Unregistered land - how to buy / claim it?

stec00

There is a strip of land alongside a gate to my house with a number of
thorny bushes growing in it. When I bought the place 6 years ago, the
owner told me he thought the land was owned by the council and I could
probably buy it for a few grand. I phoned the council a few years back
and they said it was not owned by them but might be owned by a private
company (Somer Housing Group) - they also denied it was theirs when I
phoned them. I've asked the immediate neighbours and no one seems to
know who owns it.

So in the end I wrote to the land registry. I received a letter back
saying the land is unregistered but with no further information about
what I'd need to do to buy it or claim it. Assuming I can't find the
owner (if there is one), does anyone know whether it will possible for
me to get hold of this land soon in any way? Or is the only thing I can
do to fence round it, start using it and then wait 12 years before
putting in a legal claim?


Thanks for any advice on this q & what to do...
Cheers, Steve

NAR

As Land Registry have no details on ownership then I would fence it in and "acquire" as you state in a number of years time.

If you have no intention of building on it then it should be easy enough to relinguish if an owner ever did turn up. Sounds very unlikely though.

stec00

Thanks for the quick reply NAR. Ideally I'm interested in getting to own the land sooner than 12 years if possible as the chances are quite high that we'll be moving some time in the next 5 years. I think the property would be worth more if it had the land included with it rather than the grey area it seems to be at the moment. In the mean time we'd like to build a small side shed there by the side of the house to store the bikes in as they're cluttering up the hallway...

xmaslolly76

I'm pretty sure there is a way that you can put a claim in to the landregistry for it. we have two title deeds for our house one which is ours outright for the main bulk of land but there is also a strip of land at the back which has a strange deed on which states it is ours as long as the original owner does not put a claim in for it in the next 12 years then it reverts to being our outright obvoiusly they have no record of the original owner so they would have to come up with a deed to claim it back. It may be worth going to the land registry yourself and enquiring? :-)

becsxxx

There's no way for you to legally find out the owner of unregistered land, and as you have stated, the right of adverse possession only activates after 12 years of you possessing the land. however, if in some way you can claim the land was part of your property before, a statutory declaration from whoever owned the property before you may be sufficient to satisfy the Land Reg that you are now entitled to the land.

digp

The 12 year rule has been diluted by a High Court ruling for pre LRA 2000 matters. AFIK LRA 2000 has done the same too.

MoJo

digp wrote:

The 12 year rule has been diluted by a High Court ruling for pre LRA 2000 matters. AFIK LRA 2000 has done the same too.

Could you expand on that a bit, please? In what way 'diluted'?

stec00 - You say you moved in 6 years ago - I don't suppose you could say you've been tending that land for those 6 years? That way they could be counted in the total number of years?

molotov_3

LRA 2000 only applies to registered land, so if this land is unregistered then the 12 year rule applies.

You should also avoid make a false statutory declaration that you have been using the land for 12 years when you havent!

stec00

MoJo wrote:

Could you expand on that a bit, please? In what way 'diluted'?

stec00 - You say you moved in 6 years ago - I don't suppose you could say you've been tending that land for those 6 years? That way they could be counted in the total number of years?

Thanks for the advice everyone. Yes I could say that but wouldn't I need actual proof e.g. photos or witnesses? Also just wondering if anyone here has been through the process and how long it takes?