We bought some land 40 years ago, but unknown to us a neighbour registered part of it two years later. Now a new neighbour is claiming ownership even though our title deeds show we bought it. The Land Registry has no record of the transaction 40 years ago.
It’s possible your neighbour will have been granted “possessory title” to the land if he was able to prove to the Land Registry’s satisfaction that he had been using it as his own for at least 12 years. You would not necessarily have known about this, and after a further 12 years the neighbour could have applied for “absolute” title and sold it on. You will not be able to challenge this unless you can show that you have in fact always occupied the land and that the original claim was therefore fraudulent.