The High Court found that Patrick Hamilton had been in exclusive possession and control of nearly nine hectares of land in Drumcanon, County Monaghan, for more than 12 years. It said his possession was not interrupted by any act by his mother, Mrs Hamilton, and that his claim to be registered as owner by adverse possession could therefore be granted.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice O’Connor on 18 March 2016, did not set out a final order. The parties were invited to make submissions on the precise order to be made.
The dispute concerned land in Folio 14587 of the Register of Freeholders. Hamilton said he had possessed it since his father died in June 1992. The court accepted his evidence that he farmed it for himself, applied for agricultural aid as its owner and alone maintained the herd number. It found that he had been in exclusive possession from 1992 to 2006, a period of 14 years.
The second and third defendants, receivers appointed by ACC Loan Management Limited, were the only other parties active at trial. The receivers argued that Hamilton’s use of the land was for a family farm or with his mother’s consent. The court rejected that account. It also found that his mother’s passiveness had not broken his possession.
The judgment recounted that in 2006 Mrs Hamilton sought registration as owner of several folios, including the disputed land, through a deed of assent. A handwritten statement in the deed said she was entitled to be registered as full owner, but its author was unidentified and the insertions were not initialled by her or the solicitor before whom the deed was sworn. A deed purporting to transfer the land from her to Hamilton’s brother was also produced, along with a mortgage in favour of the bank. The brother’s title and the charge were registered in 2012, after he was adjudicated bankrupt in Northern Ireland.
The receivers later tried to take possession and agreed to sell the land to the fourth defendant. Hamilton told the court he did not know of the 2006 transfer until events leading to the proceedings in 2013. The court accepted that he never held a lease of the disputed land, despite a 2014 solicitor’s letter referring to a leasehold interest, and found no improper motive in his delay in seeking registration.
Under section 13(2) of the Statute of Limitations 1957, an action to recover land must be brought within 12 years of the right to bring it accruing. The court concluded that Hamilton’s continuous possession exceeded that period and could grant his claim for a declaration of adverse possession and entitlement to registration.