Acquiring unregistered land in front of my house

TeratoidBobcat

There is a patch of grass between the boundary of my driveway and the pavement. I would like to acquire this piece of land in order to increase the size of my driveway. The boundary for nearly every house on my road goes up to the pavement. I am the first house where the boundary is set back, and this is the same for my three immediate neighbours, after which the boundaries go all the way up to the pavement.

I have done some research and found the following:

• The Land Registry has no record of who owns this patch of land
• I have contacted my council and they have confirmed they do not own this land
• The council has told me there is a public right of way over this land and I have confirmed this through their online map

This small patch of land has no public benefit as there is a standard width pavement and grass verge between the land and the road for public use. My belief is that the public right of way is a historic thing from when the houses in our area were first built.

My house was built in the 1920s, the development company no longer exists (went bankrupt) and I've not been able to trace any potential owners of this land.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can apply for the public right of way to be extinguished and then to take on the land? My council has suggested I apply for planning permission on that land and then apply for a stopping order under section 247 of the town and country planning act (as opposed to section 116 of the highways act). If this is all successful, then presumably I will need to make the land part of my driveway for 12 years before applying for adverse possession?

My questions

• does this sound like a sensible approach?
• am I able to apply for planning permission on land that I don't own?
• given that planning permission is not typically required for a driveway, is this approach actually an option for me?
• Would the ad medium filum rule apply in this instance by any chance?
• are there any additional considerations I need to make to maximise my chances of being successful with this?

Sorry for the lengthy post and thanks in advance to anyone who can help! I'm not an expert in this area at all and have spent days doing my research so any help would be hugely appreciated.

G_M

TeratoidBobcat wrote: »

........
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can apply for the public right of way to be extinguished and then to take on the land?
You can (perhaps) take on the land, but you can't extinguish the ROW.

But extending your drive would presumaby not obstruct the ROW (unless you installed gates etc).

My council has suggested I apply for planning permission on that land and then apply for a stopping order under section 247 of the town and country planning act (as opposed to section 116 of the highways act).

Hmmm - OK. Maybe they know more than me.

If this is all successful, then presumably I will need to make the land part of my driveway for 12 years before applying for adverse possession?
Yes

My questions

• does this sound like a sensible approach? Yes - 'ish'!
• am I able to apply for planning permission on land that I don't own? Yes
• given that planning permission is not typically required for a driveway, is this approach actually an option for me? Possible 'Change of Use' under plaanning law?
• Would the ad medium filum rule apply in this instance by any chance? I don't believe so as your land does not abut public land/highway or a river. It abuts land owned by persons unknown.
• are there any additional considerations I need to make to maximise my chances of being successful with this?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-1-unregistered-land-and-2-registered-land

Though some of this is specialist areas where I don't have intimate knowledge!

parking_question_chap

• given that planning permission is not typically required for a driveway, is this approach actually an option for me?

I would guess they are just suggesting you might need planning permission to change the use of the land to residential, rather than suggesting this as a way to claim ownership/cease the right of way.

Cakeguts

This is a problem with old rights of way. The fact that they don't go anywhere anymore doesn't mean that they don't continue to exist. So you will then have a right of way running over your drive meaning that you will not be able to fence it off as part of your garden.

Davesnave

I think you might get away with fencing it off, and you could then be able to claim adverse possession on it eventually, but that would depend on no one raising an objection to the fence in the meantime.

Even if you succeeded in achieving adverse possession, you could never be 100% sure that someone might not challenge the fencing, because the right of way would still exist. It's unlikely, however, if there would be no obvious benefit to the public in making such a challenge.

Cakeguts

My suspicion is that the reason why these houses have been built with this patch of land left like that is because the builder of the houses couldn't get rid of the right of way.

Norman_Castle

Would it be easier to have the ROW moved to the pavement?

Tiglet2

Could there be the slightest chance that cables run through the patch of grass, such as BT cables, internet cables or even drainage pipes? If so, it may prove very difficult to acquire the patch of land without the agreement of those companies.

Davesnave

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Would it be easier to have the ROW moved to the pavement?

You would think......but have you ever tried to move a RoW? Madonna tried; may even have succeeded too, but most of us haven't Madonna's sort of money.

Someone near me did move theirs slightly without official approval, but locals aren't impressed. One of my friends maintains a geocache where the RoW used to be.....:rotfl:

elmer

Will any of the above remedies cause you issues when you come to sell, I certainly wouldn't want to buy a house with an unresolved ROW on part of the garden

elmer

G_M

elmer wrote: »

Will any of the above remedies cause you issues when you come to sell, I certainly wouldn't want to buy a house with an unresolved ROW on part of the garden

elmer

In what way would it be an ' unresolved ROW'? It would simply be a ROW through the garden.

There are 1000s of properties with ROWs running through them (my neighbour has one across his lawn, sign-posted from the road!).

In many cases, the ROW is barely known of by the public, and even mre rarely used, and causes no inconvenience to an owner.