Who Owns the Public Highway

[Chrisgr31]

I know this has been a subject covered recently. There are some interesting parcels of land coming up for auction soon which indicate that the local authority may not own the public highway

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-fo...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-fo...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-fo...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-fo...

Presumably the owner of the land can’t create an issue with services and utilities?

[sospan]

Who has entered the land into the auction?
Who gets the proceeds?
Rightmove state it is up to the bidders to find out actual details of ownership and any other issues that come with the areas of land.
Seems odd to me.

[blueg33]

Adopted highway isnt necessarily owned by the Authority, it often has private freeholders.

You can "stop up" a highway, and I have done for several development sites

[supertouring]

Could I buy it and put up a toll booth?

[PixelpeepZ4]

guide price £625 - i'll have a punt for that!

[blueg33]

PixelpeepZ4 said:

guide price £625 - i'll have a punt for that!

That one has a potential ransom over land that could be developed

[rdjohn]

That looks a very odd proposition.

My understanding was that the soil below an adopted highway is owned by the frontages. I also think that a toll road is a non-starter. It looks like a highways and so will have public rights of passage attached to it, regardless of ownership.

[anonymous-user]

Does land like that come with any maintenance or insurance liabilities?
e.g. you buy it for £625 then discover you have to fork out tens of thousands each year to maintain it, or someone trips up and sues you for thousands?

[Chrisgr31]

blueg33 said:

That one has a potential ransom over land that could be developed

If you are looking at the piece of land I assume you are I believe it’s owned by the Town Council so acquiring it might be a challenge

[blueg33]

rdjohn said:

That looks a very odd proposition.

My understanding was that the soil below an adopted highway is owned by the frontages. I also think that a toll road is a non-starter. It looks like a highways and so will have public rights of passage attached to it, regardless of ownership.

"My understanding was that the soil below an adopted highway is owned by the frontages." - No it depends who owned the land before and how titles were transferred.

" I also think that a toll road is a non-starter. It looks like a highways and so will have public rights of passage attached to it, regardless of ownership" - I agree

[blueg33]

doesthiswork said:

Does land like that come with any maintenance or insurance liabilities?
e.g. you buy it for £625 then discover you have to fork out tens of thousands each year to maintain it, or someone trips up and sues you for thousands?

Possibly - it depends on whether the roads are adopted or not

[blueg33]

Chrisgr31 said:

blueg33 said:

That one has a potential ransom over land that could be developed

If you are looking at the piece of land I assume you are I believe it’s owned by the Town Council so acquiring it might be a challenge

I buy land from Councils a couple of times a month, so thats not an issue. However, if the roads are adopted the ransom may not exist anyway, plus there could be other access points and planning to sort out.

[supertouring]

blueg33 said:

rdjohn said:

" I also think that a toll road is a non-starter. It looks like a highways and so will have public rights of passage attached to it, regardless of ownership" - I agree

Won't quit my job yet then []