Members of the public are invited to give their views on a paper discussing the abolition or alteration of squatters’ rights in the Cayman Islands.
The law currently allows a person to obtain the title to land belonging to someone else by continuously occupying it – a concept officially called ‘adverse possession’.
The Law Reform Commission has now created a discussion paper with recommendations to determine whether the legislation should be revoked, or retained in a modified form.
The 48-page document outlines the history of adverse possession, the existing law, justifications for it, and the law and recent reforms in other common law jurisdictions.
In its introduction, the commission says adverse possession is often thought of as squatters having rights to the land they have invaded.
However, the paper explains that it can also occur during encroachments on neighbouring land due to the inadvertent result of boundary mistakes.
“As such, any reform of the law relating to adverse possession must be undertaken with care” to ensure there are no unintended consequences for deserving claimants, it says.
Cayman’s laws
Adverse possession is incorporated into the statute law of the Cayman Islands by way of three acts.
The Limitation Act (1996 Revision) provides the basis for limiting a landowner’s right to recover land after specified periods of time.
The Registered Land Act (2018 Revision) confirms the application of adverse possession to registered land, and prescribes the procedure for acquiring the title to that land.
And the Land Adjudication Act (1997 Revision) prescribes the procedure for acquiring the title to unregistered land by possession.
The paper says only a small number of applications for registration based on adverse possession are made in the Cayman Islands each year.
However, “as land values increase and vacant land becomes increasingly scarce, it is reasonable to predict an increase in such applications over time,” it adds.
“Some of these applications will, no doubt, be contested and culminate in court proceedings.”
Despite this, adverse possession can help with conveyance of unregistered land and protect against old claims to the land, the paper says.
It can also prevent land becoming unmarketable and avoid hardship to the squatter in case they mistakenly believe the land is theirs.
The paper, which was published on 26 July, can be viewed on www.gov.ky/lrc or www.gov.ky, or a copy can be collected from the offices of the Law Reform Commission.
Submissions, due by 27 Oct., can be emailed to the director of the Law Reform Commission at [email protected].
They can also be hand-delivered to the Law Reform Commission at Portfolio of Legal Affairs, 4th Floor, Government Administration Building, 133 Elgin Avenue, George Town, or sent by post to the Law Reform Commission, PO Box 136, Grand Cayman KY1-9000.
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