How can I find out who owns the land near my house?

[Gnomegnomegnome]

We have been trying to get connected to the internet since February this year. BT have said that a line needs to be put up but they need to contact the land owners where the existing telegraph poles are. It’s just fields here and I don’t know who owns them.

Is there away that I can do their work for them find out without having to pay?

I am about to go out so not ignoring any replies (embarrassing if I now don’t get any!).

Use the land registry

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

it’s not free but only around a fiver

Do a land registry search. You literally just click on the map and it will tell you. You might need to pay a few quid for further details.

Unfortunately because it’s fields it doesn’t tell me who owns them when I type the address into the land registry.

But presumably it does when you use the map search?

Would your councils planning department have a record?

Can you ask a local farmer?
All the farmers know whose field is whose round here.

I don't think BT are being truthful. We were told something different last year in a similar position. Along the lines of landowner permission isn't required as it was considered an essential service. Perhaps double check this, might save you a lot of time trying to track someone down.

I think the Land Registry have a thing where you can actually draw a polygon round any part of a map and they’ll tell you who owns it.

As PP said, map search the register, or find the ID on the map here https://www.landregistry-uk.com/map-search then search for that number as the INSPIRE ID on the register search here https://search-property-information.service.gov.uk/search/search-by-inspire-id

You can use the free map search on Land Registry and if the land is registered it's about £5. Ot may be that the land isn't registered at Land Registry ( will show up white on the search instead of a pink title deed). If this happens the Council May or May Not know who owns the land. Not sure what you do if it's unregistered and the Council don't have an
Idea who owns it.

@Jowak1 it is showing as just white squares.

@SoulCaptain really? I’ll speak to them tomorrow and ask!

@cryinglaughing I’ll see if I can find one! I’m off next week so will find someone to ask.

@TidalShore and @Curdsandwhey I’ll try that, thanks.

@BMW6 apparently BT have had contact with them but didn’t get any answers. I’ll call them tomorrow and see if I can get anywhere.

@user76541055773 it just comes up as blank squares.

@Gnomegnomegnome can you see the pink title deeds surrounding the area in white? Just checking that the correct layers on the map are on. If so it sounds like it's not registered with the Land Registry.
The local Council May or may not know about the land ownership. If it's unregistered and the Council are interested in it that may try to register the land themselves for eg if they want to build- develop the land ( I work for a Local Authority and we have done just that ). They also may not know anything about the land as the Land Registry is the first port of call - I hope you get sorted x

@Jowak1 thank you, you’ve been really helpful! Ohno, I don’t want them to build anything!

I have attached a photo of the map where the poles are.

@Gnomegnomegnome they may not be planning on building anything don't worry yet! It may be protected, have restrictions/ covenants on it. It's really hard if the land hasn't been registered at LR as no one knows who to contact to ask about ownership. Can you zoom out on the plan?

The plan I use for work looks different to the plan you posted. It may be because we use Business online portal. Therefore I wouldn't want to mislead you. Your best ringing the Land Registry or paying for a search. If it is unregistered contact your local Council x

@Jowak1 thank you. I’ll do that tomorrow.

I hope you are successful 👍- just read your OP again, have BT asked you to find the land owner? Just because if they are thinking of extending the line it may be on their programme and they may be in contact with the landowner ? Just a thought x

My local Facebook residents group would probably know that. Could you ask on yours?

DH often needs to find out who owns fields. He can usually find out by chatting to local farmers or residents of adjoining properties.They're usually very willing to tell him! As a word of warning though - agricultural land is often let/sub let so the farmer using the land may not always be the owner.

@Jowak1 yes they’ve asked us because they haven’t been able to and that apparently is what is holding it up.

@RudsyFarmer sadly (or maybe thankfully) no facebook group.

@ohtowinthelottery I will go knocking on doors today.

What is in the field?

Has it been cut this summer?

Is it grazed by sheep/ cows

Does it have a non grass crop in it?

It's possible that the land is unregistered. The amount of unreg land goes down every year but open farmland owned by the same family for years is a fairly likely candidate for being unregistered.

If you want to pm me, I may be able to point you in my right direction as we have better access on the work systems than the general public does. Won't be remotely offended if you'd rather not.

Do you get phone signal at your house?
We can't get BT or any wired provider to connect to us because we are so far from the exchange.
Instead we have Three 5G mobile WiFi (had 4G before with Voxi) which is plenty fast enough for two of us to be in teams calls and be streaming at the same time. £20 a month including a router and get the first 3 months free.

@Gnomegnomegnome ah ok 👍 so they will probably have already done a LR search as their first port of call that's why they are struggling. I'm trying to think of other ways for you of finding out who owns the land. Leave it with me I'll have a think 🤔 x