A fundamental part of any adverse possession claim is the process of applying to the LR for a registered title. But, it is important to remember that the rules were fundamentally changed on 13 October 2003. As a result, there are now two different regimes:

It is also worth noting that under the new rules there are certain restrictions on making adverse possession claims (eg if the land has been subject to a judgment for possession in the past two years, or if the land was held on trust at any time during the past ten years – unless the beneficiaries have an interest in possession themselves). Plus, it will generally be much harder to claim adverse possession if the land being occupied is tenanted. Unless the squatter’s occupation started before the grant of the lease, the squatter can only oust T by applying the adverse possession rules, and time then only starts running against L once the lease comes to an end.

The key point is that the rules under the new (post-October 2003) regime make it far harder to bring a successful adverse possession claim. That alone may be an argument making it worth applying for voluntary first registration of any unregistered land. See article in [2009] 236 PLJ 2.