Aquiring Land - Maybe an Ed type question
 

OK then, so I've recently moved and the houses in our row all have gardens at the back on land that, I was lead to believe, was rented off the council, although they have not asked for any rent in years.

I was speaking with my neighbour the other day and he told me that our garden is not actually owned by anyone - He had been looking into a right of access, so is it possible for us to claim this land? How do I go about checking up on it first? I don't want to start anything if I may not be able to get the land anyway.

Clear as mud?

Ste

Fill in a Form 313 'Who owns that property' - you can get it from the Land Registry website, www.landreg.gov.uk, it's the first form on the forms tab. Complete as much of it as you can, you won't have a 'Key Number' (this is a credit account with the LR) so you need to send a cheque for £4. Also attach as accurate a plan of the area as you can, start with a copy of the title plan for your house and edge the land you're interested in in red. Probably describe it as 'land at the rear of [your address]. Give the LR as much info as possible, and send the form to the LR's Harrow office - address is printed on the form. It only takes a few days to come back. If the land isn't registered then the nice people at the LR will give you your money back.

If it isn't registered then it's harder to find out. The pre-registration title to your house (if you have any) might give you a few clues, particularly if the land your house was built on was sold off from a larger area that included the area you're interested in.

If the land is vacant, just a wilderness, you could always simply enclose it by moving your fence and see if anyone objects. Make a note of the date you do it. If anyone did object then you can remove the fence again. After 12 years of adverse possession, as long as nobody objects to what you've done you can claim it as yours.

Or you could always write to whoever you think might own the land, but this of course will put them on notice. If the land is effectively vacant, with no planning permission, and impossible to access except from your land, you might find that the owner would be glad to get rid of it. Do check with the planning officer at your local authority whether you would need planning permission for the land to incorporate it into your garden, there would be no point buying it if the answer was that you do need permission and that the council won't give it.

Oh that Ed is a cad. He means well though.

Listen svste, go over to said land. Stick your flag in it. Demand taxes.


The job's a good'un.

I've already got a fence around it, as does everyone else as individual gardens, and a garage in it. Just I always thought it was council owned until the neighbor mentioned his and the rest but not mine.

Will dig further as it's so cheap

Ste

How come you've got a garage on it if it's not your land? Did you build it? - assume no objection received?

It was there when we bought the house, it wasn't picked up as an issue, he thought it was council land it's just talking sounds like the bit I have may not be.

More info - Row of about 8 terraced cottages on a main road, there used to be a second road that went down both gable ends and round the back. As a result we have about 10ft behind the back door which is ours, a through way connecting all the houses (Binmen come and get the bins) and then the rest of the garden behind this (with Garage, most houses have), all fenced in. It's the extra bit of garden I'm trying to work out who it belongs to. Oh yeah the council managed to sell a block of land at the end of the row to the house owner which effectively stops the through-way ever being re-done as a road.

How did you buy the house. I dont know what the deal is in the UK, but when we bought our place in the US, there were deeds, a very detailed plan of the land we bought, and lawyer types went through this.
It was made very clear to us what we bought, specifically where the property ended.

It seems odd that none of the people helping you with teh purchase noticed that they were selling you a house with a garage that is not on your land.

It was accepted that the land with the garage did not belong to the house (the land it was on was not part of the valuation) We had discussed the land with the solicitor, and as the remaining homes' gardens were on council property and we had been told by someone from Estates (previous neighbor) that the land was rented out by the council, he didn't see any issue in chasing the matter further at further expense to us.

Only reason I was curious about this is that I had unofficial word that the council would at some point be trying to sell off all the land to the residents, and if I can make a claim for it myself then it saves me giving them my hard earned, along with letting me sort out what I want to do with the garden.

Ste

I love it :lol:

Yep, listen to my Irish friend here. He knows all about this sort of thing :lol: