Rent common land - already have an easment

Ath_Wat

YoungBlueEyes said:

Oh aye. More caffeine required here I think 🙄

Say you fenced it off and added it to your garden, if it’s only “as long as we have the house” would that cause an issue when you sold? What if the council didn’t rent it to your buyers? 

No hang on, why wouldn’t they if it’s making them money…. I’ll just shurrup. 

Well the council might not rent it to any future occupants, but if they don't then those occupants wouldn't be able to use it.  They wouldn't be buying it anyway, they would just be buying the land the OP owns.

I am not sure why the OP would be worried whether the council will rent it to any possible successors; they will be paying the rent for the utility of using it while they live there.  If they rent a car or a 90" tv they wouldn't be selling those with the house either.

ProDave

If it is not true common land that others have a right of access to (as indicated by the intention to fence it) then far more useful would be to talk to the council to see if they will sell it to you.

Ath_Wat

ProDave said:

If it is not true common land that others have a right of access to (as indicated by the intention to fence it) then far more useful would be to talk to the council to see if they will sell it to you.

I imagine they won't do that, or that's what we would be talking about.  Worth asking though.

Section62

jimbo19 said:

The land is adjacent to our garden and is “excepted” as it is within 20m of our property. The strip of land is approx 6m by 20m
what we want to do is fence it off along with our garden.

Have you or the council had legal advice on this “excepted” rule?  Do you know (completely) how it works?

Ath_Wat

Section62 said:

jimbo19 said:

The land is adjacent to our garden and is “excepted” as it is within 20m of our property. The strip of land is approx 6m by 20m
what we want to do is fence it off along with our garden.

Have you or the council had legal advice on this “excepted” rule?  Do you know (completely) how it works?

Again, does it really matter if the OP understands it?  If the council wants to rent it to them and they fence it off and use it, then if anyone else has a problem with it, it's the council's issue to deal with.  If it turns out the council shouldn't have done it, they stop paying rent and it goes back as it is now.

This of course assumes they are not a member of the parish council, which would indeed complicate things.

Section62

Ath_Wat said:

Section62 said:

jimbo19 said:

The land is adjacent to our garden and is “excepted” as it is within 20m of our property. The strip of land is approx 6m by 20m
what we want to do is fence it off along with our garden.

Have you or the council had legal advice on this “excepted” rule?  Do you know (completely) how it works?

Again, does it really matter if the OP understands it?  If the council wants to rent it to them and they fence it off and use it, then if anyone else has a problem with it, it's the council's issue to deal with.  If it turns out the council shouldn't have done it, they stop paying rent and it goes back as it is now.

This of course assumes they are not a member of the parish council, which would indeed complicate things.

I'd consider it my problem if I'd spent money fencing off a piece of land only to be told I had to take my fence back down again. YMMV.

There's also a risk the easement and existing parking aren't as legitimate as they seem, and whilst other commoners might be willing to ignore this so long as it is only parking, putting up a fence could be the red line which results in loss of the easement and the parking as well.

Ath_Wat

Section62 said:

Ath_Wat said:

Section62 said:

jimbo19 said:

The land is adjacent to our garden and is “excepted” as it is within 20m of our property. The strip of land is approx 6m by 20m
what we want to do is fence it off along with our garden.

Have you or the council had legal advice on this “excepted” rule?  Do you know (completely) how it works?

Again, does it really matter if the OP understands it?  If the council wants to rent it to them and they fence it off and use it, then if anyone else has a problem with it, it's the council's issue to deal with.  If it turns out the council shouldn't have done it, they stop paying rent and it goes back as it is now.

This of course assumes they are not a member of the parish council, which would indeed complicate things.

I'd consider it my problem if I'd spent money fencing off a piece of land only to be told I had to take my fence back down again. YMMV.

There's also a risk the easement and existing parking aren't as legitimate as they seem, and whilst other commoners might be willing to ignore this so long as it is only parking, putting up a fence could be the red line which results in loss of the easement and the parking as well.

Depends how much money you spend, doesn't it.  At the end of the day it's rented.  You are paying by the month for use of it for a month.  If your advice is "make sure you properly understand how secure your rental is before you spend a lot of money on fencing", that's fair enough, but just starting to rent and use it isn't something they have to worry about.