PROPERTY RIGHT AND ADVERSE POSSESSION OF REGISTERED LAND IN LAGOS STATE: RESTITUTION AS A PANACEA

Abstract

The doctrine of adverse possession reinforces the statutes of limitation that merely terminate the owner’s right toaccess judicial remedy in recovering possession of land and provides that the adverse possessor actually gainslegal title, displacing the registered land owner. The major challenges of the concept of adverse possession ofregistered land which have sparked global reform of the doctrine remain its ability to defeat the concept ofproperty right, its inability to be reconciled with the concept of indefeasibility of title hampering economicdevelopment. The Lagos State Land Registration Law 2015 (‘LRL’) nevertheless allows for the override ofregistered title to land by adverse possession. The article adopted doctrinal methodology to analyse the provisionsof the Law on adverse possession vis-à-vis the concept of property right and land registration and found thatregistered land owners are not adequately protected. The work therefore recommended the application of theestablished principle of restitution founded on unjust enrichment as the best method to adequately protect theinterest of registered land owners in Lagos State.