The Supreme Court has today handed down judgment in Brown v Ridley and another [2025] UKSC 7, allowing Mr and Mrs Ridley’s appeal against the decision of the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) and reinstating the decision of the First Tier Tribunal that they should be registered as proprietors of a strip of disputed land in Consett, County Durham on the basis of adverse possession.
In so doing, the Supreme Court has clarified the period during which an applicant relying upon the boundary condition in paragraph 5(4) of Schedule 6 to the Land Registration Act 2002 must hold a reasonable belief that they own the land which they seek to have registered. It is now clear that an applicant must hold that belief for any 10 year period during their period of adverse possession, and that the Court of Appeal in Zarb v Parry were wrong to proceed on the basis that the period of reasonable belief must be held for the last 10 years prior to the date of the application.
Head of Trinity's Business & Property team, Simon Goldberg K.C. represented the successful appellants Mr and Mrs Ridley in the Upper Tribunal and in the Supreme Court, where he led Sam Healy of 42 Bedford Row, instructed by Matthew Sigsworth at Ward Hadaway.
Commenting on the judgment Simon Goldberg K.C. said:
“This decision provides welcome clarification of an issue which has caused difficulty for applicants and practitioners since Zarb v Parry was decided in 2011. It was a pleasure to represent Mr and Mrs Ridley, who persevered when others may have given up, against excellent opponents with the assistance of an exceptional junior and instructing solicitor.”
The hearing and today's judgment summary were each live-streamed, recordings of which are available here.