The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in Begum v Nazir [2025] EWCA Civ 587. The judgment contains an important discussion of whether registered land in a deceased person’s estate in the course of administration is subject to a “trust” for the purposes of adverse possession. The court decided that, even though land is held on a statutory trust for the purposes of administration, this is not the kind of trust that Parliament intended to protect from adverse possession. As a result, personal representatives’ title to land can be defeated by adverse possession, at least where the other (restrictive) conditions for a successful claim for adverse possession of registered land are met. The appeal was therefore dismissed.
James Kirby acted pro bono for the Appellants and was commended by Lord Justice Zacaroli for his “conspicuously clear and cogent submissions”.
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