To not want them to take this plot of land?

[TaptheCap]

We live on a road where there are lots of terrace houses and some semi detached. It's a Victorian street, so the houses rarely have drives.

One end terrace, that doesn't have a drive has recently changed hands. The new owner is a builder but he's bought it live in. The house was previously occupied by a ln elderly lady and is need of full renovation, which they are doing. No issues with any of this so far.

The house is situated next to a vacant plot of land. The plot of land has always been there, it has never had anything on it. I think, but don't know, that's it's owned by the council - I'm looking to find out. The land is maintained and cared for, it's not an eyesore or anything, it's a little wildlife sanctuary, lots of birds and a fox family, hedgehogs and a deer even have been seen there regularly. The land absolutely does not belong to the house. The new owner has removed the fence between the house and the land, cut down the hedges and is storing building materials on the land. From behaviour and posts made on a local Facebook group, it is clear that they intend to acquire the land, either through adverse possession or otherwise.

I don't want them to. Especially not through adverse possession, mainly because I don't want them paving over it to make a car park for all their work vans!

WWYD?

I’d buy a copy of the deeds and find out who owns it.

Planning office and council would probably be the first steps - especially if they are doing things to land not their own. Maybe environment agency too?

I'm not sure how to do that given it's not got an address?

Unless he thinks he owns it legally adverse possession is very unlikely.

I'd find out who does own it and let them know.

AS I understand it to claim the land under adverse possession he'd have to fence it off so that no-on else could use it, and keep it that way for a number of years. So perhaps you and others on the street should start walking across it.

But if it is owned the council, then I donlt think ther is anything you could do if he approached the council asking them to sell it to him and they agreed.

I know a previous council I was in had a spreadsheet of all the buildings and pieces of land they owned somewhere on their website - I donlt know if all councils do, but worth searching for something like 'land asset register'

I've already complained to the environment agency when they were burning their rubbish on the land, that stopped quickly when I did that!

obtain copy deeds to his property - registers well may not have been updated yet. See the extent he bought. £14 from official HMLR site.

see whether the land is registered - index map search via post/solicitor. There is a new free search you can do that shows unregistered land in green somewhere on the HMLR site.

yep - this is absolutely how people acquire adverse possession and he knows what he’s doing!

I think it takes 10 years to claim the land.

We can't walk across it, it's completely fenced in by bushes (which are now half the height they were) they can only access it because they've taken the fence down between it and their house.

You could only see in to it from one part of the road, as there was no hedge there, just a low fence between the house and the land.

How do you know they didn't buy it when they bought the house?

First deer I've heard of that hangs around on terraced streets.

You should be able to find the title number using the Ordnance Survey co-ordinates.

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/search-the-index-map

He absolutely hasn't bought the land along with the house, as he's been asking who owns it, whether it used to be a house etc etc.

We have allotments behind our house and then a park and river bank behind that.

That’s the initial stage of adverse possession. Building a case.

Do the Council maintain this land?

I would get on the Facebook residents group and under an anonymous account or nickname write a post saying something like;

Does anyone know who owns the vacant plot on [Road name] next to the end terrace at [approximate location/house number]?

I've noticed that recently the fencing between the plot and the adjacent house has been removed, hedging cut back, and building materials are now being stored on it. The plot has been a local wildlife haven for years—there's a good established community of birds, and I've seen foxes, hedgehogs, and even a deer there regularly.

I'm trying to establish who actually owns this land, as the current use suggests there may be plans for development or acquisition. If anyone knows the owner (council, private individual, developer), I'd really like to get in touch—or at least understand what's happening.

If you've noticed anything else about the land or have any info, please comment below. Thanks!

Re the deer comment sadly due to building around all the previous woodland farm land we now have deer walking around our terraces at night eating plants as they go between small areas left .

A solicitor can do an index map search to identify the plot and see if it has an owner. You would need to pay for the time and the search, but it would probably be worth doing.

The land registry has a map search function, so you'd be able to find the title extract without an address

the house that has sold and is being refurbished will have an address - so look on land registry for that house fiirst

then look to see if you can find the plot to the side which he has commandeered