cost aside can I dig a big hole under my house?

Generali

wotsthat wrote: »

Too complicated. Just dig another hole to put the soil in.

:T:rotfl::T

I'm going to ask a solicitor or at least try to and actually find out the answer to the following question:

"How far above and below my land does my freehold extend?".

This is a good legal board:

http://boards.fool.co.uk/legal-boundary-cloudsaustralia-13246454.aspx

System

Generali wrote: »

"How far above and below my land does my freehold extend?".

I suspect you are asking the wrong question.
We take freehold as being synonymous with having absolute control over your property. But it isn't really, it is only one of several rights and "ownerships" which can exist over land, at all levels.

Owning the freehold is not the same as owning the mineral rights, water extraction rights, fishing rights, mooring rights if you front a navigable river, air space, or even rainfall rights.
Others may also own rights over your land too - rights of way, rights of highway, rights to string overhead cables, rights to bury pipes, etc.
Also of course you do not own the planning rights.

The best example of the practical meaningless of a freehold right is ownership of freehold that has a public road.
In the absense of proof to the contrary, a frontager owns the freehold to the centre of the road. But he has no rights to do anything with it, and it is valueless, because the freehold rights are trumped by those of the highway authority.

So I would guess the answer is that we expect too much from ownership of a freehold. It approximates to freedom to do what you like, but in practice only up to a point.

Landofwood

I could've sworn someone with a different name started this thread.

Loughton_Monkey

wotsthat wrote: »

Too complicated. Just dig another hole to put the soil in.

I saw two guys doing just that when I walked into town last week!

One was digging the holes, and the other was putting an equivalent amount of soil in to fill it back up.

On the way back, they were still going at a great pace so I couldn't resist asking what they were doing. The reply was "Well, there's usually three of us. But Jack, who plants the tree in, is off sick today."

andyfromotley

Soil disposal - Result!! I've just checked on the 'old style moneysaving' board and theres loads of people on there who survive just fine on eating only earth!! They have reduced their grocery bill to £3.99 per month. (apparently they treat themselves to a bag of sand once a month)

mystic_trev

Landofwood wrote: »

I could've sworn someone with a different name started this thread.

Blimey, you're right! How on earth did they manage that?

onlyroz

Interesting article here:

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/08/land-much-really-right/

C_Mababejive

As per #33,,the idea that people who have a freehold actually own that plot of land is pure fantasy.

The only thing you own is a pile of building material from which the house is constructed. Freehold is nothing more than another form of lease.

Having said that i think digging down really is the future. We should think out of the box and build more underground communities,more underground car parks,more underground everything. Think about it, it makes sense,there is plenty of space underground.

One of the worlds deepest holes was the Kola Superdeep borehole drilled by those Ruskies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole

The photo of the borehole with a blank flange bolted on the top is strange ! All that effort for nothing,,who knows what might come up that pipe.

They stopped drilling once it got too hot and maybe they just suddenly asked themselves why they were doing it !

Just proves how young planet earth is though. Its still very hot down there in hell.

As a side note,,how do you turn a 40,000ft drill in such a small hole anyway ? It amazing they got that far./

Of course they only scratched the surface as the radius of the earth is about 3,950 miles so no danger of some old chap sat on his porch in Canberra getting an SDS drill bit up his fundament.

Generali

Apparently you can perhaps drill down to the centre of the Earth in a cone shape corresponding with the area of land you own at the surface and a infinitesimal dot in the middle.

However, if you encounter any minerals of value you have to stop digging as they will either be owned by The Crown (if previously undiscovered or unsold) or Someone Else (if previously sold).

TheBlueHorse

if theoretically you could dig a hole that went from Spain, through the centre of the earth and came out in Australia - and then jumped down it - would you fly out of the earth in Australia feet first into the air or would you just come to a stop right in the middle - like a bungee?