Buying land next to my house, council not responding?!

Boobelle

Yeah I am going to be writing a letter asking about the not building claws, we're not interested in building on it we don't have the money to, we just have a small garden and want to extend which is why I proposed renting it we wouldn't even do anything with it, just keep it how it is which is grass with a fence around. I did think they may want to build on it in the future but there's land opposite but that's waste they had garages on there and now it's just gravel. A council guy came round earlier last year saying the land was a mess and they were gonna put three houses up there but nothing has come of it, and people were complaining as it would back onto other houses and someone's land who has horses in the field etc so we thought they might turn the land next to our house into parking which would be a nightmare for us.

Can they build on the land next to us even tho we bought it as Semi detached and our draining is down that side?

lincroft1710

Providing the land is large enough for a house and off road parking, yes they can build on it and it is possible to fit a house with side access on to a 5 metre wide plot.

Any house that was built would not be built as an "addition" to your house so your house would still be semi-detached.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Just be aware, a local government planning authority is about the most useless organisation you can encounter. Even with a solicitor you'll find they take weeks to respond to the most basic queries.

Boobelle

It would fit my house on it and with a garden but it wouldn't leave a 5 metre gap unless they make the house a lot smaller but wouldn't have a drive or garden I'd say. We have a small back garden and a tiny front garden it's ab ex council house and ours doesn't have a drive but when we bought it the previous owner sectioned some of the garden off and she drove up the footpath and put a parking spot right outside the house same with our neighbour if that makes sense. The council Tarmaced the village last year and didn't touch our back passsage or the front of the house which is a footpath. In our deeds it says we have to maintain the back of the house and the front which are just old tarmaced pavements.

The house is facing a field with a path in between the bushes and our front fence, and we have to maintain it so they don't tsrmac it? I've just found out it's owned by council as paid for the title plans etc. they Own the back and front which they don't maintain and the land at the side of us.

Dan-Dan

Your being stonewalled , and probably for very good reason (to the council at least) , you mention fears about parking on the land for any future developments , i would expect the council to have earmarked this land for something , sometime in the future and have no intention of allowing it to fall into anyone elses hands , certainly not anyone that cant pay the 60k figure quoted

Test this out by fencing it off , you will soon hear from the council then i suspect

Boobelle

I think that's what they may do if they do anything. The houses on the street go 1,2,4,6,8 so three houses are missing and the guy from the council did mention 3 houses at te opposite side where old garages used to be across the road which is why I think they'll either use this as parking as cars won't all fit on the street or keep it as grass patch as children used to play on it before they moved.

G_M

Boobelle wrote: »

my friend is an estate agent, she said to go to council first to see if they owned it.
Ah. An estate agent. That explains a lot....
I'll check there then, thanks. I just went on our council website and checked and it said amenity so I figured council owned it
No. That is a planning designation. Nothing to do with ownership.
as there's some other land the other side and that shows someone bought it to build and gave his name but he was turned down to build.

You will have to

a) buy the land from whoever owns it and then
b) get Planning Permission for change of use

This may help:

http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/browse/environment-and-planning/land-and-premises/property-and-facilities-management/appsamenityopenspace.htm

Boobelle

G_M wrote: »

You will have to

a) buy the land from whoever owns it and then
b) get Planning Permission for change of use

This may help:

The council do own it I paid for the title.

moneyistooshorttomention

There is your answer then, ie that its down on the Register as "amenity land". That means they don't want anyone building on it = end of. Its for amenity purposes.

I found the following that might clarify:

http://www.ebuild.co.uk/topic/10414-what-is-amenity-land/

Boobelle

Thanks for that I did some research on amenity land before which is why I thought they'd sell for garden purposes cos they don't want people building on it.