Land bought 40 years ago: title obtained from 22 heirs

Background

About 40 years ago our client bought a plot of land, paid in full, took possession and kept using it, but the seller died soon afterward and the title was never transferred. Through successive inheritances, ownership shares became spread among 22 people.

The issue

Whether the long-ago sale could be proven, and whether the right to demand registration had expired under the ten-year limitation period.

Our approach

Our client sued all 22 heirs for registration of the transfer based on the sale, supporting the sale with a written confirmation from the seller's family and the heirs' own responses to the suit.

The court's reasoning

Twenty of the 22 heirs did not contest the claim. As to the two who did, the court found the sale proven, citing among other things the seller's son's written confirmation and the acknowledgment by another heir who had been a party to the sale. Applying Supreme Court precedent that the limitation period on a buyer's registration claim does not run while the buyer remains in possession, it also rejected the limitation defense.

Outcome

The court ordered all 22 heirs to register the transfer of their respective inherited shares to our client on the basis of the sale.

What this case means

Even for land bought long ago, the right to registration does not lapse if the buyer paid and has remained in possession, and even many heirs can be dealt with in a single lawsuit.

This is the outcome of an individual case and does not guarantee the same result in similar matters. Some facts have been generalized to protect the parties involved.