Remove Travellers or relinquish land title?

[Toetouchingtitties]

I’ve recently become an Administrator for a relatives estate. As part of their estate, they owned a very small plot of land in a London borough, surrounded by houses. The land is fenced in and did have a padlocked entranced.

I visited recently to check everything was ok, to find Travellers, plus their horses have taken it over. This must’ve happened in the last few months. It was relatively contained and tidy before - but is now an absolute mess, covered with rubbish etc.

I’ve enquired with bailiffs about costs to remove them and it’s roughly the same as the land would be worth if I sold it. I do not want the hassle of managing the eviction, re-securing the site, cleaning it up and then selling it; especially as the estate will lose money overall.

So, I’m thinking of just relinquishing the land back to the land registry and walking away. But, at the back of my mind I’d feel somewhat guilty as the area is otherwise well kept by the local residents.

AIBU to save the estate money, but by doing so potentially impact the local residents enjoyment of the area? For clarity, I don’t know anyone who lives in the area, I don’t live locally and we don’t have any local family ties.

Can you pass ownership over to the council?

@Toetouchingtitties If it’s big enough to use as a horse paddock ( at least one acre) it has value as a paddock!
Please don’t gift this land to squatters.

I think the OP means she would evict the travelers first , costing £xx , then sell the vacant land , for pretty much the same price as the cost of the eviction, so she’d be doing all that work for no financial gain.

I wouldn't just let the travellers have the the land.
A group of them occupied a park near me, then moved to another piece of land, then another. Causing damage to barriers as they did so.
The council stepped up to move them on in the end.

What was the land being used for before it was squatted?

Undeveloped land in London is usually worth a fair bit - a plot was sold on our road for 2.3m recently to a developer who is building a small block of flats on it.

Well yes that was my interpretation, which is why I clearly stated, in the post you quoted, that she doesn't need to do that. She can sell the land as is and leave the eviction to the new owner.

Don't let them have it for nothing, out of principle.

Of course they are a blight. They ate ruining the land by crwstibg a mess and living on land that doesn't belong to them. They get away with it but shouldn't.

There is a small paddock in East Sheen where ponies were kept.
Land for ponies is very desirable!

@Nousernamesleft224566 would you like them in your garden then?

Never an issue until they are your backyard. And she's not dehumanising them she's clearly stating who they are?

My friend rents a piece of land like this in Clapham and runs a doggy daycare on it.

Worth trying again now: Labour government is lifting a lot of restrictions.

It makes me so angry. It should be imprisonment for damage to abd theft of land thar doesn't belong to them.

They are a massive problem- Human excrement, rubbish and vandalism &c
Some pitched up on a common in Bristol and their behaviour was so antisocial that they were able to be evicted within two days.

Please don’t let the travellers have the land OP. Give the local residents the option to buy it individually or as a group first.

This.

Some open spaces in London are designated as Metropolitan Open Spaces and can't be developed. A school in our borough has or had a playing field in this category. They would have loved to be able to sell it as it was donated to them decades ago but it's so far from the school that it needs transport to get there and there used to be regular problems with local youths breaking into the field after hours and causing damage. Nobody was interested in it, though, as it had permission only to be kept as it is. (This may have changed recently, but seemed to be the position about 20 years ago.)

You clearly don’t have a clue.

Tell me how it is

I would take advice re the land from a planning consultant and I would also contact the neighbours. They’ll be really concerned about this blight on their surroundings which travellers are frankly. (I never get why travellers cant just live peacefully and cleanly).

Contact an estate agents which has several branches. They will likely have knowledge on how to handle this as we as a list of developers looking to buy land in the area.

Ask for their advice while also making enquiries with the council about possible remedies.

It's surely your duty to obtain professional advice before giving up title to a possibly valuable asset.

Around me people are making a fortune on dog fields. Basically a large, well fenced field with very basic facilities, like running water. Dog owners rent it for an hour or so and allow the dogs off the lead chasing balls etc.

Could it be used for that? Make money from it before it’s sold on.

Also, do you know if the local residents have gone to the council about the travellers?

If it can't be built on it would still be of value as allotments/extra garden I would have thought.

I would speak to a London auction house to ask what their advice is. Savills and Barnard marcus would be a good place to start.