council Help!

carla24

Hi
We bought our flat from the council, they accidently gave us too much land for our garden on our deeds. This mean the flat upstairs who are council tennants have no garden, so after 5 years of owining our property the council have decided to give upstairs a garden which is directly outside our sitting room window (this land is not on our deeds), they have fenced off the area, they can look straight in our window! The value of our house will drop dramtically and we have no chance at all of selling! Can they do this? Help!

poppysarah

Did you see the land marked on the deeds before you bought?

carla24

The land they have put the garden on isnt on our deeds, its the fact its right outside our window, they will be in their garden and they can out their faces up aginst our window! We will never ever sell it like this! Its horrendous!

ILW

It appears that the land outside your window never was yours, were you led to believe it was?

carla24

No the land isnt ours, it never was!
We now have no privacey etc, value will be decreased, we wont be able to sell.........where do i go to get help and advice?!

kingstreet

This;-

they accidently gave us too much land for our garden on our deeds. This mean the flat upstairs who are council tennants have no garden

Then this;-

The land they have put the garden on isnt on our deeds

I'm confused. Either the land is yours, or the land isn't.

So the other people have had the right to the use of this land for five years and have failed to do so, believing it wasn't theirs to use? Was there fencing before?

ILW

carla24 wrote: »

No the land isnt ours, it never was!
We now have no privacey etc, value will be decreased, we wont be able to sell.........where do i go to get help and advice?!

Why will you not be able to sell?
It appears that nothing has changed since you bought.
Many flats look directly either onto others or public land.

carla24

Ok, our garden is on our deeds, the land they have put the other garden on isnt on our deeds but it might as well be in our sitting room! As it affects our privacy, value and selling oppotunity I just need advice on whether the council can do this?!

Norman_Castle

I'm assuming the land outside your window was, and still is, owned by the council, and has recently been fenced to provide a garden for the council tenants. If so contact the council and explain how this has and will affect you.

ILW

carla24 wrote: »

Ok, our garden is on our deeds, the land they have put the other garden on isnt on our deeds but it might as well be in our sitting room! As it affects our privacy, value and selling oppotunity I just need advice on whether the council can do this?!

So, what was this land before it was your neighbours garden?

pararct

There are many thousands of houses which abut the street where the people standing on the pavement can look into windows if they so wish. Most people get around it by putting up net curtains.
The land was never yours it is at the whim of whomever owns it to do what they want with it providing of course that is legal. You seem to getting yourself all wound up over something many other people seem to see as a minor inconvenience!!

Is it not possible to do a 'swop' with the local authority? No doubt they would expect you to meet the legal costs of the change but it may be worth looking into. Even if you cannot achieve this you will need a legal opinion as to your right of way onto this land to maintain your windows and exterior wall.