Adverse possession and estoppel under paragraph 5(2) of Schedule 6 to the Land Registration Act 2002 (El Massouri v Omani Estates Ltd)

Article summary

Property Disputes analysis: The claimant obtained planning permission and extended her top floor flat into the loft space above. The loft was subject to a lease in favour of the defendant’s predecessor in title and was granted without notice being given under section 5 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) and without the knowledge of the claimant. The court held that the freehold lessor, the grantee of the defendant’s lease and the defendant were ‘unlikely to act independently of one another’ and, consequently, that notice given to the freehold lessor of the application for planning permission for the extension into the loft was sufficient to put the grantee of the lease under an obligation to speak. Their collective failure to speak meant that after 20+ years the defendant was estopped from asserting its title to the loft. Written by Max Thorowgood, barrister at Field Court Chambers.