neighbour taking over land I have looked after for 30 years

LondonRose_2

Thank you for reading my post I am looking for advice n where to start.

My home is an ex local authority end of terrace at the back of my garden is a drive which takes you to 2 disused garages behind my neighbours house. My neighbours house is still owned by the council and they rented the garages from the council, as I am a builder I use to rent one from him for many years paying cash in hand. One day about 15/20 years ago my neighbours car clipped the garage and they were semi collapsed the council boarded them up and I have since replaced the boards myself after finding people had started to flytip in the empty garage. The garages contain aspestos and have just been left. The deeds of the house show that the land is council owned but when I have contacted them on many occasions they claim not to know who owns the land and that's coming from estates. I have used that land for 30 years and cleared out the rubbish frequently and now my neighbour in a house behind me has started to use it as a drive and installed an entrance onto the land she has advised one of they neighbours she will be claiming the land. I have had a lot of issues with my neighbours noise, anti social behaviour ect and obviously now annoyed that she is taking over an area of land I have used for the last 30 years.

I would appreciate if anyone could offer some advice and guidance on this.

PasturesNew

This is a complex one to sort out .... but to "claim" the land I believe you also need to have fenced it off and nobody to have complained - you didn't fence it off .... and your neighbour hasn't ... and I think it now takes 20 years and the fencing and no complaints from a landowner before you can even put in a claim.

I bet... in short ... neither of you will ever be able to claim this land you both want.

The Council will be able to produce paperwork they own it if pushed... they've got deeds on plots of land going back to the 1600s, so it'll be in a bundle somewhere, just nobody there is motivated enough to dig it out on your vague enquiry in the past.

Guest101

Adverse possession can be a nightmare to prove. Can you afford a legal battle?

LittleMax

Do you want to buy the land? If so ask the Council about purchasing it? Sounds like they may be willing to sell, and might motivate them to dig the appropriate documents out.

LondonRose_2

I have called the council estates on many occasions to enquire about purchasing but constantly told we don't know who owns the land sorry nobody can help even though its on the house deeds. It is a tricky one as we could purchase our land fence it off but then the garages would not be accessible when the council finally decide to rip them down if that makes sense.

I would rather purchase the land than fight a big legal bill. I am just desperate for my neighbour not to claim it as I can barely have peace in my garden at the moment constant boom boom music going on let alone if she extended her garden to the end of mine.

LondonRose_2

What's the next step to take if council are uncooperative because if I sit and do nothing my neighbour will claim the land as she is already using it as her own personal driveway.

Guest101

LondonRose wrote: »

What's the next step to take if council are uncooperative because if I sit and do nothing my neighbour will claim the land as she is already using it as her own personal driveway.

Use it as your own personal driveway?

EachPenny

PasturesNew wrote: »

The Council will be able to produce paperwork they own it if pushed... they've got deeds on plots of land going back to the 1600s, so it'll be in a bundle somewhere, just nobody there is motivated enough to dig it out on your vague enquiry in the past.

With councils there's also a huge motivational difference between "is this your land, you need to come and maintain it" and "is this your land, can I give you some cash for it?".

teddysmum

Bypass the customer service staff and enquire higher up.

Jimmy_Neutron

Put a skip on the land and see what the neighbour says. If she says she owns to land tell her to prove it. I'm assuming your neighbours will back you up if she causes trouble by saying you have used the land for x amount of years.

LondonRose_2

Thanks great advice from you all, I have just emailed the council enquires section to request details of the contact person.

Does anyone know would this be the estates manager? trying to google to find details as last time I called the estates department they would not give me the estates manager email address.