To buy this land and risk upsetting the tenants next door

[Mrsdavidcaruso]

Long story short. My house is at the back of a large house which was converted into flats last year. I own the freehold to my property and have had problems with the tenants of the flats parking on what is actually my land. It got bad when the LL of the large house 'rented' a part of my property to one of his tenants as an extra parking space and it took a long time and solicitors letters to get it all sorted.

I also had to spend money on getting bollards and a fence to ensure no-one parked on my property.

My property is at the end of a T shape and I part is used as a passage to my house ( I have legal access over it) and a parking area for 5 cars rented by the LL to his tenants

However because of all the problems my solicitor has done some digging to ensure my legal right of way and that nothing comes back to bite me on the bum with the owners of the large house.

It then got interesting - it seems that the LL bought the large house at auction on a 99 year lease. My Solicitor saw the legal pack and there was no mention of the land on the paperwork.

He has now found out through the freeholder that the land does not actually belong to the large house but to the house next door.

The freeholder of the house next door has confirmed yes its his land but as he does not live in the house was unaware that the LL of the large house was using it as far as he was aware only I had access to it.

He has now contacted my Solicitors and offered to sell me the land, If I don’t want to buy he is going to offer the LL the chance to lease it from him but if he does that I am worried about my own access across it.

I am very tempted I can enlarge my garden and my husband (who rents a garage ) can also park his car on the property we can afford it and it may increase the value of my house and provide a safer environment for my DS and bump when he/she arrives.

But that is not going to sit well with the tenants of the large house and I can forsee huge problems with them as a couple were very abusive to me during the problem with the parking before.

I have a couple of weeks to decide. I know it would not fair to the tenants but its something they will have to take up with their LL as either he has been badly advised/mistaken or is chancing his arm renting out parking spaces when he knows its not his land (I suspect the latter).

According to my Solicitor there would be no legal or planning issues if I wanted to change the area to a larger garden (although I will check with the council myself)

So would I be UR to buy it

Just read all 15 pages and I need a bloody sleep now.
OP Glad you have got things sorted, although I know it isn't finished and I am eagerly awaiting more updates

Me too Debs! It was a marathon read, but a good one!

I reckon they won't bang on your door as they will assume you are in the same situation and will also lose your parking too.

I expect they will only come to you when they notice you are still getting to park there.

Any news?

Do you think once they realise, that they might be cheeky enough to knock on OP's door and ask if its possible to rent a space....?

Oh to be a fly on the wall....

CSI - I wondered if the cheeky bitch who moans about the bin will have the nerve to do this - bet she does!

Been out and nothings happened only a note through the door to my DH from one of the tenants asking him who he rents his garage from

Oooh nice turn of events!!!

Delurking to mark place.

Exneighbours advertised their flat for sale including our driveway. Phoned their solicitor to complain and was told they had told the solicitor that my husbands car belonged to them.

Interesting thread OP.
Well done!

lovely turnnup!

Antler - sorry no A DH will keep the garage on until we decide what to do with the extra space B there is a waiting list to rent these garages and they do not come up for rent very often C my BIL is on the waiting list so will most likely get OHs garage when it becomes free anyway Garage owner is football mate of both DH and BIL so don't think there will be any problem there.

There's a piece of me feeling very sorry for the tenants, not the nasty ones of course, but the bog standard ordinary ones who've been dumped in the shit by nextdoor's twunt landlord.

Even more sorry for the nice people given the likeky stitch-up over the garage. Does anything on the island work outside the established networks? Granted, the landlord is an unpleasant schemer, but would he have got away with all his scams - charging for parking in land not his, being able to buy out unclaimed land without his neighbour's being informed, etc. - if he had been an Islander? Underneath the essential justness of your story, surely there is this frightening and unpleasant alternative, if the "insider" were different?

If I were one of these tenants, I'd be considering myself a quintessentisl "outsider" and getting the hell off the Island!

If the garage is owned privately then the owner can rent it to whomever they please. People often prefer to rent to people that they know. That's not an island thing, that's normal.

Yy shoom, and if there are waiting lists it's unlikely the tenants would get one anyway.

"waiting list" sounded rather more official than that: "waiting list" sounds as though there is a queue, rather than just waiting to see what the situation is when the garage comes free.

Yeah, the bin feckers can get stuffed.

It may be an island conspiracy if e.g. the council had an official waiting list, but I read it as a private individual owns the garage and therefore rents it to whomever they think will pay on time and not vague any trouble.

Also if the tenants don't yet know who owns the land, the query would have been just "how do I find out about renting a garage, what's the cost" etc rather than "Oh yours will be available soon, can I have it?"

Vague? cause

I live on the island and im an 'ovener'

there are large networks on the Island and those who were born and bred here do have a special relationships. My SIL had been here 30 years, had kids and married into one of these families and has joined the elite.

we moved about 10 years ago and we havent been accepted to the same extent. its not really something that we worry about its just the way it is

BUT i maintain that this is the same in any place that you live. think the square mile in london. Im sure that there is a network there, and if you are well known you are likely to get on. this is because you are a 'known' rather than a liability. I think this is human nature rather than something sinister!

Buy it and YOU RENT to the tenants next door, but only to existing tenants and only for so long. Same rates as LL currently charges. Peace with neighbours is worth a bit of faff & delaying garden enlargement. LL already hates you so no love to lose there.