Making income from scrap land??

allyb79

Hello!!

Just wondered if anyone might be able to help me. We've just bought a piece of scrap land that adjoins our boundary fence (mainly to stop kids using it as a shortcut through our garden into our street).

On getting the title deeds back from the solicitors it appears we have had some scrap land on the other side of the road lumped in with it.

On checking with the seller, he told me that he is happy for us to keep this extra bit (bonus), however there is a council dog bin on it.

Question is, should the council be paying rental for this? Should I be cheeky and ask? I'm more than happy for it to stay as I don't think there are enough bins in the area but the little extra money would be helpful.......

MacsReturns

Should I be cheeky and ask?

Yes.

If it was a power pylon or telegraph pole you would be due rent, so it's worth checking where you stand with dog bins After all they need access to your land to maintain it.

111KAB

Just don't push too hard as it sounds as though this is some sort of open space and as such the public may have access. If this is the case the Council may well have public liability insurance to cover - get rid of the Council and you may well find you have to insure yourself.

geordie_joe

allyb79 wrote: »

On checking with the seller, he told me that he is happy for us to keep this extra bit (bonus), however there is a council dog bin on it.

Why not check with the seller what the deal was when the bin was installed.

SailorSam

How much land will you have ?
Could you use it as a car park ?
Or grow things, like a market garden ?

lincroft1710

Councils are not in the habit of erecting/placing street furniture on land that they don't own or have permission to occupy (street signs on old buildings excepted).

I'm therefore wondering if this land did in fact belong to the "vendor".

allyb79

111KAB wrote: »

Just don't push too hard as it sounds as though this is some sort of open space and as such the public may have access. If this is the case the Council may well have public liability insurance to cover - get rid of the Council and you may well find you have to insure yourself.

We ate getting liability insurance anyway as there are a few trees next to the road and we don't want to get stung with a massive clearance bill if one comes down over the winter.

allyb79

SailorSam wrote: »

How much land will you have ?
Could you use it as a car park ?
Or grow things, like a market garden ?

It's not big enough for a carpark or garden, it's a little wider than a grass verge.

whitewing

I assume there is no public right of way over this land? (Assume your solicitor would have checked that).

allyb79

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Councils are not in the habit of erecting/placing street furniture on land that they don't own or have permission to occupy (street signs on old buildings excepted).

I'm therefore wondering if this land did in fact belong to the "vendor".

We did check that he did own it, it's gone through our solicitor and through the land registry (and he only sold it to us for £1) so I think it's unlikely it's a scam.

Anyway our local council doesn't have a great reputation on being careful with other peoples land (recently they tried to sell a patch of privately owned land to a developer for council houses).

I'll check with the previous owner and ask if he made any agreements, then it'll be onto the council......fingered crossed!!!

allyb79

whitewing wrote: »

I assume there is no public right of way over this land? (Assume your solicitor would have checked that).

Not sure that applies as we're in Scotland so technically anyone can access the land. It is open to access as there is no barrier between the land and the pavement??