A high court judge has granted ownership of a parcel of land in Anguilla to a long-term occupant who was not the registered owner.
Justice Ermin Moise overturned the previous decision of the Registrar of Lands, who had dismissed the application for title of the land in March, last year.
Following a civil appeal in Anguilla High Court, he said Terrence Webster, who had lived on the land in Island Harbour for 24 years, had met all the relevant criteria for acquired ownership.
The judge announced his decision to grant the land title to Webster in his judgment on 30 July, published online on 16 August.
“The appellant is entitled to a declaration that he has acquired ownership of the premises by prescription and is entitled to the registration of his title,” he wrote.
Shop gift
The details of the case date back to August 1980, when Venetia Hodge, the proprietor of a shop located on the land parcel, gifted the establishment to her nephew, Terrence Webster.
The building had originally been transferred to Hodge by her brother, Samuel Austin Hodge, in 1969, the judgment said.
Venetia Hodge, however, was not the registered owner of the land on which the shop stood, so the land itself was never formally transferred to Webster.
Nonetheless, he undertook extensive renovations and improvements to the property, particularly after Hurricane Luis in 1995.
He also expanded the building, converting it into a residential space in 1999, and enhanced the land, planting trees and using a cleared area for boat storage for more than 15 years.
The appellant had been in living in the premises for about 24 years, the judge said, adding that he paid property taxes and had obtained a power connection.
Land owner
Boyston Sorton, the registered owner of the land, told the court that his late uncle Samuel Hodge, was the executor in the estate of Peter Hodge – the original owner of the land.
He said that sometime in the late 1980s Samuel Hodge became the registered owner, and the title was eventually passed to Sorton’s mother.
Sorton became the registered owner of the land in 1998.
In 2015, after being sent a bailiff’s letter asking him to vacate the property, Webster visited Sorton in St Martin where he lived.
In his evidence, he said he told Sorton that he lived on the land and he met the conditions for adverse possession.
Sorton said he refused to transfer the title of the land but told Webster he was welcome to continue using it until he was ready for it.
Dispute
The lands registrar had initially dismissed Webster’s application for title by prescription on March 1, 2023, arguing that his use of the property did not meet the necessary criteria.
Justice Moise, however, overturned her decision in his judgment.
He said Webster’s long-term, uninterrupted use of the property, and his significant improvements, qualified him for ownership.
The Registered Land Act states that land ownership may be acquired by peaceable, open and uninterrupted possession for a period of 12 years.
“It is difficult to conclude anything other than the fact that Mr Webster had met the criteria for proof of actual possession,” the judge wrote.
He added that there was no interruption to the possession for the first 12 years.
Moise ordered the registrar to place Webster’s name on the Land Registry of Anguilla in place of the current registered proprietor and ordered Sorton to pay him EC$7,500 in costs.
Kimberly O’Meally appeared for the appellant, and Michael Bourne for the respondent during the appeal on 7 May and 12 July.
