Prudential Assurance Company Ltd v Waterloo Real Estate Inc.
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 23 April 1998 |
| Date | 23 April 1998 |
| Court | Chancery Division |
Chancery Division
Before Mr Justice Park
Adverse possession - party wall - co-owner assuming exclusive possession
A party wall, regardless of antiquity, would cease to be such if one of its co-owners, by lack of interest and doing nothing in relation to it for more than 12 years, allowed the other owner to assume exclusive and intentional possession of it for that period.
Mr Justice Park so held in the Chancery Division, in holding that Waterloo Real Estate Inc possessed the whole of a seven-metre stretch of wall facing Raphael Street, Knightsbridge, by having (i) paper title to its northern face, now part of the structure of the Normandie Hotel, and (ii) enjoyed for more than 12 years possession of its southern face adverse to the Prudential Assurance Company Ltd, owner of paper title to its southern face.
Section 15 of the Limitation Act 1980 provides:
"(1) No action shall be brought by any person to recover any land after the expiration of 12 years from the date on which the right of action accrued to him…".
Section 17 provides: "…at the expiration of the period prescribed by this Act for any person to bring an action to recover land…the title of that person shall be extinguished".
Paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the 1980 Act provides:
"Where the person bringing an action to recover land…has been in possession of the land, and has while entitled to the land been dispossessed or discontinued his possession, the right of action shall be treated as having accrued on the date of the dispossession or discontinuance."
Paragraph 8 provides: "(1) No right of action to recover land shall be treated as accruing unless the land is in the possession of some person in whose favour the period of limitation can run (referred to below…as 'adverse possession')…"
Mr John Blackburn, QC and Mr Timothy Bowles for Prudential; Mr Christopher Purchas, QC and Mr Guy Newey for Waterloo.
MR JUSTICE PARK said that the case, ostensibly about ownership of the wall, was really about which of the parties was in a better position to carry out development plans either side of it.
The major questions, and answers, were:
1 Had it been a party wall?
Yes: Prudential having title to the southern, Waterloo to the northern face.
2 Had Waterloo acquired Prudential's face by adverse possession?
Yes.
3 If Waterloo had not, would it have been entitled to equitable relief by way of...
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