First registration with a local authority ransom strip and modified boundaries (dont!)

DemeSon

Background (sorry wordy)

In 1965  My father purchased an Oxfordshire  property with about a third of an acre of land.

In 1972 the neighbours land on the Western boundary was  sold to the local authority with planning permission to build old persons housing. 

In 1982 construction on the old persons housing started and new boundary fence was built. 

My father disputed the new  boundary fence and got into a 3 year legal battle. 

In1985 my father lost the legal case. While sad for my very angry father I believed the Western boundaries were now firmly established by the local authority. My father maintained to those boundaries since 1985.

In 1997 the old persons housing was sold by the local authority to a housing company. 

In 2015 the local authority planning office burnt down.

In  2021 we got power of attorney for my father who is now in care with dementia.

At  around £75,000 per year we will  need to sell the property in the next 24 months to fund my father's care

We have started clearing the property and reviewing  paperwork. I have discovered Dad's property has never  been registered. Also while we were clearing a parish councillor wandered onto the property and suggested that the local authority owned part of our land. I checked with the legal department of the local authority who initially denied it but then later admitted it may be the case. 

I have been given two hand annotated maps that  show a local authority "ransom strip" between our property and the old persons housing. There is no source on the map. The ransom strip as drawn  appears to run on our side of the current boundary fence. As drawn there is no way for the local authority to access the ransom strip. The ransom strip seems to be designed to prevent the old persons housing from extending onto our land. It would not prevent independent development of our land as  there is separate street access to our land.  

My best guess is the ransom strip was built in  by the local authority during the old persons housing sale in 1997, but it could be a left over from 1985.. I can find no records of this ransom strip in the land registry site or on the local authority portal. My request to the local authority for the source of the annotated map has gone unanswered with covid or massive housebuilding locally used as the excuse. Clear off we're busy and this is trivial would best summarise their position.

I do have the title document for the old persons housing but it doesnt tell me anything useful except our western boundary is where i expected it to be.

The problem :

We may have a modified boundary. Our 1965 deeds may be  incorrect because of the 1985 decision. The official records related to the 1985 decision appeared to have gone in the local authority 2015 fire.

We may have a local authority owned ransom strip.  We don't know  if it legally exists, the dimensions,  or whether it is exclusively on our side of the boundary or straddles the boundary fence.

We need to do a first registration to an uncertain boundary.

My idea was to do adverse possession on any possible  "ransom" land on our side of the boundary fence because we have been maintaining it since at least 1997. 

Then map the land to the current boundary fences
Then register the land.

I cannot find any official records related to the ransom strip. I dont know how to adversely possess land i cant confirm the existence of or find official documents for.

I don't want to give a solicitor an open-ended "just get  this done" because I know that could be very expensive. I would like to clean up the registration as much as possible prior to application.

Has anyone seen this kind of problem and can suggest how to get a solution to it going?   

Apodemus

Can you not simply register what you believe is the correct boundary and leave it to anyone else to challenge?  If you can't find any records related to a ransom strip, it is quite possible that nobody else can.  And the Council will not be actively checking for new registrations that are arising.

getmore4less

How do the 1965 deeds compare to what's on the ground?

if there was a boundary challenge why were the 1965 not brought up to date at that time, or have copies of the rulings attached..


If the new fence is inside what the deeds indicate  and the registered  land of the other side is up to the fence then go with the fence.


Any chance there there were other parties involved(surveyors) to resolve the boundary and they may have records.

AdrianC

Presumably, the plot next door is registered?