Under old law, if a trespasser can show that they had been in adverse possession for 12 years prior to 13 October 2003 then there would be an entitlement to be registered as the proprietor.
The new law requires the applicant to have had ‘reasonable belief’ that the land in question belonged to them.
If the disputed land in next door to the applicant’s own land, there is a ten year limitation period. The makes it harder for the applicant to to succeed because they will have to prove that ‘for at least ten years of the period of adverse possession ending on the date of the application, they (or any predecessor in title) reasonably believed that the land to which the application relates belongs to them’.
