Case from the Lands Tribunal for Scotland in which Ms Rivendale sought to appeal the Keeper’s refusal to rectify the Land Register in her favour.

Background
Ms Rivendale purchased a cottage in Tarbert, Argyll in 2010 but was unable to register title to an area of ground in front of the cottage as it was included in her neighbour’s title. The tribunal found that Ms Rivendale was the “true owner” of part of the area of ground and that the register was inaccurate in that respect. However, in terms of s9(3) of the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979, the register cannot be rectified[1] where rectification would result in prejudice to a proprietor in possession. Ms Rivendale’s neighbour, who had used the disputed area (on part of which there was a track) to access two building plots and other land owned by her, argued that she was a proprietor in possession and would suffer prejudice if the register were rectified.

Reasoning
When considering the issue, the tribunal took the view that, in this case, it was not sufficient simply to decide whether or not the neighbour was in possession of that area as a whole. Rather, because there were two different characters of use of the area in question (Ms Rivendale used the area as garden ground and her neighbour used it as an access track), the matter became a question of finding where one use ended and the other began.

Decision
As such, the tribunal found that the neighbour was the proprietor in possession of part of the property on which there was a track but not a part which was grassed nor a part on which there were flower beds. As a consequence, Ms Rivendale was entitled to rectification of the register in respect of the part of the disputed area which extended to the edge of the track but not to the part on which the track was situated.

The full decision is available from the Lands Tribunal for Scotland here.

(See appeal to the Inner House below)

All of our property and conveyancing case summaries are contained in the LKS Property and Conveyancing Casebook here.