Boris, an olive farmer, decided to leave Spain and move back to live in England. He found a small farm, Deep Hollow, that he liked the look of on the internet. Deep Hollow comprised an old farmhouse, a barn and a number of fields. After some negotiations by email Boris paid Gove the purchase price. Gove then arranged for the registered title to be transferred to Boris. When Boris arrived at Deep Hollow for the first time, several weeks later, he found that:

(a)The barn was full of pig feed. It belongs to Jacob, a neighbouring farmer. Jacob told Boris that some time ago Gove had agreed that he could store his pig feed in the barn. Jacob was unsure of whether this was some sort of interest in the land or a lease, but he knew that he had a document somewhere. He was not sure what it said because he had left Gove to sort out the formalities.

(b)A field was full of oil workers, drilling equipment and a number of boreholes. One of the workers told Boris that they were carrying out exploratory drilling tests because six months ago their employer, Euroil, had been granted an option to purchase the field from Gove.

(c)Angela was living in the farmhouse. She told Boris that she had helped Gove by contributing part of the purchase price when he acquired the farm many years ago. Angela added that she was surprised to find that Gove had moved out, but she had only just returned from an extended secondment by her employer to its Brussels office.

Advise Boris about his position regarding Jacob, Euroil, and Angela.

How would your advice differ if their position was governed by unregistered land law?