Purchasing land we have used for years

Mjsmithuwe

Help needed as quite honestly where to even look for this information is beyond me.

So the street have lived on for many years had a small parcel of green land behind each property them a pedestrian pavement and then a road. Over the decades many of our neighbours we able to claim the land directly behind their properties and turn them into drives and adding them to their title plan. They had to get the curb dropped but I have no idea the process of how they went about claiming this small patch of land, which may I add I have been tending too for years without anyone from highways/council doing so. I am looking to downsize eventually and wish to get the driveway made officially. It's annoying that all the neighbours who went through the process are no longer living here. I remember neighbours saying that after so long as the council hadn't been doing anything to it or with it they notice it as your land but I wouldn't want to sell a house without this being official as know it would create huge problems.

Does anyone know of this kind of process or where to start. What I can say is looking at our land registry title plan we don't own it on there.

Slithery

Is the land registered to anyone else or is it unregistered? You can do a map search if unsure.

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/MapEnquiryInit.do

Section62

Mjsmithuwe said:

I remember neighbours saying that after so long as the council hadn't been doing anything to it or with it they notice it as your land....

They were - almost certainly - wrong.

More likely they were able to buy the land, or the council allowed them to construct a driveway on public land, or the land was part of their property to start with.

Slithery's suggestion is the best starting point - you need to find out who owns the land currently.

canaldumidi

There are 2 potential ways to become owner of this land:

* buy it from the current owner (see slithery's post above)

* claim adverse possession (link below). "may I add I have been tending too for years without anyone from highways/council doing so." I suspect that would not be sufficient to argue you've been using it as your own. Fencing it off to incorporate it into your own garden is a better way to go.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-1-unregistered-land-and-2-registered-land/practice-guide-5-adverse-possession-of-1-unregistered-and-2-registered-land-where-a-right-to-be-registered-was-acquired-before-13-october-2003

user1977

Slithery said:

Is the land registered to anyone else or is it unregistered? You can do a map search if unsure.

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/MapEnquiryInit.do

And just to clarify, "unregistered" doesn't mean "not owned by anyone" - if it is owned by the council, it's quite likely their title to the estate isn't registered.

eddddy

Slithery said:

Is the land registered to anyone else or is it unregistered? You can do a map search if unsure.

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/MapEnquiryInit.do

Also, check the title plans for the neighbours' properties with the dropped kerbs.

See if they actually own the parcels of land behind their houses - as opposed to it still being highways/council owned land which they drive across.

(Although, it's possible that the neighbours bought them but didn't merge them into the main properties' titles - so check for that as well.)

p00hsticks

user1977 said:

Slithery said:

Is the land registered to anyone else or is it unregistered? You can do a map search if unsure.

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/MapEnquiryInit.do

And just to clarify, "unregistered" doesn't mean "not owned by anyone" - if it is owned by the council, it's quite likely their title to the estate isn't registered.

If it is owned by the council, then it will be included in their assets register - if you visit the relevant council website then there will probably be a link to it somewhere - try looking for something like 'property asset register'. On ours you can either get it up as a entries on a spreadsheet or highleighted on a map of the district.

housebuyer143

My street has the same. Every house has extended their bank garden into the wasteland between the houses and the pavement and as such they have been adopted as part of the property. 
We didn't tell anyone and no one else owns or wants the land. 

Slithery

housebuyer143 said:

We didn't tell anyone and no one else owns or wants the land. 

All land is owned by someone.

housebuyer143

Slithery said:

housebuyer143 said:

We didn't tell anyone and no one else owns or wants the land. 

All land is owned by someone.

We enquired with the council and they wouldn't accept it as their land. The wasteland is so small it's likely to be were the developer just didn't extend the fences to the rear of the wall they built. 
The houses were built 35 years ago so the land has been fenced in at least 20 years now.

eddddy

housebuyer143 said:

My street has the same. Every house has extended their bank garden into the wasteland between the houses and the pavement and as such they have been adopted as part of the property. 
We didn't tell anyone and no one else owns or wants the land. 

housebuyer143 said:

We enquired with the council and they wouldn't accept it as their land. The wasteland is so small it's likely to be were the developer just didn't extend the fences to the rear of the wall they built. 

The houses were built 35 years ago so the land has been fenced in at least 20 years now.

So the developers retained a piece of land between your back gardens and a pavement/road running behind your houses...

That sounds very much like a ransom strip.


But the developers might have been thinking more about the possibility of houses being built in your back gardens - rather than preventing driveways / parking.