Establishing ownership of small land strip
Discussion
I've been wondering who owns a narrow strip of land that runs along a short, unadopted cul-de-sac in a town. It is about 2 metres wide and maybe 20m long. If I was able to buy it, it would make our small rear garden slightly larger (the rear garden only borders about 10 of those 20m). The Land Registry search isn't terribly useful, as the names given are too vague to establish which piece of land is being referred to, and I'm not keen to spend money to discover that. Are there any services which show on a map what land you're buying information for, before you buy it?
The land registry site doesn't give much hope of being able to contact the owner, even if you pay up. The title register just says "who owns the property", which doesn't guarantee you'll be able to contact them.
The land registry site doesn't give much hope of being able to contact the owner, even if you pay up. The title register just says "who owns the property", which doesn't guarantee you'll be able to contact them.
Edited by Prawo Jazdy on Sunday 2nd March 17:33
When I had similar interests, it was a matter of getting the title plans from the Land Registry, which showed how the plots for each house had been carved out of a large plot which had originally been a field.
A couple of small areas were 'orphaned' and seem never to have been sold by a long-insolvent development company.
Each plan or document was about £3 from the registry website, I don't think you'll get far without coughing up.
I'd want to be sure who owned the road the terms for using it etc etc anyway.
Your country council may have a definitive online map which may help?
A couple of small areas were 'orphaned' and seem never to have been sold by a long-insolvent development company.
Each plan or document was about £3 from the registry website, I don't think you'll get far without coughing up.
I'd want to be sure who owned the road the terms for using it etc etc anyway.
Your country council may have a definitive online map which may help?
Solicitors can view a title map. I have not found it on line as a consumer.
The title will show a name and plausibly an address for service. There is no point in the address being the land.
If the mere is no address and it is on the name of John smith you have a problem. Whenever I have done it the names have fotunatly been quite unique.
Outside of that I don't know that you have any options. There are no rates to pay etc
The title will show a name and plausibly an address for service. There is no point in the address being the land.
If the mere is no address and it is on the name of John smith you have a problem. Whenever I have done it the names have fotunatly been quite unique.
Outside of that I don't know that you have any options. There are no rates to pay etc
CharlesElliott said:
Thanks for the link CharlesElliot, that is very helpful. It doesn't show the map outline (I assume that's behind the £7 charge!) but it's very handy showing what property titles are withing x metres of point P.(I'm trying to find who owns a small chunk of land near us, looks like I'll need to download several £7 titles to see who has it. Or who hasn't.).
Many years ago I worked in the property team of a large insurance company?
We received an email from a council advising is that we owned a strip of land about 30m by 1m that bordered a pavement. The council advised that the land had a row of conifers on it and the roots of the conifers were damaging the pavement.
I went to look and it was a strip of land at the bottom of a row of houses and indeed there was a row of conifers. I made a note of the houses whose gardens it was at the end of and wrote to each of them offering them the piece at the end of the garden for a £1, and saying if they didn’t agree we’d be felling the trees. They all agreed. My problem solved!
It appears that the strip of land had been kept either on purpose or by mistake when the houses were developed and as a result of various company purchasers we had accidentally ended up as the owner.
Something similar could have happened here. Do you know who developed the site your house is on? Might be worth starting there if they still exist.
We received an email from a council advising is that we owned a strip of land about 30m by 1m that bordered a pavement. The council advised that the land had a row of conifers on it and the roots of the conifers were damaging the pavement.
I went to look and it was a strip of land at the bottom of a row of houses and indeed there was a row of conifers. I made a note of the houses whose gardens it was at the end of and wrote to each of them offering them the piece at the end of the garden for a £1, and saying if they didn’t agree we’d be felling the trees. They all agreed. My problem solved!
It appears that the strip of land had been kept either on purpose or by mistake when the houses were developed and as a result of various company purchasers we had accidentally ended up as the owner.
Something similar could have happened here. Do you know who developed the site your house is on? Might be worth starting there if they still exist.
TwistingMyMelon said:
Easier to seek forgiveness than ask permision
Fence it in and the owner might chirp up
Obvs you risk the cost of the fencing and an irate knock on your door/solictors letter
Friend has done this and gained an existing tennis court size of land from random scrubland behind his house
Some tFence it in and the owner might chirp up
Obvs you risk the cost of the fencing and an irate knock on your door/solictors letter
Friend has done this and gained an existing tennis court size of land from random scrubland behind his house
t tried this with an acre sized bit of rough ground near us - he then spent a decent sum of money on fencing, drainage and clearing the site.Just as he was finishing up the rightfully outraged actual owner appeared and got a solicitor involved to get him off the stolen land. What a waste of time and money when going about it the right way could have seen him buy it for a pretty sensible price.
On a previous house that I owned, whilst we were buying the solicitor opened us up.to.the possibility that the boundaries were not clear.
Our building surveyor came to the rescue (for free).
Our land registry plan was 9/10 fk all use to anyone.the red pen was thicker than the garden.
He identified the 3 properties that the house had a boundary with, and each one showed a different boundary.
What was clear though. The boundary each one had with us was exactly where the fence was, it was just that each showed another boundary to one of the other properties in the wrong place. So as he put it, any owner can only demand you put back the boundary with it, and can not demand you move someone else's boundary.
I was amazed at how easy it was to obtain copies of the title plans from the land registry.
Our building surveyor came to the rescue (for free).
Our land registry plan was 9/10 f
k all use to anyone.the red pen was thicker than the garden. He identified the 3 properties that the house had a boundary with, and each one showed a different boundary.
What was clear though. The boundary each one had with us was exactly where the fence was, it was just that each showed another boundary to one of the other properties in the wrong place. So as he put it, any owner can only demand you put back the boundary with it, and can not demand you move someone else's boundary.
I was amazed at how easy it was to obtain copies of the title plans from the land registry.
Similar thing here...
Strip of land near me which would be ideal for building a house on. Land registry comes up with a name, street and "Last sold for £1,614,994 on 16 February 2017", so I don't think it's getting things right as A: There's no property with that name near me and 2: Even if this strip of land had a contemporary architect designed house on it it'd struggle to be worth that much now, let alone in 2017. Might have to rely on local knowledge.
Strip of land near me which would be ideal for building a house on. Land registry comes up with a name, street and "Last sold for £1,614,994 on 16 February 2017", so I don't think it's getting things right as A: There's no property with that name near me and 2: Even if this strip of land had a contemporary architect designed house on it it'd struggle to be worth that much now, let alone in 2017. Might have to rely on local knowledge.
Finding land ownership easier...
- go to - https://farnborough.uk/
- locate/zoom in to the area that you are after
- drop down the layers menu (top right) and highlight the 'Land Registry INSPIRE Polygons'
- click on the parcel of land you need and it will give you the INSPIRE ID number - copy
- go to the Land Registry website and scroll down to the 'other ways to search' and use the 'search by INSPIRE ID'
- paste in the number
This will give you details of the exact piece of land, as opposed to the 'search within radius' option.
It is now £7 for each of the Title and Register, so £14 total...
- go to - https://farnborough.uk/
- locate/zoom in to the area that you are after
- drop down the layers menu (top right) and highlight the 'Land Registry INSPIRE Polygons'
- click on the parcel of land you need and it will give you the INSPIRE ID number - copy
- go to the Land Registry website and scroll down to the 'other ways to search' and use the 'search by INSPIRE ID'
- paste in the number
This will give you details of the exact piece of land, as opposed to the 'search within radius' option.
It is now £7 for each of the Title and Register, so £14 total...
Tried the above. Comes up with the same result. However, usefully, this site indicates that the land is within a boundary that also includes a very large adjacent building. It's highly conceivable that the value I mentioned relates to the land and building, so still more helpful than .gov.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff