Claiming Land Ownership - ADVICE NEEDED!

Juris

We are looking to buy a repossessed property so there is no information coming with the house. On 2nd viewing this weekend we have discovered the previous owners have extended their boundary fences to the front of their property around a sizable patch of grass that does not belong to the house/land. (For info it is clear another house at the other end of the street has done the same thing!)

The previous owners bought the house in 1996 when the property was built and have been the only people in the house up until they were repossessed early August 2014 (18 years in the property).

As they have 'claimed' this land as their own for 18 years - where would we stand, as new buyers/owners of the property in terms of claiming that land as ours?

I have done a bit of research and think there is a 12 year rule, that if the person who owns the land (I think council) have not claimed it back within 12 years of you taking it - you can claim it as your own (i.e. complete documents to add it to your land boundaries etc). I think we would need to find an independent resident to sign as witness that they know the land has been in the property's possession for at least 12 years too.

NB: As of 2002 you have to inform the owners of the land that you are going to take possession of the land as your own before you can claim it as your own - but not sure if they can at that point contest it?

I am going to research land registry etc to see if I can find out who owns the land and more information on how to go about it, as if we buy the house I would want to claim the front garden too (if we had to remove the fence panels it would leave the house very exposed and vulnerable!).

Any advice on how anyone else has gone about this process would be much appreciated.

G_M

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-registered-land

violettasomerset

If the patch of fenced land is council but belongs to the highways department then even it has been used for 12+ years by the residents, it will still be highways - once highways it's always highways. Highways land won't always show up as being owned by the council as it's not always registered, but you can get a map showing the adopted highway boundaries from the highways / land searches department at the relevant council. If it looks like it is "verge" next to the road, particularly if it is near a junction, it might be worth checking with highways if the land is that important to you.

moneyistooshorttomention

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and do bear in mind the aggro. that is possible/likely (if you stick around long enough) there with the proper owner of the land if they decide to have their own land back. You might not want that much of a headache...

I've got an attempted land theft going on against me and am contemplating just what I can do in return if they don't stop trying it on against me. I think they might have realised.......and I don't think it will be long now before I have my own land back. Up to you...if you can take the aggro and the realisation that most of the neighbours wouldn't trust you to take in a parcel for them just in case...

cte1111

I would think that the extra land, if it had been successfully grabbed, would still be owned by the people who grabbed it.

So the mortgage company have repossessed the property but they can't repossess the extra land, as this wasn't included in the original security for the loan. You would then have to buy the grabbed land from the people who lived there, as a separate purchase, or grab it yourself by using it for 12 years etc.

moneyistooshorttomention

It's a lot harder than it was/maybe impossible to stage a "smash and grab raid" on other peoples land than it used to be:beer: - courtesy of a law about it in 2002. The Land Registry these days certainly notifies neighbours of an attempted "land grab" in case they are the rightful owner I believe:D.

I'm rather surprised there is still a noticeable number of people who are apparently prepared to "aid and abet"......

cte1111

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I'm rather surprised there is still a noticeable number of people who are apparently prepared to "aid and abet"......

I'm wondering who you are referring to here?

agrinnall

cte1111 wrote: »

I'm wondering who you are referring to here?

Take a wild guess....

cte1111

I think most people were trying to point out the pitfalls and difficulties of an attempted land grab not "aiding and abetting".

Norman_Castle

The previous owners bought the house in 1996 when the property was built and have been the only people in the house up until they were repossessed early August 2014 (18 years in the property).

As they have 'claimed' this land as their own for 18 years - where would we stand, as new buyers/owners of the property in terms of claiming that land as ours?

They may have lived there for 18 years but not fenced this land throughout that time.

moneyistooshorttomention

cte1111 wrote: »

I think most people were trying to point out the pitfalls and difficulties of an attempted land grab not "aiding and abetting".

Okay. Point taken.

Just a bit of a sore spot personally at the moment, with having to beat off an attempted land thief neighbour right now.

The one point I should have mentioned is that, in very last resort, anyone on the receiving end of attempted land theft may have the option to have the land grabbee's house made the subject of a rather "hot" Neighbourhood Dispute (not forgetting that estate agents have recently got a code of conduct that says they have an obligation to disclose any material facts they know of against a house they are trying to sell).

My worst case analysis situation personally regarding my own personal "would-be land grabber" is to provide myself with all the evidence I need to give to whichever EA comes to sell the house "when.....", so they have evidence there is a BIG neighbourhood dispute going on and, in this part of the country, it should be possible to make the "grabbers" house unsaleable until I get my land back:D (a fact that doesn't matter in the slightest to me..as its going to charity eventually anyway).