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No Adverse Possession If No Application Made In Time 
Posted on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 12:00 AM

The Singapore Court of Appeal clarified the law on adverse possession in an important decision. The written judgment delivered on 13 September 2005 allowed an appeal by TSM Development Pte Ltd and held that a strip of land fenced within a neighbour's property was not subject to an adverse possession claim by the neighbour.

The case concerns the interpretation of Land Titles Act 1993 (No 27 of 1993) ("the 1993 LTA"). The key passage in the written judgment, reported in [2005] SGCA 41, states:

"To summarise, the object of the 1993 LTA was to abolish adverse possession as a means of acquiring title to land, whether registered or unregistered, subject to the saving provisions for possessory title already acquired as at 1 March 1994 when this Act came into operation. In dealing with adverse possession claims, the key question to consider is whether or not the land was registered land on that date. If the land was already registered land by that time and 12 years of adverse possession had not been completed yet, s 50 of the new LTA would preclude the adverse possessor from perfecting his inchoate title. In contrast, if the land was registered land as at 1 March 1994 and possessory title had already been acquired, such title would be upheld only if the case came within s 172(7) or the adverse possessor complied with s 172(8). As for land which was still unregistered as at 1 March 1994, if possessory title had not crystallised by then, the adverse possessor would likewise no longer be able to perfect his inchoate interest in view of s 9(3) of the Limitation Act. In contrast, possessory title to such land which had already been acquired by 1 March 1994 would be preserved by s 177(3) of the 1993 LTA. Upon the land becoming registered land, however, such accrued possessory rights would remain protected only if the adverse possessor lodged a caveat in respect of his interest while title to the land was qualified."