Adverse Possession Against a Registered Proprietor: Acknowledgment and Part Possession
In 2009 Ngozi bought a 2-hectare plot and was registered as proprietor; she moved abroad in 2010. In June 2010 her cousin Emeka, without any agreement, fenced off the western 0.4 hectare, built a poultry shed, grazed goats and used the land openly. He paid no rent and sent no accounts. In 2014 Ngozi's bank, which held a registered mortgage over the whole plot, wrote demanding that he vacate; Emeka replied that he was "looking after the land for the family" and stayed. In 2019 Ngozi returned and demanded possession; Emeka apologised in writing, asked for "more time", and remained. In 2022 Ngozi sold the plot to a buyer, registered in March 2022. The buyer now sues for possession. The Limitation Act sets 12 years for recovery of land. The registered land statute provides that limitation does not run against a registered proprietor unless the adverse possessor has completed 12 years and applies for registration; the register has not been altered.
1. Has Emeka acquired title by adverse possession to the 0.4 hectare? Address his 2014 reply and 2019 apology.
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Adverse possession requires factual possession (single and exclusive possession appropriate to the land) and an intention to possess, not necessarily an intention to own. Fencing the 0.4 hectare, building a shed, grazing goats and using the land openly are strong evidence of both. But the correspondence is decisive. A written acknowledgment of the owner's title, signed by the possessor, restarts the limitation clock. Emeka's 2014 reply that he was "looking after the land for the family" is capable of being an acknowledgment that the land belonged to Ngozi; the 2019 written apology and request for "more time" is a clearer acknowledgment. If either is treated as an acknowledgment, time restarted and 12 years had not accrued by 2022. If the words are construed merely as a family arrangement, time might have run from 2010, but the court will lean against a possessor who explains his occupation in terms of permission or family duty. On balance Emeka has not completed 12 years.
2. What difference does registration make? Can the 2022 buyer rely on the register?
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Registration changes the mechanism, not always the result. Under the registered land statute, limitation does not run against the registered proprietor unless the adverse possessor completes 12 years and applies to be registered; the register is conclusive unless rectified. Because Emeka never completed 12 years (and never applied), he has no registered or overriding title. The 2022 buyer took a registered transfer; a purchaser for value without notice takes free of Emeka's inchoate claim. The bank's registered mortgage was also protected. The 2022 transfer does not "restart" a period that never expired; it simply brings the land under a new proprietor. Emeka may have a personal claim for the value of improvements in some jurisdictions, but not a title defence to possession.
3. If Emeka had occupied only the poultry shed, how would that affect the claim?
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If Emeka had occupied only the shed and its curtilage, his possession would be limited to the land actually possessed and reasonably used. Adverse possession of part does not give title to the whole 0.4 hectare; the court fixes the boundary by reference to the extent of actual possession. A fence that encloses the whole 0.4 hectare is evidence of possession of the whole, so the outcome depends on whether the fence was maintained and the land used throughout. If the fence enclosed the whole area and he grazed goats across it, he possessed the whole; if the fence was merely around the shed, he possessed only that part. Part possession can mature into title to that part, but the buyer's registered title to the rest remains intact.