Who owns the house next door?

Cactus_Flowers

I've been trying to find and contact whoever owns the house next door to me and not having much luck so far - I'm wondering if there is an option I've not thought of! So far, I've tried:

• Asking the tenants - when I have managed to speak to them, they've kind of vaguely said they will get me the owner's contact details (they have my phone number and obviously know where I live) but it's always 'later, later' and so far no sign
• Asking the neighbours - the ones I've asked have no idea, the tenants have been here about 5 years so most people assume they are the owners
• Downloading the details from Land Registry - I have names and an address from over 20 years ago. I have googled the names and I might have found reference to one of them, but if it is him then he's elderly and retired and has no social media that I can find

Is there anything I am missing? My best idea at the moment is to write a letter and drop it at the address from 20 years ago, and hope they still live there. I'm sure I could drop a letter 'To the Owner' to next door but I don't think they would pass it on.

This is all because we have a shared garden wall, and I need the owner's go-ahead to fix it and attach a fence on my side - I'm even willing to pay to do the work (I'm having other work done on the garden and house, so adding this on won't actually be that much), all I need is permission and agreement that the builder can work from both sides of the wall.

shiraz99

You could ask the council, they may require landlords to be registered. I would still push the tenants, either they can tell you the owner details themselves or if they're using an agency then you could contact them.

diystarter7

Land registry will have their corresponded address -  consult a specialist see what they say re notice to them re wall and how long you have to wait.
Consult planning/buildg regs in the coucil, I'm sure they've heard of similar before, ask for the duty surveyor.

TELLIT01

The tenants probably couldn't care less about the wall and aren't prepared to put themselves out at all.  Checking with the council will probably be the best first step.

Norman_Castle

Do the tenants know why you're asking? They might be more helpful if its harmess to them.

canaldumidi

diystarter7 said:

Land registry will have their corresponded address -

You'd be surprised how many people don't update the LR when they move. In fact a large percentage of landlords fail to update the LR and just use the address of the property they own/are letting out.

OP- have you tried writing to the named owner at the address enext door? Many LLs have Royal Mail forwarding arranged.

Is there a letting agent involved?

Slinky

canaldumidi said:

diystarter7 said:

Land registry will have their corresponded address -

OP- have you tried writing to the named owner at the address enext door? Many LLs have Royal Mail forwarding arranged.

OP has stated the tenants have been there for 5 years. RM will only provide a forwarding address service for 2 years.

OP you have the automatic right to enter the neighbouring property for essential maintenance to your own. I'd get on with organising it, tell the tenants you're going to repair the wall and will need access from their side to do it. This will either bring out contact from their landlord, or it won't.

The builders may be able to repair the wall by reaching over to the neighbours side, but it won't be as good a finish for the tenants to look at, so it's in their interests to allow your builders access.

J_B

Cactus_Flowers said:

This is all because we have a shared garden wall, and I need the owner's go-ahead to fix it and attach a fence on my side - I'm even willing to pay to do the work (I'm having other work done on the garden and house, so adding this on won't actually be that much), all I need is permission and agreement that the builder can work from both sides of the wall.

NIKE = just do it?

Cactus_Flowers

Thanks, all! To answer some of the questions:

• I can't find a letting agent - I'd think if there was, the tenants would probably have redirected me to the agent to stop me bothering the tenants for this info
  
• They know it's about the wall, but I haven't explained about me being willing to pay and attaching a fence that should look nice on both sides - the brick wall currently leans over into their side so I thought the reasons were obvious, but maybe not
• As I'm only wanting to rebuild a party wall exactly as it is (but so it stands up straight) I think I should just be able to use the .gov template letter to notify them, my concern is that if I just send this next door the tenants will ignore and so 14 days will pass and it'll go into dispute mode. I'm assuming here that if I can only get hold of the owner they wouldn't object - why would anyone object to someone improving something for you!

@J_B's suggestion would be effective, but knowing my luck the owner would turn out to be a solicitor or something so I think I'll try the official route a little bit longer! Think I'll make another concerted effort to catch the tenants and make sure they understand, and go from there

Alnat1

I'd stick a fence up my side and leave the wall, you won't be able to see it then. If it's leaning towards the neighbours house and it collapses, it will be their problem and the mysterious landlord might show up to sort it (or not). At least you won't have an eyesore.

RAS

Have you checked the old address on www.192.com? It won't definitely show if they've moved out, if they've just gone off the public register, but it may show they are still there or were recently.