He’s at home on the Heath

Standing amid discarded bottles, plastic chairs and thick brush, Harry Hallowes defies the image of a posh Hampstead resident.

While his neighbors lounge in multimillion-dollar estates, he sleeps on a cot, cooks food over an open fire and showers in hot water once a week, miles away from the shack he calls home.

But the land on which Hallowes has long resided is a prized plot on the edge of Hampstead Heath in upscale North London. Last week he was granted rights for life to his little piece of paradise.

The 71-year-old Irish immigrant, who has squatted on the rustic parkland since the late 1980s, was declared the rightful owner by a court after a two-year legal battle with developers.

“I couldn’t put a price tag on this,” said Hallowes, who has long been unemployed.

The site, about one-fifth of an acre, granted to Hallowes by the National Land Registry would be worth millions if he had the right to develop it. But a 1923 building restriction limits the squatter to his tarp and rope, a fate that hardly upsets him.

“This is fairly unique in the entire London area,” he said. “Being here for 18 years, I’m very attached to it.”

When he dies, the land will go back to the city and probably will be preserved as natural space, a Land Registry spokeswoman said.

Hallowes’ battle with land developers began in March 2005 when Dwyer Asset Management purchased Athlone House, a picturesque former Victorian nursing home, from the city of London for conversion to luxury apartments. Just off the idyllic 791-acre heath, the grounds included Hallowes’ small cranny, located in the southern corner of the estate.

The city, seeking to maintain a buffer between the majestic park and the commercial development, struck a deal with Dwyer that turned over almost three acres of the Athlone property to the heath in exchange for a building permit.

Hallowes’ camp is within the three acres, and possession was transferred to the city. As guardians of the heath, city officials decided that his camp was an essential part of the buffer they wanted.

Dwyer, however, wanted Hallowes out, so the squatter went to the city and the courts for protection.

The city voted to let him keep his makeshift abode.

“We have an agreement that he is very welcome to stay there for as long as he wants to remain on his bit of land,” said Lesley Mair, a city spokeswoman.

“He’s been there for so many years,” Mair said. “To evict him would be horrible.”

In the court case, Hallowes’ lawyer cited the rule of adverse possession, commonly referred to as “squatters’ rights” in Britain. Last week, a London court awarded Hallowes legal possession because he had lived unchallenged on the property long enough to establish title rights.

Claiming adverse possession is not unheard of in Britain, but, the Land Registry says, Hallowes’ circumstances were exceptional.

“This is quite unusual because normally their rights are to a house or property, whereas this refers to his shack,” said spokeswoman Marion Shelley.

Looking out over the rolling hills and quiet trails of the tranquil heath, Hallowes said he relishes the security of legally owning his untouched cove.

“This is a big achievement in a way,” Hallowes said. “There’s all these possibilities for the future. You have to make it what you like.”

He said he hoped to buy a used trailer and enjoy the green pastures and lush trees of Hampstead from the comfort of his fenced clearing.

Hallowes, who arrived in London in the 1970s after traveling around the world, describes himself as a lazy man who needs only his health and common sense to survive. He hasn’t lived in a conventional home since his childhood in Ireland.

Despite winning a deed that might be valued in the millions, Hallowes, who counts neighbor Terry Gilliam, Monty Python actor and director, as a close friend, swears that he will never change his lifestyle.

He is eager for the media frenzy to settle down.

“I’m just an ordinary individual, a very moderate person,” he said. “There’s nothing extraordinary about me.”

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alicia.lozano@latimes.com