AIBU to think my new home developer can't put a wildlife corridor in my garden

[Homemoans]

I've just bought a new build house, when we moved in we realised that the developer had fenced a strip of land at the side of our garden off, when we asked why they said it's a wildlife corridor. The boundary on the deeds is the second fence so we immediately on completing took down the internal fence. They are now saying we need to reinstall it or they may contact the council who will Inforce it?! Surely this isn't possible for them to dictate what we do within our boundary. I'll try and attach some pictures if I can work out how to make this a bit clearer

We bought a property for our animal rescue, which was then in its fledgling state, and our so**ing useless solicitor didn't manage to find out that a major right of way ran through it. It was years before I could come to terms with it, as some users were downright inconsiderate and rude. I cried a fair bit, and we had a lot of neighbour trouble when their kids were young - thieving and messing with animals if we were out. I can't politely express my feelings for that solicitor. But we got nowhere complaining.

ditto go to solicitor but also consider "The Daily Mail" test.

Ask the council.

The first question is whether the land is actually part of her property. The land registry do not guarantee that their plans are totally accurate.

If the corridor is part of her land then she just needs to check the title document to her property. If there are conditions on it's use the filed plan would have the corridor shaded in another colour and the title documents would list what the land can/can't be used for.

If the land is part of the property it sounds like either the developer's solicitor or the op's solicitor has fucked up

a1poshpaws you should have taken it further. If you wouldn't have bought the house if you had of known about the right of way you would have had a good case against your solicitor for negligence.

One of the major problems for wildlife such as hedgehogs is the fragmentation of their habitat, we put so many fences and roads in that they can't travel around sufficiently to maintain their population. If you are adjacent to a country park, this corridor is to allow creatures to reach the country park from other areas. Before your house went there that would have been habitat for wildlife. It will have been a condition of planning permission that the developer has been obliged to put this in. However, looking at your photo, this is about the most unfriendly to wildlife corridor imaginable, down between two impregnable fences with no cover. Perhaps you could discuss with the developer and the council environment people about better solutions. Perhaps having some small gaps at the bottom of the outer fence that hedgehogs etc can go through, and maybe just leaving a strip of unmowed grass alongside the fence and get rid of the inner fence. Or make your whole garden wildlife friendly, your children will get fun from seeing different birds and animals in their garden.

Sorry op that you are having so much trouble when you should be enjoying your new home.
To me, the corridor is shown on all the plans and is there for a reason. I cannot understand people removing them, do they think they have been put there by error when they are shown on all the plans? People have looked into it and shown it was an agreement to get planning. Also, your solicitor knows the answer to this or should do.
With the large area at the front, on every plan it has been shaded showing it has license for access. So even if they have told you it's yours it can still be used for access. Developers don't just give up on planning, if they get refused they revise their plans or go to appeal until they get something passed. So in the future the land adjacent to your house will be developed with that large front area used as access, sorry op.

It's obviously worth asking the solicitor about this and I wonder why it wasn't mentioned in the first place. At the moment it looks awful, just muddy earth and puddles. Worst case scenario is that it becomes a target for fly-tippers.
In theory it's a good idea to have a wildlife corridor but in practice? If it's not maintained properly by someone it could become an eyesore. And wildlife left to its own devices won't maintain this as a 'prettified' hedgerow. What would I do? I'd leave the fence and ask if I could plant wildflowers. But then I'm dreamy and law-abiding.

This highlights the problems that there is a huge amount of building development at the moment, and the developers are routinely ignoring the habitat directives, and no one really gives a damn. They use it in all their marketing material how green they area and how they love wildlife, planning permission is granted on condition that they include these vital habitats, and yet they just take the piss. A pp is right, it is an insult to try and claim that that is a wildlife corridor, what a joke.

I am working with an action group in the South West and we are trying to call them out on this and prove that they simply do not comply with these rules. You should report it to your local council planning department and the environment officer. You might be able to argue that by taking over that area yourselves and making it into your garden, with plants and bushes, you are providing a proper wildlife corridor - something the developer is clearly failing to do.

We have a bit of property which is ours but not ours.

We have access rights and sole usage rights. But its not ours as such. On the land registry plans it is very difficult to tell this.

This was picked up at the last minute by our solicitors who had not spotted it initially as it was a last minute change. It didn't affect our decision to buy as the up shot of it, is we are not legally responsible for the maintenance of this piece of land which is a good thing. Its maintained by the estate management fees which are now quite common in new build estates. This is probably cheaper for us in the long run. If you have fees like this, then I would be more suspicious about whether the land is 'yours' or not.

Our neighbours have similar clauses and were not aware of it until we pointed it out. Their solicitors missed it. I suspect its becoming increasingly common.

Seek legal advice. I am fairly sure you will be disappointed though.

Oh and our developers didn't landscape our estate until completion of the estate. It was the last thing to be done. Just because its a muddy corridor now, doesn't necessarily mean that it will continue to be and its not on the developers agenda to sort out.

We have a bit of property which is ours but not ours.

Several years after I moved in, I discovered I didn't own my garden. It is a walled area that a sliding door in my living room opens out onto. It clearly "belongs" to the flat in every sense except legally. The management company said they would oppose me taking ownership as they needed it so they could erect scaffolding etc.

(Though my situation differs in that there is no mention of the garden in the lease, other than to say any garden that may exist must be maintained. But as the garden is not marked in red on the plan, it is legally indistinguishable from the common parts.)

I've decided to leave it as it makes no practical difference, the only plausible redevelopment would be to knock down the walls and integrate it into the communal garden that lies beyond. That wouldn't make sense unless it were done for all similar gardens, in which case it would probably be a good thing, as some individual "owners" don't maintain their gardens as well as the management company maintain the common parts. (I am left to maintain/use my garden as if I were the sole owner.)

The new build probably started off as a lovely green open space, the locals at the time probably fought tooth and nail against the planning permission and the greed of the developers who just wanted to maximise their profits by instead of building on brownfield sites, they approached farmers to sell them the land because it's cheaper to build on.

No doubt one of the issues raised was a wild life habitat, in order to 'pay lip service' to this the developers would have agreed to put this 'corridor' in to pacify the council and planners.

That's progress for you, enjoy your garden because if they keep building at the rate they are then your garden may well be the last bit of greenery your kids will see.

Has common usage fallen out of the legal code? It's something of a sidetrack (unintended pun) but recent posts about "property which is not ours" reminded me about the ancient market town I live in. The parts that aren't mediaeval are mostly early Victorian; it is full of ginnels, alleyways and cut-throughs. Every year, more of these are quietly annexed by owners of the adjoining properties. They don't buy them, they just put up gates and - if next to a garden - incorporate them.

I'm unsure whether this is lawful, since the strips have been used as common access for hundreds of years. The answer would probably apply to all these new developments, as well.

I don't know what you mean by legal code - do you mean has the legislation been repealed? There is a principle called adverse possession by which you end up owning land that you've had sold use of for a long time. Is that what you're thinking of?

Sorry sole not sold.

It might well be, splendide! Although the alleyways, etc, here would be more connected to public rights of access ... or something like that (it's been a very long time since I knew my laws.) I just tried looking up adverse possession and my brain scrambled

They need to give you the value of the land in cash as it was sold as part of your property which it clearly isn't. This should have come up with your conveyancing though so someone is majorly at fault. If you've been sold the house as having a wildlife corridor as part of the deed, then your solicitor should have explained this to you. I don't see why you can't have it within your garden if it is truly your land though.

I can see why it is confusing, because they put up 2 fences. Why not just internal fence and then outer bit is wildlife corridor. The area behind all the other gardens is open and not with 2 fences.

It looks like you don't own it as part of your garden and can't use it as such, but will you have to maintain it?

Like others, I too feel for the hedgehogs and other animals. They can't complain to the council, that the area where they live has been flatten by concrete. I hope the wildlife corridor stays.

I love planning

Nobody wants to comply with planning that restricts what they want to do. Everyone wants planning to limit what other people are doing.

In my experience, developers do abide by the law. I don't have anything to do with house builders though.

Seriously op, you've had some good advice. You can try and increase the size of your garden, essentially by squatting on land owned by someone else (land with restrictions on its use). This does not go down well with the planners.

Also, I agree that I would want to know exactly what the front garden is. Any limitations, restrictions etc. It's very unusual for a developer to relinquish something like that in its entirety.

I don't see why you can't have it within your garden if it is truly your land though.
Because if it was part of a garden it would have a fence on each side of the garden. It wouldn't be a corridor would it?

I'd say that those plans show that your boundary is the line that runs inside of that outer fence and that the outer fence is the development boundary. Which makes the wildlife corridor a separate piece of land not owned by you. I would say it is very clear on those pictures you've shown. Even if it was "your land" if it has been designated a wildlife corridor then you will have to keep it as such. My brother lives in a terrace which has an access path along the back of the house for four houses. It's on his property but he doesn't get to change its use. He thought he could block this off and was made to reinstate access very quickly. I also used to live in a house which had a huge front garden next to a parking area - a bit like yours. It was mine BUT I couldn't fence it off or make it inaccessible in any way.

Leave it for now, don't make a fuss which will attract future attention. Just wait for developers to leave for good, take the fence down and enjoy your enlarged garden.