Annexing part of garden?

[sneezecakesmum]

My son lives in a terraced farm workers cottage and has a small garden. They are over 100 years old and the deeds are not massively clear about who owns what. There is a small plot of land next to his garden which is overgrown and abandoned. He thought it belonged to the cottage next door which is rented. DS is buying btw. He asked the landlady if she would sell him the plot and she said its not hers. She even checked her deeds and its not on them.

So DS intends to fence the plot into his garden. There are no other adjacent properties that could claim it. What is his legal position.? If he were to sell would he need to have his boundary redrawn? Is this expensive?

Thanks in ant. For any replies

Not sure if its necessarily his land just because its not next doors. We live on unadopted land and there is a strange 'no mans land' next to us.

Thanks. I think there are some rules about annexing land and after so long (7 years?) its yours if no one claims it, but not really sure! Theres no one else nearby who can lay claim to it and his garden and his garage plot are seperated by this small plot.

have read of the law of adverse possession and that should help him decide if it is worth the risk fo the expense of fencing in the land which may, eventually, after the passage of time become his, but then again may not!

Have had a look through the adverse possession wording and it seems to apply to squatters and land which actually belongs to someone. Dont know if other circumstances apply though. The land in question is owned by no one apparently.

Someone, or something owns the land - albeit may be a defunct company or something like that. Your son does not own the land at present. He may, by the process of adverse possession acquire it, and if indeed no-one is bothered by that, it should be relatively easy getting legal title transfered to him, once the requisit time is up.

Sounds like it may be the case. From what I gather he must have it for 10 years + 2? Will let him know. Thank you

I have recently been given possessory title over a small piece of land which has been included and fenced in my garden since 1993. The land was unregistered and therefore belonged to no-one. Although I have been living here for the required 12 years, the Land Registry still wrote to various companies and neighbours, just IN CASE they had a valid claim on the land. No-one made a claim luckily, but it still took months to sort out.

For a small fee you can obtain information from Land Registry to see if the land is registered/unregistered and that might be a good starting point. If it's registered to someone, it may be more difficult to acquire.

Just because it's unregistered doesn't mean that it doesn't belong to anyone. Not all land is registered.

We might just write to LR then. There is a farm nearby ....hence farm workers cottages! If I pay a small fee can I check the boundaries of the farm to see if its their land? Can't see who else it can belong to. Definitely not next door as she checked her deeds. My sons deeds don't show it either so maybe it's invisible

Dippymother. If you've had your land fenced for 12 years why did the L R write to people nearby? I thought that 12 year period meant they had lost it regardless of their claim.

Sneezecakesmum, probably because, as Collaborate said, although the land was unregistered and had been included in my garden, it might not have meant that it didn't belong to someone. I think LR wanted to cover all bases by contacting surrounding landowners (including British Rail) in case they had a valid claim on it. We also had photographic evidence that the land had been fenced off and used by us for 20 years but even so, LR sent out several Statutory Notices giving surrounding neighbours 20 days in which to make a claim. I don't know if we would have lost the land if a claim had been made, and that's the worry. I don't believe it is an absolute guarantee that using/cultivating land for over 12 years necessarily means you can claim it as yours, so do advise you to contact LR and make an enquiry/application if there is a possibility it belongs to the farmer. You do have a good case for ownership but LR will want to confirm no-one else has a more valid claim. It may be that the farmer doesn't need/want it anyway and you'll be granted possessory title. Good luck!

The law has changed. If the land is registered to someone, you can't just take it. LR will contact them when you apply to register ownership and, if they contest it, you can't have the land.

Try looking at the land registry online.

My Dad was a builder and when he died we found a couple of small pieces of land that he had bought hoping to one day get planning permission for. He was elderly and suffered with cancer for a number of years before he died. He had never got round to registering the land with the LR as in his day it had always been OK just having the paper deeds. We are now faced with the fact that people living next door to this land have taken it. It's horrible. They didn't buy it and just because my Dad hadn't done anything with the land because of ill health they took it.

soimpressed - surely the beneficiaries of your dad's estate have a valid claim on the land. The fact that it was unregistered doesn't mean the next door neighbour can claim it, whether or not they have had use of it for 12 years. There are the paper deeds so presumably that is a stronger claim than merely the neighbour fencing it off and keeping it? In any case if the neighbour decides to sell in the future, the fact that some of "their" land is not legally theirs, will arise and then LR will be involved in deciding who it belongs to. I personally would contact LR prior to this happening anyway and see what they advise.

Many thanks I will get onto the LR by phone. The LRSite is written in gobbledygook.!

Will also check the farmers boundaries.

Apologies for the lengthy post but a lot of points to cover and the issues around adverse possession can be very complex.

Although telephoning us is always an option our website contains all of the information you would need from a land registration perspective.
Our online FAQs www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/faqs#ownership explain how you can check on what ownership details are registered with us.

Our online service should enable you to view the registered title(s) for each property or piece of land. However there are times when the information is not available online and a paper application would be recommended.

The guidance around Adverse Possession is also available online and will vary depending on whether the claimed land is already registered or not. www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides - Practice Guides 4 and 5 refer but the law surrounding such matters is very complex and it should be noted that the guides are aimed at conveyancers/property professionals and we would always recommend seeking legal advice on such matters.

You mention that the website is gobbledygook but I am not sure if this is specific to the adverse possession guides or wider matters. We are always seeking to improve our online material and services so if you do feel that something needs improving please let us know by using the online contact form under Contact Us www.landregistry.gov.uk/contact-us which also includes our Customer support telephone number
NB - our Customer support cannot provide legal advice but can advise on how to use our services and how to complete application forms etc

Other posters have correctly commented that the relevant period is 10 or 12 years depending on the circumstances; technically all land is owned; not all land is registered; legislation requires Land Registry to serve notice of any application under adverse possession on affected parties although some leeway exists as to who is affected e.g. if the adjoining land is registered identifying a possibly affected/interested party is far easier than if unregistered; a legal owner does not simply lose their land on the basis of another person's claim/word, Land Registry cannot simply accept the facts as presented by one party alone, hence the need to notify; paper deeds/registered ownership does not trump an adverse possession claim.

Landregistryrep. Many thanks for your clear and concise reply. The LR website is only gobbledygook because I don't know what is relevant and what not, so your directions are just what I needed