For some context, my house and the house next door each occupy plots of around half an acre in a semi-rural setting.
For the 24 years I've lived here the house next door has been owned by Mr Jones. About 10 years ago Mr Jones went travelling and hasn't been seen in the UK since. I'm told he's now living in Kenya. While he was away his young adult son, Jones Jnr, moved into his dad's house. He also built a second, well-camouflaged property (a two-bedroom self-contained cabin) in the large garden. Jones Jnr lives in the house over the winter and lets the cabin out to long-stay tenants, then moves into the cabin after Easter and lets the house out on Air BnB.
I contacted Planning when this first happened. Jones Snr responded from abroad that he was a permanent resident in the house and that his dependent son, Jones Jnr, was a permanent resident in the cabin, and Planning told me that dependent children could be housed in the grounds.
Recently I noticed more construction activity next door and Jones Jnr has started building another cabin and seems to also have done the groundwork for a third. I phoned Planning who said they were having difficulty in discovering who owned the property. Apparently Jones Snr (still living abroad) was bankrupted in 2018 and has denied ownership. He says he transferred ownership via a bank to a third party whose name and details he's forgotten. The council haven't managed to get a response from Jones Jnr, who doesn't respond to letters. I've asked Jones Jnr who owns the property and been told to fuck off. The Land Registry has Jones Snr still listed as owner. I've been back to the Planning department with all this but they still say that Jones Snr is denying ownership and that there's nothing they can do if they don't who the owner is. Does the Land Registry have the final word on this?