Council offering to sell me my own land?

AlbearF

Hi,


I have recently received a letter from the Council stating that I have been illegally using council land which backs onto my house.
I have owned this house from new (1984), and as my house backs onto a main road the lorries used to park along the back and the garden was smaller than initially given on the plan. I took the Council to court for the right to have the land in 1993 and won on appeal.
As far as I was aware this was the end of the matter. Now 21 years later I and my neighbours on each side have been sent these letters (they also appealed for the right to add this narrow strip of land to their gardens and won based on the precedent set my my case), stating that we have all been using the land illegally and giving us 28 days to return the land to its intended usage, or alternatively there may potentially be the opportunity to purchase the land in the future.
Somehow the council has lost their records of my previous case against them, and unfortunately the neighbours on either side are not the original purchasers of the houses so their cases (which the Council haven't lost) are not valid. I have contacted my solicitors from the case who have not given me a great deal of information on what's going on except to state that I should contact the builder direct and ask to remove a restrictive covenant on the land which they put in place.


Could someone please explain to me what is going on and what the odds are of me keeping my garden without having to fork out thousands to the council?


Thanks

G_M

Have you not got the paperwork from your Appeal? Surely that will show the land is yours

the council have just forgotten, or some clerk has dug up the original paperwork but not the related court papers.

AdrianC

Is this land shown on either a LR registration or deeds as belonging to you?

kiddakidda

At which court did you win your appeal? The courts wouldn't have lost the paperwork. Arrange for the court ruling documents to be sent back to the council.

Cheeky incompetent blighter's!!

Thrugelmir

AlbearF wrote: »

ask to remove a restrictive covenant on the land which they put in place

Which was?

Propertyauthor

Worth checking what your title deeds show - you can do this via https://www.landregistry.gov.uk and see if your boundary includes the land you think you have, if it does you just need to show this to the council and I suggest your neighbours use it too. Plus if you have any previous paperwork proving it, this should help to.

It's also worth contacting the Land Registry for help and guidance: https://www.gov.uk/your-property-boundaries

Hope that helps, be keen to know how you get on.