Streeter v Zhang

[2026] VSCA 170

Victorian Court of Appeal

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

1. Property
2. › Adverse possession
3. › Continuous possession — death of registered proprietor — acts of executor
1. Property
2. › Adverse possession
3. › Acknowledgment of title — planning permit plans depicting title boundary — compliance with planning requirements
1. Property
2. › Adverse possession
3. › Possession — ordinary legal meaning — question of law
1. Appeal
2. › Appeal on question of law
3. › Magistrates' Court Act 1989 s 109 — whether application of statute to facts constitutes question of law

The word 'possession' in s 14 of the Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (Vic) bears its ordinary legal meaning (incorporating animus possidendi and factual control), not a meaning according to common understanding; consequently, whether facts as found satisfy the statutory concept of adverse possession is a question of law within the jurisdiction of an appeal under s 109 of the Magistrates' Court Act 1989.
An executor who engages a real estate agent to sell property and authorises inspections by prospective purchasers is dealing with the land (including any encroached strip within the fenceline) as an occupying owner might be expected to, sufficient to maintain continuity of adverse possession through the death of the prior possessor.
The depiction of a paper title boundary in plans submitted as part of a planning permit application, where that depiction is required by planning scheme provisions, does not without more constitute an acknowledgment of the paper title holder's title for the purposes of s 24(1) of the Limitation of Actions Act 1958.