Access Issues

nubsj

Hello all,

We have seen a nice house, right area, affordable etc. the only problem is parking and access (yes that's why it is affordable!).

The house is accessed via a footpath from a fairly busy road, which has no parking.

To the rear of the property is a BT telephone exchange, surrounded by quite a lot of land (BT owned).

Theoretically if we could purchase a strip of this land it would provide rear access to the property and parking.

How would one go about investigating the feasibility of this? Would the first port of call to be to contact BT? or to speak to the planning department? or something else? i haven;t got a clue!

and does anyone know if BT would ever / have ever been amenable to selling bits of their land?

and also are there any other issues we would have to consider even if it were possible to buy this bit of land, planning? highways authorities? i don't know, i'm sure it wouldn't be simple but if there is even a glimmer this could be worth pursuing for us.

thanks

G_M

I assume vehicular access to the land already exists?
If you bought the land presumably it would be part of the land only if the exchange is still in operation, so BT would retain the access point to the highway and some of the land for their own use and vehicles.
That means you would also need a right of way across the highway access point that BT retained, to 'your' bit of land.
Depending on the current designation of the land you may need change of use permission so yes, go and chat to the council Planners - they are usually helpful.
Yes, both public and private companies sell off redundant land they don't want - you can only ask!
As for price, very hard to say. Might anyone else have an interest or is it only of potential use to BT and yourself? How much would it increase the value of your property? End of the day, it's worth what you offer and BT accept.

nubsj

thanks G-M

currently there is no vehicular access to the property. the BT exchange is at the end of a road (behind the property) which the back of this house backs on to (does that make sense? the BT exchange is the sandwich filling between the property and the end of the road behind it).

The property is set back from the road at the front and currently the only access is by a narrow footpath between two other houses

so in an ideal world, and we had purchased a strip of land, we could drive to the end of the road at the back, where the entrace to our drive would begin, next to the entrace to the BT exchange, or as you say shared with them.

The exchange is in use, and often has vans parked in the yard at the front, we'd be interested in part of the yard at the back, which is overgrown with brambles etc. It wouldn't be of interest to anyone else currently, although it is a large plot in an expensive area. i guess it is the main exchange for the town though as it is a substantial building so i doubt there are plans to flog it for housing

it would substantially increase the value of the house, i would think that the only reason it is affordable is that there is nowhere close to the property to park, and there is enormous pressure on parking locally.

i think it might be worth investigating though, it would be brilliant if it were possible

Errata

You will have no chance because a) the land is zoned for commercial use, not domestic and b) the security issues

Catblue

Certainly worth a phone call to determine if it is feasible.

I do find it hard to imagine that the previous owners did not try the same thing, though. Selling a house without vehicular access is difficult and has a big effect on price, so they'd have been daft not to pursue it. The likelihood is that BT has previously refused to sell or allow access, presumably for security purposes.

BT's position on this may have changed in the meantime, though. I'd give them a call. Would anticipate a flat refusal though.

nubsj

Errata, you may well be right, but where would i find out for sure
?

who deals with zoning, is that the local authority? woule they be able to tell me if it could be re-zoned?

and i'm not sure there would be any security issues, the drive could be quite seperate from the BT building.

Flat_Eric

re the house you are interested in (and the land behind it), have you made an offer for the house ? have you instructed solicitors ?

I think you would be best speaking with the Land Registry. They will be able to tell you if BT do indeed own this land and if the land is registered, the Title Information documentation will indicate what restrictions (if any) have been placed on the land and the accompanying plan will indicate the extent of the land owned.

You can phone the Land Registry - they are very helpful or you can send in a plan of the land in question and they will reply with details of the Title Numbers in question and you would then need to apply for Official Copies. This will cost you money but it isn't very much.

I agree with a previous poster though, I suspect the sellers have already attempted to buy this land with little success and if you have made an offer/instructed solicitors, I would be inclined to make sure that the solicitor raised this exact point.