unregistered land next to our house

captainpants

Hi Forumpeoples

I have a situation which is interesting:

Hubby and I purchased an end of terrace house next to vacant overgrown land (which itself is next to a railway cutting). It's a large bit of land as there used to be a house but apparently it was bombed in the war and they knocked it down so ours is the last on the terrace now.

The previous owners told us that the land was owned by Network Rail but we called them and they said they did not own it.

Land Registry said that it is not registered with them.

The local council doesn't seem to care and I cannot get any of the muppets on the phone to understand - they keep putting me through to a housing association to deal with my query.

We have had squatters move in and they are beginning to really settle in plus increase in number and noise. They create a lot of rubbish and use the land as a toilet (which we can smell in our backyard) so I am eager to get them to move.

Question 1 - who on earth do you call to remove squatters on a piece of land that has no obvious owner? Police? Council?

Question 2 - after reading up on vacant land rights, it seems that if we cannot locate an owner and we occupy the land (by putting up a fence and making use of the land) then we could stand to claim ownership on it after a period of 12 years. Is this correct?

I plan on getting proper legal advice but i am interested to see if anyone has been in this situation before and how they dealt with it.

Thanks

lincroft1710

If this is just a piece of land, what are the squatters living in? They seem to be causing a health nuisance, so try the Environmental Health dept at your council.

catfish50

In other words, you want the Council to get rid of the present squatters so that you can squat on the land yourself.

BornAtTheRightTime

catfish50 wrote: »

In other words, you want the Council to get rid of the present squatters so that you can squat on the land yourself.

I see your point, but the OP suggests they will look after the piece of land rather better than the current occupants, which would surely be a relief to their neighbours.

captainpants

@lincroft1710 - there are some crude sheds on the outer part of the land close to the railway cutting. the vendors told us that Network Rail built/controlled the sheds but Network Rail denies this.

@catfish50 - actually, we want to get rid of the squatters who are having open fires, using the land as an open toilet and creating piles of rubbish so we can use the land to some purpose rather than just having it as an overgrown bramble wilderness which is attracting junkies as well - who tried to break into my car last week. 'kay?

we are doing our best to find the owner and in the meantime i want to know my options and rights. if the owner won't maintain the land, I would like to.

catfish50

BornAtTheRightTime wrote: »

I see your point, but the OP suggests they will look after the piece of land rather better than the current occupants, which would surely be a relief to their neighbours.

Legally, however, they're on the same footing except that the present occupants got there first. And the second set of would-be squatters doesn't have any grounds for getting the council to evict the ones who are already in possession.

It ought to be possible to get the Environmental Health Dept to take action over any nuisance that's being caused. But action doesn't equate to eviction. The squatters may be very well informed about their rights, and indeed may already be known to the Council. If they clean up their act a bit the Council might rather turn a blind eye.

The other complication is that there may well be an owner. Being unregistered doesn't mean there's no owner. It's just hard to find out.

zara*elise

There are websites that advise squatters on abandoned buildings and unclaimed land. These same websites are used to defend their legal right to squat so you may have a battle on your hands.

But in the meantime I'd call EH about the waste on the land. Definitely a health hazard.

catfish50

captainpants wrote: »

...actually, we want to get rid of the squatters who are having open fires, using the land as an open toilet and creating piles of rubbish...

I sympathize with you on the nuisance aspect. Call Environmental Health, as someone else suggested.

lincroft1710

Network Rail inherited so much land from British Rail (previously British Railways) that it may well not know what it has got! As land will have passed from the old pre nationalisation railway companies to BR in about 1948, it could well be that if NR do own it, the deeds may be lost or gathering dust on some shelf.

captainpants

Thanks for the info everyone. I'll speak with Environmental Health. The smell in our backyard this morning certainly woke me up and this is a new development which is why I am looking into this.

I don't think the squatters know their rights as yet. On one hand I do feel bad about working out how to get rid of them but on the other hand I am dealing with an unknown factor which could become a huge problem if I don't take action now.

Will provide an update on the situation whatever happens.

mumcoll

Get in touch with the Planning department at your local council. They can act on 'Unsightly Land' (Section 215 of the Town and CountryAct) and force them to make it good. (If they can find the owner of course!)