Discussion
I live in a block of about 7 terraced houses, each with rear gardens. At the back of those gardens is an access lane, its only just wide enough for a car and is overgrown.
This lane is only used to put dustbins out, for cats to roam, and for the odd neighbour to gain access to their back garden.
The land is unadopted, and since nobody uses a horse and cart any more, what would I need to do if I wanted to extend my garden onto this land? It would only be a couple of feet, leaving enough room for people/dustbins etc.
This lane is only used to put dustbins out, for cats to roam, and for the odd neighbour to gain access to their back garden.
The land is unadopted, and since nobody uses a horse and cart any more, what would I need to do if I wanted to extend my garden onto this land? It would only be a couple of feet, leaving enough room for people/dustbins etc.
risky, very risky. does this land belong to anyone in particular? do you own some or do you just have an easement over it?
You either offer to buy from whoever owns it, or you have two options.
1) ask to extend there on "licence". This means you can do something like occupying it but its not yours, the owner still has the legal rights on it and can kick you out when he wants - which would be problematic if you put a shed/garage/other structure on it.
2)occupation by adverse possession. This is more complex, and involves literally *years* of possession before you can knock off the paper title owners rights to use the land, 10 years for unregistered land and 12 for registered I think if memory serves...
The likely hoodis that you all own the land directly outside your gate or whatever and everyparty has en easement over the land (i.e you have to give them access), but its still yours
Without knowing the layout, what it says on the deeds/ land registery chitty, ownership structure ect its a bit difficult to comment..
You either offer to buy from whoever owns it, or you have two options.
1) ask to extend there on "licence". This means you can do something like occupying it but its not yours, the owner still has the legal rights on it and can kick you out when he wants - which would be problematic if you put a shed/garage/other structure on it.
2)occupation by adverse possession. This is more complex, and involves literally *years* of possession before you can knock off the paper title owners rights to use the land, 10 years for unregistered land and 12 for registered I think if memory serves...
The likely hoodis that you all own the land directly outside your gate or whatever and everyparty has en easement over the land (i.e you have to give them access), but its still yours
Without knowing the layout, what it says on the deeds/ land registery chitty, ownership structure ect its a bit difficult to comment..
). 
princeperch said:
2)occupation by adverse possession. This is more complex, and involves literally *years* of possession before you can knock off the paper title owners rights to use the land, 10 years for unregistered land and 12 for registered I think if memory serves...
10 years registered, 12 unregistered but is a lot more long winded than that and LR are gits at the moment.
As for fencing it off I wouldn't if I were you, unless you were to fence it off with working, unlocked gates.
As for finding out who owned it have a look on the Land Registry Website and look at Index Map Searches.
parrot of doom said:
Its what you describe Puggit - except hardly anybody ever uses it....
Personally I reckon if all my neighbours had similar thoughts, nobody would complain. How do I find out who owns a bit of land?
Contact the land registry, it costs nothing to find out who owns it and £4 for a copy of the deeds to the land. You need to give them an exact location of the land though probably by sending them a map with it marked out.
You could ring them or try their website for more details. I normaly find them very helpful when I ring them so you could try that and they will probably answer your original question.
To gain a legal title to the land you need to be resident on it for 12 years and then prove it.
Rude-boy said:
2)occupation by adverse possession. This is more complex, and involves literally *years* of possession before you can knock off the paper title owners rights to use the land, 10 years for unregistered land and 12 for registered I think if memory serves...
10 years registered, 12 unregistered but is a lot more long winded than that and LR are gits at the moment.
As for fencing it off I wouldn't if I were you, unless you were to fence it off with working, unlocked gates.
As for finding out who owned it have a look on the Land Registry Website and look at Index Map Searches.
ah wrong way round...stand corrected.
As for what you need to do to claim adverse possession I have a 2000 page book with most of the cases in it....way too many examples to list.
I guess the bottom line is that you have to exclude the world at large and the owner of the paper title?
falcemob said:
Does it depend what office you phone or have they just changed their attitude in the last four years?
All offices seem to have got a lot stricter and now tend to ignore the strict legal position laid down by land law and only follow their own guides, particularly when it comes to perscriptive rights and entering them onto the register. seems 20 years, and in some cases 40 years, use is just not enought for them
It does change from office to office though and also from person to person
parrot of doom said:
Mortgage company want to charge me about £50 for a copy of my deeds. ers, they can shove them up their arse.
If you bought in the last 10 years
them. go to www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/
Rude-boy said:
parrot of doom said:
Mortgage company want to charge me about £50 for a copy of my deeds.
If you bought in the last 10 years
go to <a href="www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/">www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/</a>
Fantastic link mate, nice one. Got both documents for £4 online, instant access
This shows the land concerned (my house is in red):
As you can see, its bordered on all sides by housing, its definitely for pedestrian access only (fire engine would never fit).
I started getting excited when the deeds said 'a conveyance of land' almost 40 years after the house was built, I was searching madly for a plot of land that I owned! No such luck though
>> Edited by parrot of doom on Friday 24th June 19:47
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