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.

This is written by someone who never had to deal with travellers up close and personal.

there is a reason even the police won’t go near them

I would not in a million years sell - labour are changing planning and you might find you deeply regret a knee jerk easy decision. Land in London is certainly worth hanging onto even if previous planning has been declined.

My experience is this - have 2 fields very near me that have been taken over by travellers. It started off as a few horses in the fields and they were fairly well behaved. It has escalated over the years and they have now built permanent stables on the land which they keep howling dogs locked inside that bark and howl all day long and all night. They have 7 abandoned vehicles, various carts, debris, scaffolding, fencing, general rubbish all over the fields and adjacent bridleways. They throw food wrappers, beer cans, bags of cement, tins of paint, you name it, into the adjacent hedgerows. they have fires, don’t fix the fencing, their horses get out continuously and run around in residential areas. They mistreat their animals continuously - I’ve seen a child driving a car in the field with a puppy on a rope tied to the bumper of the car, I’ve seen them kick a horse in the legs until it fell over, I’ve seen them trot a horse so hard and put it back in its field and I honestly thought it was going to pass out 😞 I’ve witnessed them pissing in the fields when I’ve walked past with my children.

Then there’s the not providing water for their horses, not feeding them in winter, the horse whose tail had come clean off and was laying in the bridleway next to the field.

It is so bloody distressing it’s unreal 😞

So yeah… let them have it for an easy life 👏👌

I live in town with a very large traveller community, a good many are lawless although not all, they will mostly infight among themselves but woe betide anyone who crosses them or dares to complain.

I'm so sorry. I hope you can find some way to resolve this, it's beyond dreadfull.

Fingers crossed there might be some resolution soon due to benefactor who has bought the land and has a court order to evict them but it’s been 15 years getting to this point.

That was under a previous government. Things might change.

Must be so distressing

They do seem to be above the law.

They know how to play it & they know what they can get away with. Ultimately I guess we/our elected representatives are at fault for letting things get this far.

Now Labour is in, maybe getting planning to build on, might be easier. Worth trying to get planning permission again

It’s neither ignorant, narrow minded or bitter. Anyone who has experienced the impact of what travellers do in their area feels the same way.

Are you honestly telling us you don’t do this and no one in your community does?

It has been stated that trespass is a civil offence in England. Traditionally it is but there's a bit more to it. Since June 2022 the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 has made a criminal offence of certain encampments that involve residing on land with a vehicle or vehicles and some other conditions, such as damage to property etc. The police are empowered to enforce this.

If I were the OP, the first thing I would do is knock on doors of neighbours in the street to sound out whether they know of the land and the squatters, whether there is disquiet or any action been considered or taken by neighbours or complaints to the council and whether the residents would be interested in the future of the piece of land.

Talking to people, you pick up all sorts of information. But go in slowly - you are a visitor from (vaguely the county or general area), connected to the owner of a nearby property and want to make yourself known and give them means of contact should the need arise. Feel your way with each person before disclosing details of your position or intentions for the land - keep to generalities such as that you expect you may be more involved in the future. You don't want to start rumours of sale flying about but to gather any useful bits of information or contacts and gauge the level of local interest or concern and respond with more detail if the talk develops in a favourable way.

After that and armed with local information and a sense of the neighbours, I'd contact the council and the police to find out their level of awareness and past or potential involvement. I'd also take legal advice as executor once I'd sounded out these local sources. I would not approach or make myself known to or offer to sell the land to or pay the squatters to leave.

How did the travellers get in? If they broke in and in doing so broke the locking mechanism or a chain, then they are guilty of breaking in and entering. Call the police.
Have you chatted with the travellers, you may be able to come to an agreement. Can you get a judgement against them and have them removed.

Given the stated aims of the new Government, I'd say it was worth trying again.

exactly this.

there are generally 2 types of travellers…. The ones with spotless housing who keep their surroundings clean and tidy (they could stick around for ages) or the ones that park up, trash their surroundings, crap everywhere… then before it becomes too unsanitary will likely be looking for some other land to trash… maybe sit it out… I’m sure the neighbours will be calling the police / council every 5 minutes too… maybe they’ll just leave.. then secure the land and remove anything at will

This.

Travellers are a blight, and the police don’t deal with them.

Worry about yourself, let everybody else worry about everything else

That’s legally impossible when you have taken on the responsibility of administrating someone else’s will.

Absolutely disgusting people. Cannot believe they get away with it but they do, they're an absolute nightmare.
And these people suggesting op goes and has a chat with them.....really?????? 🤣🤣🤣

Hopefully the OP can meet with the local neighbours. They might agree to buy the land and deal with evicting the travellers themselves so that would reduce the workload for the OP.

Aren't labour set to change a lot of planning application rules? Would it be worth seeing what's in the pipeline there?

Keep the land. Have a meeting with the neighbours to see what they want to do. They might agree to help with the eviction costs. If they don’t agree then just evict the people yourself. Fill the land with something to keep squatters away - some containers, anything large that obstructs people. Perhaps you could rent the land as a parking area or as a storage for a local business.

This!!!!

it’s very easy to say that when they are not in your backyard! I would definitely try to sell it

Speak with a Solicitor who can draft a letter to the Travellers letting them know you give them xxx time to vacate the land by xxx or you will be seeking further legal advice & will be taking action to have them removed.

either that or a letter stating you're happy for them to be there at £xx land rent per month.

"Speak with a Solicitor who can draft a letter to the Travellers letting them know you give them xxx time to vacate the land by xxx or you will be seeking further legal advice & will be taking action to have them removed."

Do you think they'd take any notice?