Council land advice

HayleyB26

Hi all, just after a bit of advice... When we purchased our property in June 2020, we had a document that said for over 12 years the land at the side of our property (although isn't detailed in our deed) has in fact been maintained by the owners of the house.

We want to enquire about purchasing some land from the council to the rear of the property, but my question is, our we best to address the land at the side of the property first? So that it legally becomes ours.

Any advice will be welcomed.

Slithery

Is the bit at the side registered as being owned by the council?

p00hsticks

HayleyB26 said:

Hi all, just after a bit of advice... When we purchased our property in June 2020, we had a document that said for over 12 years the land at the side of our property (although isn't detailed in our deed) has in fact been maintained by the owners of the house.

We want to enquire about purchasing some land from the council to the rear of the property, but my question is, our we best to address the land at the side of the property first? So that it legally becomes ours.

Any advice will be welcomed.

Was the document obtained / provided with a view to claiming adverse possesion of the land ?

Has the land in question been fenced off so no one else can use it for that period of time ?

ProDave

Yes, just mowing that bit of land means nothing, it would have to be fenced to exclude everybody else other than your house from it for 12 years to stand a chance of adverse possession.

And beware of the trap, if the council offer to sell it to you for £1 and you say yes, you have admitted you don't own it and reset the clock.

Section62

HayleyB26 said:

We want to enquire about purchasing some land from the council to the rear of the property, but my question is, our we best to address the land at the side of the property first? So that it legally becomes ours.

Is the land to the side highway land (a legal status, it doesn't have to be a road to be 'highway land')

How important is getting the land at the rear to you?  If you attempt a land grab on that to the side you will probably lose any chance of the council being willing to negotiate on selling the land to the rear.

canaldumidi

Who owns the land at the side? Have you done a map enquiry?  (or use https://www.landregistry-uk.com/map-search but don't purchase LR Title from here!)

Is the land enclosed ie incorporated into your garden/physical boundary? Or just 'maintained' eg mowing the grass?

What is the document? form ST1?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-registered-land/practice-guide-4-adverse-possession-of-registered-land

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

HayleyB26

Slithery said:

Is the bit at the side registered as being owned by the council?

Yes, but we have a document to protect us if they were to try to claim the land, as it's been over 12 years. When we purchased house, the vendors had this drawn up for us.

Slithery

HayleyB26 said:

Slithery said:

Is the bit at the side registered as being owned by the council?

Yes, but we have a document to protect us if they were to try to claim the land, as it's been over 12 years. When we purchased house, the vendors had this drawn up for us.

Protect how? The council don't need to claim it, it's already registered as belonging to them.

It's much harder to claim adverse possession on registered land than it is on unregistered land.Has it been fenced off so no-one else can access it for all this time?

HayleyB26

Slithery said:

HayleyB26 said:

Slithery said:

Is the bit at the side registered as being owned by the council?

Yes, but we have a document to protect us if they were to try to claim the land, as it's been over 12 years. When we purchased house, the vendors had this drawn up for us.

Protect how? The council don't need to claim it, it's already registered as belonging to them.

It's much harder to claim adverse possession on registered land than it is on unregistered land.Has it been fenced off so no-one else can access it for all this time?

Yes it's been completely fenced off and has formed part of the garden. The previous 3 owners have been maintaining it for all of this time. 

Separate to this, there is some land to the rear of the property we are interested in buying from the council. Are we best to approach this first? Or tackle both at the same time.

canaldumidi

I don't believe an enquiry regarding purchase of the land at the back would be in any way related to, or influenced by, your intention to claim adverse possession of the land at the side, which you could do first, in parallel, or subsequently.

Like others I'm somewhat sceptical regarding your chances of successfully claiming the side land via adverse posession, but that's a seperate matter. Have a read of the link I gave you earlier.

Re the land at the rear, the council will either be willing to sell, or not, irrespective of what happens at the side.

Section62

canaldumidi said:

Re the land at the rear, the council will either be willing to sell, or not, irrespective of what happens at the side.

I'm not sure that will be the case.

Enquiries about the land to the rear will almost certianly lead to discovery of the issue with the land to the side, so the side issue will need to be resolved before (or during) discussions about the rear.

An AP claim on the land to the side is likely to lead to an adversarial relationship between the OP and the council.  That won't be a conducive environment to persuade the council to sell the land to the rear - they don't need to sell but would have to follow the rules on achieving value on the disposal.  It's difficult to see how value can be demonstrated by selling the OP one plot of land and giving them the other.

The best chance of sucess is probably making an offer to buy both plots, but that relies on the OP accepting they don't already own the side plot.

There's also still the open question whether the side plot is highway land - and also (possibly) confirming that the first person to fence/maintain the land didn't do so with the consent of the council.