'borrowing' wasteland to grow on?

[janeyo]

I might try the thing about complaining to the council about the weeds.

The messy bit isn't mine! ie the whole strip down the side of the house - 23 feet and 220 feet long.

Land Registry tell us that they know it has to belong to someone but they just don't know who as it wasn't a legal requirement to register land before 1991. And they say we have to maintain it for 12 years before we can lay claim to it.

I am still on the case... and it is defo not ours although land registry did say it looked like it could be lol.

[janeyo]

Let the guerilla gardening commence!

So after having our skip on the bit next door for 6 months last summer while we did the house up, in the hope it would flush out who it belonged to, nobody batted an eyelid.
So I covered a chunk up with black plastic and have now started to peel it away and dig.
I plan to put all my spuds there this year.

It's hardgoing though, the people who built this house 25 years ago have obviously used it too and I can't get a spade in without hitting bricks and lumps of cement. Under this though the soil is good. And hardly any deep weeds, presumably as there is so much rubble there. And plenty of worms too. There is about 4 inches of barren soil, then some rubble, then good soil under - I've got my work cut out

[bobleponge]

Seeds are on the way Janeyo.
Just be warned and give them LLLOOOTTTTSSSS of space each, cos by jiminey do they grow.

[organic]

Interesting to read this story as I work in the planning arena (which does my head in to be honest - there's no justice or common sense in it whatsoever!).

I'm sure there's a way to find out who owns land that's not on the land registry, but at the moment it's slipped my memory. I'll ask someone more likely to know and get back to you.

As the Land Registry said it looks like it could be yours I'd almost be tempted to take another route. Take a look at the deeds for your bit of land going back as far as you can find. It might actually be that it DOES belong to you but somewhere along the way has been forgotten about.

And the reason I responded at all is this: Whatever you do, do try to find out who owns the land, or maybe more importantly, try to find out if anyone owns the land. If it is actually unclaimed land there are ways to go about legally laying claim to it and then it'll be yours. Not my area of expertise, but I know for sure that it goes on.

All the best.

[northepaul]

This is a really interesting thread. Although it is possible that no-one knows who owns the land, and if its not on your deeds at all, it could very well remain a mystery.

We have a similar thing with our house - the land its build on was formally leased by the large estate that once stood nearby, (in 1875) to three different people to use as a yard. The previous owner to us didnt bother to try and get title to the land, so it remains owned by someone (we checked with the said former estate and not them) but no-one knows who. Its quite annoying because we only have "Good Lease-hold" title.

However I imagine its different with land not built, or for building on?

[Nicos]

What jumps out to me , is that someone said they know who the owner is but didn't want to get on the wrong side of them
why?
are they aggressive, or up to something????
why argue about a bit of fencing too???

all seems a bit strange to me!!!

I'd go for plants easy to remove- just in case....my gut feeling is that it is indeed waiting to become an access road to the wooded area...eventually, and if they kicked up about a bit of fencing, they may well do the same about veg.

might be a bit sneaky- but are there some decent trees in the wooded area that you- and your neighbours- can request a TPO for?
(just thinking about the future if you don't want a small estate overlooking your garden!)
...someone is clearly up to something

[organic]

Seconded on the TPO front.
Pre-empting planning applications should make it far easier to fight a planning application when it's underway... We've just lot the fight against bulldozing a load of Grade 2 listed historic parkland that's a designated greebelt into a floodlt, astroturfed nightmare of an eyesore.

TPOs wouldn't have helped in that case, especially considering the corruption evident in the process when statutory consultees who are opposed to the scheme had their reports openly ignored by the council - in short, the Labour council members steamrollered it through while all other councillers voted against - and it's not meant to be a party political issue... but being involved in the fight against made me realise just how hopeless the fight can be and how having extra elements to fight with can help. Didn't help us, again, but it was a surprise when it didn't.

In other cases though, obtaining a few TPOs in anticipation of a fight against development could well be a very useful tool to have.

Also look into things like bats, owls and the likes. If you know there's something in there that can be effective in the fight against development too.

[BFG]

There's an area outside my house that I've been looking after for almost 10 years. The people I brought the house from used to tend it before me and gave me a photo of an old cobblers hut that used to be on it and belong to this house, but it wasn't on the deeds.

I mow it, weed, paint the railings etc and have planted some beds. No one else have ever shown any interest in it (other than commenting on me doing a good job when passing by), it has private signs up and the council doesn't touch it.

Not sure I've got a lot to gain, since it seems to be mine by default, but how would I go about finding out who owns it? I'm hoping it might actually officially be me.

As it's a bit of land, rather than a property, do I just do a search on that area on the land registry? It won't have changed hands recently, so will they know? If they don't know, do I get my money back?

[janeyo]

They told me that before 1991 there didn't need to be any record of who sold what to whom. So if it hasn't changed hands since then then it might not be on the record, as land generally wasn't registered until they built on it.

I think it's a shame you haven't got pics and evidence to show you have been tending the land for so long, as you can claim land that belongs to no-one after 11- 12 years. There is loads on the net about it all.

I might be tempted, in your case, to just carry on, as you don't want to open a can of worms and drag owners out of the woodwork who then want to claim it after all your hard work for so long. (Ours is an eyesore and as we have only been here a short ammount of time I wanted to know whose it was before I spent any effort out!)

http://www.profitdata.co.uk/adversep...on_248959.html

Good luck and hope you find out more than we have been able to

[organic]

With the Land Registry it's possible to identify a bit of land by clicking on a point on a map and they'll tell you who owns it if they have a record. It's been a while since I used the site but I distinctly remember it being a pain in the backside.