Ownership of land

[shoyle]

Hi,

My mother has a end terrace which has adjacent land attached at the side, rear and front. The house used to be council owned but was purchased around 1971. During that time the land has been maintained by my father (now deseased) and mother although it has always been owned by the Council.

Around 2/3 years ago the council sold the land to a private developer who now look after the surrounding X council houses and land although have never maintained my nothers house and have never enquired about doing so.

The house is now up for sale but when an application to the Land Reg was made the private developer objected as they say the land is theirs so we can either remove the brink wall, all the fencing and hedges around or purchase the land.

I read an interesting article http://www.practicalconveyancing.co.uk/content /view/9683/1109/ from a previous post so was wondering if anyone knew where I stood with regard to claiming the land which we have maintained for the last 30 years +...

I believe the land could be as much as �3000 to purchase but ive been looking into adverse possesion and squatters rights... my mother is not well at all and this is causing her great strain as you can imagine..


Thanks in advance...

[johntywino]

I,m pretty sure that if the land has been fenced or walled in you have full rights to it after 12 years.. If it has NOT been fenced and you have looked after it, it doesn't mean a thing !. (I THINK)

[buildersmate]

You say "an application was made to the LR". An application for what?
It used to be correct that if one fenced in and maintained a parcel of land for at least 12 years, an application could be made for Adverse Possession. In 2002 the law was changed in respect of this process for land that is already registered at the LR. The change was done to make sure that land that was registered could NOT merely be lost to an applicant making an Adverse Possession claim without the LR writing to the registered owner and asking them whether they had a claim.
Even if the council-owned land had not been registered (perfectly possible), when the land was sold to the developer 2/3 years ago it is DEFINITE that the land is now registered.
So, whilst you could make a claim for Adverse Possession, I'm that it will fail and the owner will claim his land back.
The sad fact is that your parents should have made this application before 2002, when it might well have succeeded.

[jen78]

Was it an application for adverse possession which was made as that would make sense at the Land Registry would have sent notice to the registered proprietor (developer) giving them the chance to object.

Have your parents ever had any rights to use the land and was it ever designated as anything specific such as amenity land for the council properties?

Was there ever a previous use of the land and when was it fenced off and by whom?

[buildersmate]

How does this change the price of fish, Jen?
What am I missing?

[shoyle]

Thanks for the replies... The piece of land in question apart from being nice to sit out in summer is really good for nothing, it can't be built on so im at a loss to know why the private builder has put in an objection unless they sniff a chance of making some easy money off decent people (greed) which is probably the case.

We will go ahead with the claim and see what happens and hopefully come to some agreement...

One thing though if my parents have maintained the land on behalf of the council/private builder for the last 30 years can they make a back claim for maintenance services..??.. long shot but this has really sickened me..



Thanks again...

[buildersmate]

I don't think so - on what basis?
But you need to answer Jen's questions - she seems to have an angle on this I don't understand.

[shoyle]

The house was purchased in the 1960's as new by my parents, the land at the side was council owned but after a few years a local councellor advised to fence off the land (in a one to one conversation) my parents fenced it off and have maintained it ever since (30+ years) - basically its used for nothing other than sitting out in and has never been used for anything else.

Since this thread started ive been in touch with the private developer and they are more bothered about whether we want the land to build on which is not an option as the council many years ago said the land would not be given planning permission to build anything on...

Hopefully we can come to some argreement as they seem reasonable but i'll let you know the outcome...

Thanks again for the input...