Likelihood of covenant on council-maintained private land?

Yamenja

There's a little green opposite my house that the council have always maintained (cutting the grass, maintaining street lights on paths, etc). The land has just come up for sale on Rightmove, as it turns out it is privately owned (so would originally have belonged to the company that built the surrounding houses in the 60s). While I am waiting for responses and ploughing through various checking processes, I'd be glad to hear if others share my opinion that because the council maintain it as a public space, it's very likely that there is a covenant on the deeds which would stop any building or denial of public access on it. It was a bit of a shock to learn of the sale (by auction) so I'd be glad of anything that might put my mind at rest. Its quite a small area - 1,224m2. I've heard a similar plot has already been sold nearby. The current owners seem to specialise in buying and selling little plots like this one.

user1977

It's possible it's (at least partly) adopted by the council for maintenance so the underlying ownership may be meaningless.

Martin_the_Unjust

Won’t the property’s legal pack from the auction house tell you?

p00hsticks

Have you tried looking at the title for the land - you can find it and buy a copy for £3 via the land registry.

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

How is the land described on Rightmove - that would probably indicate if there is potential to build on it, as it will be far more valuable if there is.

As an aside - just because it's up for sale doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't previously owned by the council - round our way our local council have been selling off odd bits of land like this to raise funds for the coffers, If you look on your local council website it sohud lhave an assets register somewhere that shows all the land owned by them.

lincroft1710

Lots of "green areas" on recent(ish) developments are coming up for sale and applications for planning permission for a dwelling often follow a sale. 2 or 3 years ago these sell offs were hotly disputed by neighbouring residents, but this now seems to be accepted procedure.   

Yamenja

Martin_the_Unjust said:

Won’t the property’s legal pack from the auction house tell you?

The download on the website didn't work. The spiel suggests it would be suitable for other uses subject the planning permission. My post is just to try and put my mind at rest while waiting to hear back from various bodies.

p00hsticks said:

Have you tried looking at the title for the land - you can find it and buy a copy for £3 via the land registry.

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

How is the land described on Rightmove - that would probably indicate if there is potential to build on it, as it will be far more valuable if there is.

As an aside - just because it's up for sale doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't previously owned by the council - round our way our local council have been selling off odd bits of land like this to raise funds for the coffers, If you look on your local council website it sohud lhave an assets register somewhere that shows all the land owned by them.

Hello Poohsticks, how nice to see you here! Yes I might well do as you suggest, thanks, if the councillor looking into it for me doesn't come back with anything definitive. The Rightmove blurb specifies an owner that isn't the council and suggests use could be made of the land subject to planning permission.

Yamenja

lincroft1710 said:

Lots of "green areas" on recent(ish) developments are coming up for sale and applications for planning permission for a dwelling often follow a sale. 2 or 3 years ago these sell offs were hotly disputed by neighbouring residents, but this now seems to be accepted procedure.   

Thanks Lincroft. I can imagine this being the case, given the pressure for newbuilds at present, and especially as a chunk of the park it borders on has recently been sold, which we only discovered when this one came onto the market. 

Yamenja

user1977 said:

It's possible it's (at least partly) adopted by the council for maintenance so the underlying ownership may be meaningless.

Thank you. Here's hoping!