Land issues-claiming adverse possession

[Analogy]

Scenario.

About 30 Years ago my grandmothers relative dies leaving a significant portion of land to her and her sister.The land is never claimed i.e. ownership of land is never transfered. The land however is being farmed by a neighbour of his for the last 30 Years.I believe that he was oirginally paying rent on the land and when the realtive died he simply carried on. He has no relatives from what I understand. Currently looks as if he is on the way out now.

A land search shows that the title for the land still remains in the name of my grandmothers relative.

So questions.

I'm guessing that he currently can claim adverse possesion on the land currently. What effect would the fact that he paid rent have on this?
If he dies and leaves the land in question to somebody else( Can he actually do this as he has never as far as I know claimed adverse possesion or done anything else in relation to the land

Thanks dave

 

[Vanilla]

Re: Land Issues

I'd suggest you make an appointment with a solicitor to discuss as there are quite a few issues here and you need to give more details to obtain an effective response, such as would be unsuitable for a public forum.

 

[R Flan]

adverse posession is a tricky area. you do need more info.
the farmer who is paying rent is not an adverse posessor as he is on the land as of right. an adverse posessor is someone who takes control without the permission of the true paper owner for a set amount of time and is generally described as a aquatter. another issue you need to check is what is the future intended use of the land is?
if the farmer stopped paying rent and was using the land for a purpose different to that of the future intended use of the owner or his/her estate then you can say that the squatter is in adverse posession.