Can I claim land behind my house?

Land_Registry

If you have confirmed that it is unregistered and you want to try and claim the land then our Practice Guide explains the registration requirements/ essentials

If you want to try and identify the legal owner then it's down to your own detective work really - our blog article offers some advice as to where to look

Le_Kirk

^^^ I wish this had been available when I did mine. I guess because the developer had gone bust I was unable to find any information about who owned the land by using the Land Registry. Mind you this was some years ago and the LR site is so much better now.

cyclonebri1

stator wrote: »

You need to take posession of the land by putting up a fence around it without the owner's permission. Start tending the land in a neutral way (ie don't remove anything or damage anything that might be wanted by the real owner) Then wait about 12 years and claim adverse possession.

Worst case scenario is that the owner notices your fence and asks you to take it down.

You need to have uninterupted/unapposed and active use of the land, again without counter claim, key point is you need to have used it. Simply fencing it off isn't workable. Agreed, keep it low key.

If this is retrospective you need pictures and documentation to support any claims, good luck.:money:

tired_dad

I had an issue with some unused land in a previous house. Land registry indicated the owner was the old developer who has since gone bust.

I investigated purchasing the land and was told that the land becomes part of the "crown estate" if nobody owns it and I would have to deal with them if wanting to purchase. Never did this but the Crown estate said they would sell it to me but I would have to pay their costs and also there would be stipulations preventing building a house on that land

bgm_co

We have had to deal with Crown estates before. Can get complicated.

darkwarrior

Thanks for the information all. The land is not big enough to build a house on, doubt you could build a shed on it, it's basically a triangle, on a steep hill and it's been overgrown with our Russian Ivy for about 20+ years, and steps were prebuilt there leading to our house, so that is it's only use.

To give you an idea, its basically under all that, which I've seen cut back. You can kinda see some stones where the steps were, its blocked on one side by a drive and the other side a brick wall that runs behind our house. It'd give some additional space but nothing you could use for anything like an additional driveway or anything.


EDIT: I'm not after the steps area (though I will rebuild them), just the area up to the spade which is about 6 feet.

londonTiger

George_Michael wrote: »

How can a newspaper be of any use in a photograph as proof of a date in the past?


https://www.ijustloveit.co.uk/products/originalpapers/ONPresentationB.aspx?pid=120


A 12 year old newspaper for £35 and I could then put it in a photo to "prove" that I took the picture 12 years ago.

google satelline imagary is ususally date stamped, that would be handier.

oldandhappy

our next door new neighbours at the previous property.....put in planning for a garage on a very small driveway that was also shared with the next along property... so the measurements where actually incorrect and if true would have been on our driveway which was 6 foot below....we did report the fact to the planning dept and also measured out our plot which did in fact include some of there driveway in truth which had been lost over the years(very typical of land grabbing in the area being unmade roads etc)I put up a rope line from our driveway to where our true land really was and they where really not Happy about that..and it was just to make a valid point really...basically could not have given a hoot but it was neccessary.
Yes I belive you will soon find out if somebody protests if you claim that land....

prowla

darkwarrior wrote: »

Thanks for the information all. The land is not big enough to build a house on, doubt you could build a shed on it, it's basically a triangle, on a steep hill and it's been overgrown with our Russian Ivy for about 20+ years, and steps were prebuilt there leading to our house, so that is it's only use.

To give you an idea, its basically under all that, which I've seen cut back. You can kinda see some stones where the steps were, its blocked on one side by a drive and the other side a brick wall that runs behind our house. It'd give some additional space but nothing you could use for anything like an additional driveway or anything.


EDIT: I'm not after the steps area (though I will rebuild them), just the area up to the spade which is about 6 feet.

Crikey - that does look like a steep hill!

konark

You don't need to use the land, just to fence it off to exclude all others.

After 10 years you've got to contact the owners on the Land Registry but as the land is not registered this is not possible, so after 12 years you apply for adverse possession, the LR send a person out to check the fences etc and then it's registered as yours. We used a solicitor but I suppose it's DIYable.