Extending front garden into verge

[WendyS]

There are 4 houses on our side of a cul-de-sac which have a council owned verge which we householders have all mown & maintained for 25 years. 3 new houses have just been built alongside ours where a house has been demolished. The builder seems to have illegally commandeered most of the previous existing verge outside the demolished house to enlarge the small front gardens of the new houses . We are challenging the builder's right to do this with the planning authority but if the council let him get away with it, does this give us a precedent for enlarging our front gardens and encompassing the verge into our frontages too?

[buildersmate]

It probably isn't a Planning issue - its a land ownership issue, however in this case the owner of the land Is the council. If you fence off and maintain a piece of land for more than 12 years (10years for registered land) you can start the process of claiming it by Adverse Possession. Clearly the builder can't do this - whether or not the previous occupant of the now demolished house maintained the strip, the right to claim ownership through time doesn't transfer with the sale (as far as I know). A better bet may for you all to buy the strips of land off the council who may be willing to sell. However you may be prevented from moving the fence (should you have wanted to extend the size of your fenced garden) because of visibility splays for vehicle traffic coming around the corner.

[Catso]

To be pessimistic about it, the way these things seem to work is that he'll get away with out, but you'll be prevented from doing similar.