It was the mystery that got one of Sydney’s most desirable suburbs talking.
But a family claiming a sliver of land in Mosman on the Lower North Shore under “squatter’s rights” say they were forced to as a result of a simple, 110-year-old error.
The trouble started when a notice in a newspaper sparked intrigue and exaggerated rumours earlier this month.
Under section 45E(2) of the Real Property Act – what is legally known as adverse possession or more commonly called squatters’ rights – a mother and her two daughters had applied for a title to land in Mosman, near Balmoral Beach.
The claim was made against a man called Walter Walker and his successors, with the deadline for objections falling on Sunday.
A subsequent report from local news source Mosman Collective described the land as a “forgotten” strip directly behind a cottage, 165 square metres in size and with a comparable value of more than $650,000.
It urged anyone who knew the Walker family or the story of the land to come forward “before the window shuts”.
The piece did the rounds on social media and, in a beachside suburb with a median house price of $5.2 million, the saga over a piece of seemingly unclaimed land quickly caught the attention of residents.
A visit to one of the owners of the cottage on Friday, however, revealed a very different story.
Speaking to news.com.au, the owner said that the Mosman Collective report was incorrect and she was trying to clear up a longstanding mistake.
Her claim had been blown out of proportion and the truth of the matter was far less glamorous, albeit no less frustrating for the family.
The women were not claiming a backyard-sized piece of prime real estate, she said; just a tiny wedge of land that is already situated within the boundary of the cottage property.
They provided a survey plan showing the minuscule parcel at the rear that was subject to their claim.
“4 square metres is not 165, which is what I think they put. You couldn’t put a tent on it,” the owner said.
When Mr Walker died and the land passed to his wife in 1919, the wedge of land had accidentally remained in his name.
“Mrs Walker actually lived in the cottage, and it was sold to another person before us called the Hunts, and then we bought it from the Hunts. It’s the cottage and the land that goes with it,” the woman said.
“It’s an admin error of the past. It’s historical.
“That’s why we’ve applied for adverse possession and it hopefully will come through on Sunday, but with all this beat-up it might not.
“(Mr Walker) should be the one setting it straight, because (the error was made) when he gave it to his wife, or when he died in 1919.”
The family just want the land bundled into a single parcel, as it should have been all those years ago.
It’s understood they have been placed under significant stress, enduring sleepless nights after rumours about the land spiralled out of control.
“I just thought it was quite interesting,” a local man said while stopping to peer over the fence of the property on his morning walk.
“I just saw it on my newsfeed and just thought, ‘Wow,’ because it’s obviously a very valuable bit of real estate.”
On Sunday, provided no objections were raised to their application, the saga of the pesky wedge of land behind the family’s cottage should finally be at an end.
It speaks to a broader reality in Sydney’s property market: even the smallest and most impractical scraps of land can attract outsized attention.
In recent months, slivers of land occupied by electricity substations have been marketed as “prime” home building sites across parts of the city, stirring bemused and angry reactions online.
The narrow lots are being offered with live green boxes bolted to the ground and easements that allow maintenance workers access to the electricity kiosks for repairs and upkeep.
Some have labelled the sales “disgusting” and an example of “greed”, while others have expressed concerns about the potential noise and disruption of living around functioning electricity infrastructure.
The properties – most of which are about 100 sqm – are spread across prestigious north shore suburbs including Hunters Hill, Longueville, Willoughby, Mosman and Chatswood.
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