buying land off the education board?

jmaster78

Hello everyone, has anyone ever bought land off their local education board? or know the rough price of land per sqm in county down (ards peninsula)? There is an old lane that runs between my property and the local primary school. It is mainly un registered on the land registry, the local council wants nothing to do with it, its of no use to the school though they own a portion, which they seem to have disowned. There is a lot of anti-social behaviour in the lane at weekends as it is used as a shortcut to the centre of the village, mainly by those up to no good and not wanting to be seen. My car and house have occasionally been vandalised as they pass by. My own house is quite small (two bedrooms) and my wife is expecting our second child so I'm thinking of applying for planning permission for a small two story extension. That would take up the bulk of our garden. Obtaining part of the lane would give us a bit more room and also block the lane off to the vandals and under age drinkers that use it. Anyway any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks, John

Ticked

Can't help regards buying, but if you fence it off and use it like it was yours, then, if there are no objections, it becomes your land after a number of years, possibly 12 or 14? Check this out, my old memory is not what it was! In any case, I would plant the access points with a variety of thorny, stinging plants, roses, brambles, gorse, anything nasty, should put the anti social off.

warmhands.coldheart

Careful on that one because if "YOU" block it off with a fence and someone gets hurt climbing over said fence..."YOU" will be liable..... don't you just love the law!!!

saverbuyer

Ticked wrote: »

Can't help regards buying, but if you fence it off and use it like it was yours, then, if there are no objections, it becomes your land after a number of years, possibly 12 or 14? Check this out, my old memory is not what it was! In any case, I would plant the access points with a variety of thorny, stinging plants, roses, brambles, gorse, anything nasty, should put the anti social off.

Adverse Possession.

It's not going to be as easy as blocking it off (its 12 years) and claiming the title; it's a complicated process and could be very very expensive.

I helped out with a local community group a few years back. They were able to buy some land off one of the ELBs.

They had a specific department that dealt with land disposal. They had to pay market value for the land. A surveyor came up with the figure. There was no horse trading, that was the figures. 1/4 acre of land, also had to pay the boards legal fees.

It can be done but it’s a slow process.

qwert_yuiop

saverbuyer wrote: »

Adverse Possession.

It's not going to be as easy as blocking it off (its 12 years) and claiming the title; it's a complicated process and could be very very expensive.

I helped out with a local community group a few years back. They were able to buy some land off one of the ELBs.

They had a specific department that dealt with land disposal. They had to pay market value for the land. A surveyor came up with the figure. There was no horse trading, that was the figures. 1/4 acre of land, also had to pay the boards legal fees.

It can be done but it’s a slow process.

It's worse than that. It's 12 years if you're squatting the next field to your farm, as that's private property. However public property like school grounds are technically the queen's and you need 30 years to acquire title to her ground. A farmer next to drum manor forest park near cooks town tried to claim a field belong to the park a few years ago after 12 years of notorious possession. He was ill advised and got evicted. Her maj is still in possession. Last I heard prince Charles was running a few bullocks there.

saverbuyer

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

It's worse than that. It's 12 years if you're squatting the next field to your farm, as that's private property. However public property like school grounds are technically the queen's and you need 30 years to acquire title to her ground. A farmer next to drum manor forest park near cooks town tried to claim a field belong to the park a few years ago after 12 years of notorious possession. He was ill advised and got evicted. Her maj is still in possession. Last I heard prince Charles was running a few bullocks there.

I know there was a test case recently, (Horse trader v NIHE), I think it was 12 years. Not sure how it works if the board has title.

Land_Registry

jmaster78 - if part of the land is unregistered and part is registered then the complexities involved are automatically increased simply because you are dealing with a mixture of circumstances.

If you go down the adverse possession route then as posted timescales can vary.It may be worth doing some investigation as to possible ownership as well to understand the risks of it being identified as crown land (which includes land owned by government departments) and claimed back in some way as others have mentioned. Understanding if the risks involved are likely to be 12 years or could be 30 years can make a difference.

Other factors may also come into play as to your own appetite for such a choice and also how long you intend to remain in the property - if you build on a piece of land which is not yours and decide to try and sell in a few years you may find nobody who is willing to buy.

Lots to consider and whilst our online guidance (Practice Guides 4 and 5) explains the registration processes involved and some of the legal complexities I would recommend trying to identify the legal owner(s) and seekinn to buy the land as appears to be your original intention.

Golden_Anemone

Northern Ireland has it's own Land Registry Office and the law here can differ significantly from that in GB. The website for LRO in NI is http://www.dfpni.gov.uk/lps/index/land_registration-2.htm

Not knocking the advice given by Land Registry representative which is very sensible but important to understand there are differences in law between the 2 different jurisdictions.

warmhands.coldheart

Golden_Anemone wrote: »

Northern Ireland has it's own Land Registry Office and the law here can differ significantly from that in GB. The website for LRO in NI is http://www.dfpni.gov.uk/lps/index/land_registration-2.htm

Not knocking the advice given by Land Registry representative which is very sensible but important to understand there are differences in law between the 2 different jurisdictions.

Exactly.... it's probably 10 times more bureaucratic over here !!

Land_Registry

Golden_Anemone wrote: »

Northern Ireland has it's own Land Registry Office and the law here can differ significantly from that in GB.
Not knocking the advice given by Land Registry representative which is very sensible but important to understand there are differences in law between the 2 different jurisdictions.

Apologies - I missed the OP ref to 'county down' and should have been more vigilant.
In my, albeit very weak, defence the vast majority of posts on this forum tend to relate to properties in England and Wales (which is my area) but the internet is of course world wide

NI, Eire and Scotland have quite separate registration authorities of course.

Thanks again for being so understanding