Council claim land is theirs - do I have a case, or do I give it up?

paddedjohn

Ask them if the land is for sale, sorted.

bouicca21

Are the title deeds really so accurate that a piece of land that small can be identified? Using the usual 'features on the ground' doesn't the wall create a presumptive boundary?

frugalsmurf

Won't it just stay as it is? Unless they really need to knock down a wall and fence it off? I can't see councils budgeting for this just for the point if it when it's been like this for years....may be I'm wrong though.

AdrianC

ChrisH87 wrote: »

You could look at it like that, and to add - I'm also a tax payer and I've worked full time permanently since I was 17, but my perspective on this is slightly different...

That's very nice, an' all, but it still doesn't give you grounds to stick a big flag on the council's property and say "This is mine now."

Maybe because - when the club was burnt down and my house nearly went up in flames with it, I didn't see the council offering to fix the damage to my house

Why was your claim rejected by their insurer?

I've also had to continually maintain the land to stop all the overgrown nettles taking over my garden.

No, that was entirely your choice. You could have erected and maintained a boundary at the end of YOUR land, and maintained just your land.

At the end of the day, it's swings and roundabouts - it's waste land as I said, at the moment its been abandoned for 7 years and counting - and nobody is missing out (it's walled off to the public!)

The council tax payer would be losing out, to the value of the land. Which, as a brownfield development site, could well be substantial.

magpiecottage

antrobus wrote: »

Adverse possession.

The technicalities differ on whether it is registered or unregistered land, but nine years possession is not enough.

I looked into this a couple of years ago.

As I recall, the concept of adverse possession was that the land was enclosed and used by the claimant for a period in excess of twelve years without objection.

This was largely because, in the days before land registration, there was no centralised record and nobody could trace it if somebody had disappeared.

Interestingly, as we go through various WW1 centenaries, you could not take property from an enemy national by adverse possession.

However, it was abolished in 2002 because most land in England and Wales is registered and the real owner can be identified. So to claim adverse possession now you would need to show you had enclosed and used the land since 1990.

ChrisH87

Thanks - I'll give that a try!

ChrisH87

Interesting... They've not said how they intend to do that, there's certainly no mention of demolishing the wall.

Another question On that note - the land was previously used as a dumping ground for soil and all sorts of stuff - when I tidied it up I levelled it off and created a banking which enters my garden (the land is actually about 5ft higher than the rest of my garden!) - as that soil and banking is probably 1m into my own garden, is it likely they would remove it and leave my garden level?! Again I wouldn't be massively be bothered either way.. But I may aswell ask! - it's partly in my garden because their boundary has never been properly defined.

ChrisH87

Planning was approved last year, that's not an issue any more

ChrisH87

bouicca21 wrote: »

Are the title deeds really so accurate that a piece of land that small can be identified? Using the usual 'features on the ground' doesn't the wall create a presumptive boundary?

I think (from the deeds of my own property) that the boundary line is basically straight, but this land is a rectangle off the side of it... That was basically my thoughts though - the wall has been the 'boundary' for at least 30 years and as I say, no real boundary has ever existed where they say it should

ChrisH87

magpiecottage wrote: »

I looked into this a couple of years ago.

As I recall, the concept of adverse possession was that the land was enclosed and used by the claimant for a period in excess of twelve years without objection.

This was largely because, in the days before land registration, there was no centralised record and nobody could trace it if somebody had disappeared.

Interestingly, as we go through various WW1 centenaries, you could not take property from an enemy national by adverse possession.

However, it was abolished in 2002 because most land in England and Wales is registered and the real owner can be identified. So to claim adverse possession now you would need to show you had enclosed and used the land since 1990.

So, I know there have been about 5 owners of my property in the last 30 years - but I lived in the adjacent house between 1989 - 2007 - the wall existed before 1989, and it's been visible to me nearly every day since that time - the lack of boundary where they claim the real boundary should be has also been visible by me for the same amount of time. Is it likely that would hold up, or does it have to be MY property for 30 years?