have contacted the land registry and have paid for the search for title deed and have received the registerd owners details which are not the person I paid the deposit to.my question is do i have a case for ownership by adverse possession,if so what is my next step,as to pay for new roofs I will need to raise money against the property.Alan Plymouth
Optional Information: Province/Country relating to question : Devon uk Already Tried: I have contacted land registry and have paid for a title deed search
Who have you been paying rent to?
I have not paid any rent except for the original deposit in september 1997
Thank you.
I'm afraid that as you entered the property withagreement and that you have been paying rent then you can never have a claimfor adverse possession. Your possession is not adverse because it cannot be ifyou were allowed in. The rule is that the possession must be without consent,not in secret, and without objection.
Unless there is an agreement to the contrary it isusual for the landlord to have to make a building "wind andwatertight"
If you contact the owner to do the repairs the chances are that will wake them up to the fact that you are not paying rent .you do the repairs yourself they may suddenly wake up and decide that they want the property back .there is no magic solution to your problem , sorry .
Can I help further
I would appreciate if you could positively rate myanswer so that I get credit from my time. I get no credit if your rating is"helps a little" or "Expected more". I am happy to answer more.Can I help further?Please bear with me today as I will be on and offline. We are allreal lawyers on here and have clients and court etc to deal with.Please rate my answer positively and I will follow up any points you raise forfree. The thread remains open. ThanksL
could you please expand your answer in relation to 'not in secret' as registerd owner has not consented to me being in the property and the gentleman who i paid the deposit to is untraceable and never gave me a rental aggreement and there has been no objection and no rent paid
I don't know how Ican put it any clearer. You were allowed into the property by the then ownerwho presumably has sold it to someone else. So you moved into the property withconsent. That consent transfers to a new owner. To occupy something in secretis a ground which is very rarely used but would apply if for example you wereto occupy part of the inside lead of an area which, for example had very highfences around it and no one could see you in occupation. Your occupation has tobe open and transparent as yours is. If the original owner was contactable allhe needs to show the fact that you have paid a deposit and that impliesconsent. There is nothing on the fact is you give that even remotely makes methink you are in adverse possession.I'm sorry as Iappreciate that this is probably not the answer that you were looking for butthere is no point in me telling you what to hear I can only tell you how itappears.Please don't forget to positivelyrate my answer or the site keeps yr deposit and I get 0 for my time.I willfollow up any points you raise for free. The thread remains open. Thanks
Experience: PGD Law. 20 years legal profession, 6 as partner in High Street practice
PS I accept that the previous owner is probably not contactable but do bear in mind that you would have to swear on oath that you would never had consent occupy the property and that you were just moved in of your own volition.