'Britain's biggest ever land-grab'
Are squatters' rights unfair to property owners? +Clare Dyer examines the case of the £10m windfall
Henwick Manor in the heart of the Berkshire countryside is the sort
of property townies drool over in the pages of Country Life. This
splendid piece of real estate with its six-bedroom farmhouse and 67
hectares of prime farming land reportedly harboured fugitive Catholic
priests in the reign of Elizabeth I. Last week, it became an even
more desirable property, when the highest court in the land, the House
of Lords, handed its owner, Caroline Graham, a windfall which could make
her a multi-millionaire. The five law lords reluctantly ruled that
Graham was now the owner of an extra 25 hectares bordering her farm -
land said to have a potential development value of £10m - and all
without paying a penny.
The widowed farmer acquired the land through the ancient law of squatter's rights, a law the land's owners, Oxford developers JA Pye, have called "legalised robbery". Graham and her husband, Michael, who died in a shooting accident in 1998, had used the land for grazing, at first under licence from Pye. But when the company, which hoped to build 100 houses there, was advised it should have the land "in hand" while it applied for planning permission, it ignored the Grahams' requests for further licences.
The property company had bought Henwick Manor and the adjoining land in 1975, selling most of it on two years later but keeping the 25 hectares in hope of getting planning permission to build on it. The fields, on the outskirts of Henwick, near Thatcham, are in a prime position for future expansion between Newbury and Thatcham, where a booming jobs market has created pressure on housing.
In 1982, Michael's father, John, a local farmer, bought Henwick Manor at auction for his son, who married Caroline in 1987 and farmed it until his death. The Grahams did nothing sneaky, underhand or unlawful, as Lord Bingham, the senior law lord, stressed in his judgment last week. They just carried on as before.
"The Grahams have acted honourably throughout," said Bingham. "They sought rights to graze or cut grass on the land after the summer of 1984, and were quite prepared to pay. When Pye failed to respond they did what any other farmer in their position would have done: they continued to farm the land. They were not at fault.
"But," continued Bingham, "the result of Pye's inaction was that they [the Grahams] enjoyed the full use of the land without payment for 12 years. As if that were not gain enough, they are then rewarded by obtaining title to this considerable area of valuable land without any obligation to compensate the former owner in any way at all."
(Not to mention, he might have added, landing the former owner with what must have been a six-figure bill for legal costs.) Bingham's conclusion that Graham was now the true owner of the land had been reached "with no enthusiasm".
The law of "adverse possession" says that anyone who occupies property without permission from the owner and treats it as his own for 12 years is entitled to claim ownership. Henwick Manor, surrounded by green acres in the heart of the Kennet Valley, has little in common with a Victorian council block overlooking the Oval cricket ground in the not-so-leafy London borough of Lambeth. But two years ago, using the same law invoked by the Grahams, a handful of squatters defeated the council's attempt to evict them from flats in the historic Oval Mansions building.
In 1999, Timothy Ellis, a jobless 38 year old, won ownership of the £200,000 Victorian terraced house in Brixton where he had squatted for 16 years, paying neither rent nor council tax. His windfall also came courtesy of Lambeth, which forgot it had bought the property in the early 1980s and failed to notice when Ellis took up occupation in 1983.
His house wasn't the only one Lambeth forgot it owned. There were 20 in all. In 2000, Ian Ames, a 45-year-old jobless musician, who was granted ownership of a four-bedroom Victorian semi in Brixton where he had squatted for 15 years, promptly sold it for £100,000, telling neighbours he planned to return to his native Australia and live by Bondi Beach.
The legal action over the land adjoining Henwick Manor began in 1997, when Michael Graham sought to register his squatters' rights with the land registry and Pye took him to court. Mrs Graham said the court case had been "a huge burden" for her and her children. "I felt obliged to continue the litigation which was originally commenced against my late husband. I knew that it was his wish to secure the land in dispute. I have sought to honour that wish."
In a roller coaster ride, she won the case originally in the high court, saw the ruling overturned in the court of appeal, but succeeded at last in the House of Lords last week. Some of the judges who ruled in her favour, however, made it clear that although the law was on her side, they saw the result as far from fair. Mr Justice Neuberger declared in his high court judgment in 2000: "It seems to me that it is a result which does not accord with justice. If the owner of land has no immediate use for it and is content to let another person trespass on the land for the time being, it is hard to see what principle of justice entitles the trespasser to acquire the land for nothing from the owner, simply because he has been permitted to remain there for 12 years. To say that, in such circumstances, the owner who has sat on his rights should therefore be deprived of his land appears to be illogical and disproportionate."
Graham downplayed the development potential of the land, said to be £10m if planning permission is eventually granted. "I do not know whether those values are correct, but my intention remains to continue farming," she insisted.
Pye's solicitor, Paul Lowe, said: "Knowing Mrs Graham I suspect that's entirely true for the minute. But somebody will come along, I'm sure, and offer her pots of gold or one of these planners will come along and say, 'We'll work on a fee based on you getting planning permission, you don't have to do anything, we'll do it for you.' I think at some point the land will be developed."
His clients are considering whether to take the case to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg. The European convention on human rights says in article 1 of the first protocol: "No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law." Pye was barred from mounting a human rights argument in the English courts because the case had started before the Human Rights Act came into force in October 2000.
Meanwhile, the series of successful squatters' cases against local councils have spurred the government to change the law. The Land Registration Act 2002 is not yet in force, but when it takes effect anyone who wants to claim squatters' rights will have to notify the land registry after 10 years' occupation. The owner will be notified and given the chance to object.
It will come too late, however, for Pye, victims of what one solicitor described as "Britain's biggest ever land-grab".
The widowed farmer acquired the land through the ancient law of squatter's rights, a law the land's owners, Oxford developers JA Pye, have called "legalised robbery". Graham and her husband, Michael, who died in a shooting accident in 1998, had used the land for grazing, at first under licence from Pye. But when the company, which hoped to build 100 houses there, was advised it should have the land "in hand" while it applied for planning permission, it ignored the Grahams' requests for further licences.
The property company had bought Henwick Manor and the adjoining land in 1975, selling most of it on two years later but keeping the 25 hectares in hope of getting planning permission to build on it. The fields, on the outskirts of Henwick, near Thatcham, are in a prime position for future expansion between Newbury and Thatcham, where a booming jobs market has created pressure on housing.
In 1982, Michael's father, John, a local farmer, bought Henwick Manor at auction for his son, who married Caroline in 1987 and farmed it until his death. The Grahams did nothing sneaky, underhand or unlawful, as Lord Bingham, the senior law lord, stressed in his judgment last week. They just carried on as before.
"The Grahams have acted honourably throughout," said Bingham. "They sought rights to graze or cut grass on the land after the summer of 1984, and were quite prepared to pay. When Pye failed to respond they did what any other farmer in their position would have done: they continued to farm the land. They were not at fault.
"But," continued Bingham, "the result of Pye's inaction was that they [the Grahams] enjoyed the full use of the land without payment for 12 years. As if that were not gain enough, they are then rewarded by obtaining title to this considerable area of valuable land without any obligation to compensate the former owner in any way at all."
(Not to mention, he might have added, landing the former owner with what must have been a six-figure bill for legal costs.) Bingham's conclusion that Graham was now the true owner of the land had been reached "with no enthusiasm".
The law of "adverse possession" says that anyone who occupies property without permission from the owner and treats it as his own for 12 years is entitled to claim ownership. Henwick Manor, surrounded by green acres in the heart of the Kennet Valley, has little in common with a Victorian council block overlooking the Oval cricket ground in the not-so-leafy London borough of Lambeth. But two years ago, using the same law invoked by the Grahams, a handful of squatters defeated the council's attempt to evict them from flats in the historic Oval Mansions building.
In 1999, Timothy Ellis, a jobless 38 year old, won ownership of the £200,000 Victorian terraced house in Brixton where he had squatted for 16 years, paying neither rent nor council tax. His windfall also came courtesy of Lambeth, which forgot it had bought the property in the early 1980s and failed to notice when Ellis took up occupation in 1983.
His house wasn't the only one Lambeth forgot it owned. There were 20 in all. In 2000, Ian Ames, a 45-year-old jobless musician, who was granted ownership of a four-bedroom Victorian semi in Brixton where he had squatted for 15 years, promptly sold it for £100,000, telling neighbours he planned to return to his native Australia and live by Bondi Beach.
The legal action over the land adjoining Henwick Manor began in 1997, when Michael Graham sought to register his squatters' rights with the land registry and Pye took him to court. Mrs Graham said the court case had been "a huge burden" for her and her children. "I felt obliged to continue the litigation which was originally commenced against my late husband. I knew that it was his wish to secure the land in dispute. I have sought to honour that wish."
In a roller coaster ride, she won the case originally in the high court, saw the ruling overturned in the court of appeal, but succeeded at last in the House of Lords last week. Some of the judges who ruled in her favour, however, made it clear that although the law was on her side, they saw the result as far from fair. Mr Justice Neuberger declared in his high court judgment in 2000: "It seems to me that it is a result which does not accord with justice. If the owner of land has no immediate use for it and is content to let another person trespass on the land for the time being, it is hard to see what principle of justice entitles the trespasser to acquire the land for nothing from the owner, simply because he has been permitted to remain there for 12 years. To say that, in such circumstances, the owner who has sat on his rights should therefore be deprived of his land appears to be illogical and disproportionate."
Graham downplayed the development potential of the land, said to be £10m if planning permission is eventually granted. "I do not know whether those values are correct, but my intention remains to continue farming," she insisted.
Pye's solicitor, Paul Lowe, said: "Knowing Mrs Graham I suspect that's entirely true for the minute. But somebody will come along, I'm sure, and offer her pots of gold or one of these planners will come along and say, 'We'll work on a fee based on you getting planning permission, you don't have to do anything, we'll do it for you.' I think at some point the land will be developed."
His clients are considering whether to take the case to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg. The European convention on human rights says in article 1 of the first protocol: "No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law." Pye was barred from mounting a human rights argument in the English courts because the case had started before the Human Rights Act came into force in October 2000.
Meanwhile, the series of successful squatters' cases against local councils have spurred the government to change the law. The Land Registration Act 2002 is not yet in force, but when it takes effect anyone who wants to claim squatters' rights will have to notify the land registry after 10 years' occupation. The owner will be notified and given the chance to object.
It will come too late, however, for Pye, victims of what one solicitor described as "Britain's biggest ever land-grab".
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