This casenote examines the recent Court of Appeal ruling in R (on the application of Best) v Chief Land Registrar [2015] EWCA Civ 17 as to whether the criminality of a trespass under s.144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 precludes a claim to adverse possession. The Court of Appeal held that a claimant could rely on his adverse possession to claim title to a house even though part of his occupation was a criminal offence under s.144. However, the judgments of Sales and Arden LJJ show a marked divergence of approach in reaching this conclusion. In the writer's view, Arden LJ's interpretative apporach to s.144 is to be preferred allowing for the conclusion that s.144 does not prevent a claim to adverse possession.
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