ABSTRACT
This chapter argues the existence of a criminal sanction regulating unlawful occupation of residential premises overlooks and undervalues substantive position of possessors in the law of adverse possession, where, despite the wrongful nature of their occupation, squatters are considered to acquire extensive property rights, and to deserve rigorous proprietary protection. One surprising feature of debate around the implementation of new offence in section 144 of Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPOA 2012) is that property-acquisition aspects of wrongful possession were almost entirely ignored. Land Registry argument ran, following enactment of section 144 it would often be impossible for squatter in residential building to rely on adverse possession in making an application for registration pursuant to relevant provisions of Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002), or as a defence in possession proceedings relating to unregistered land or earlier registered land regime governed by Limitation Act 1980 and section 75 of LRA 1925.
