How can I find out who owns land?

[PeppermintParty]

I would like to find out who owns the land the other side of my garden wall. There are bushes there that need cutting back and I am unable to manage this myself. The parish council say to ask the borough council and the borough council say its the parish council. I have downloaded the plans to my own property, but these don't say who owns the plot of land between my wall and the road. I would like to know for sure who has responsibility for it, so that I can nag them to cut the bushes back.

TIA

The Land Registry online

Thank you, but can you please be more specific? It was from the land registry online that I got the deeds to my own property, but I can't see how to get details of who owns what is effectively a verge.

If I search online and put in my postcode, it gives all the house numbers in my road, but not the verges that are likely to be owned by either the borough council or the parish council.

Hmmm. That sounds difficult to search for. Giv them a ring- they would tell you how to advance search or point you in a different direction. Good luck 🤞

The land may be unregistered. Doesn't mean someone doesn't own it but means it hasn't changed ownership for many years. If owned by the council they may not realise

I don’t think the parish council will own the land. We have common land in our village - mainly verges between the road and our gardens. The borough council are ostensibly responsible for cutting everything back but do take some nagging as their budgets have been cut. Our parish council do get involved in communicating with the borough council and also by organising people in the village to do regular tidying up sessions.

On the land registry map, click the option in the top right under ‘display layer options’ which says title numbers. All plots of land should have a title number (unless they’re unregistered). It will begin EX. You then need to request the official copies of the title using that EX number and it will tell you who owns the land.

It probably won't start with EX - the prefix to the title number will be two or three letters but there are different prefixes for different areas

This sounds really helpful, but I can't see this option on the top right.

The housing estate was built in the 1980's, so I suspect it will be registered land. I live in England in case this is relevant.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Go to the map option.

I am, (or at least I think I am). This is the URL I am going to. https://search-property-information.service.gov.uk/search/map-search/find-by-address

Does this help? https://map.whoownsengland.org/

Under the green continue bar there's a 'cant find using postcode...' link

Click there. You can then find the land on a map and go from there

https://search-property-information.service.gov.uk/search/map-search/find-by-map

So having got as far as a map search and having set the radius of the circle very small, it gives me two options, one of which is my property and one of which is described as land lying to the east of a road between x village and y small town. Which is presumably the bit I am interested in, even though x village is about 2 miles away and y town is about 20 miles away (and I live on a housing estate in a large town). So I guess the next step is for me to pay £3 (or whatever it is) to find out who owns said land lying to the east.....

Thanks for all your help everyone.

Just out of curiosity, I also zoomed in on another bit of land that is outside my neighbour opposite's wall and that is also described in a similar way as land lying to the east....the council regularly come round and cut those bushes back, but they don't cut back the ones next to my wall.

To find the boundaries of the land is £3 (the map bit of a plan) but the other £3 gives you the owner of it. So order both parts to be sure it's the right land (that it borders your garden) and then the other part gives you the owner's name.

even if you do find out who owns it though you can't actually make them cut them back.

you can cut back anything overhanging into your land and chuck it back over their side. If you can't do it yourself and you need it done then you might need to pay someone to do it.

You can cut back anything overhanging the boundary.

You can’t just throw it back over their side. You either dispose of it yourself or ask the landowner if they want to dispose of it.

You could contact your local Ward Councillor and ask them to look into it for you.

@PeppermintParty It might well be the responsibility of the Highway Authority if its “verge”. Therefore won’t have an owner on land registry. It’s highly likely they won’t bother about bushes next to you if they don’t affect the highway. If others are cut, it is because they are on a maintenance schedule. Just pay someone to trim them back. I would be concerned if they might grow into trees though if they are too close to your house.

It’s unlikely the parish council has much to do with it. Find out who the Highway Authority is and ask them. Most likely you need to organise it yourself. Who else is likely to care?

Thanks everyone. We have a 6 foot wall and the bushes are only about 4 or 5 foot tall, so they are not encroaching on our property. There is one tree and we (or rather a friend of ours) have cut back overhanging branches and just disposed of them. I don't think anyone would ever question it. The tree is far away from the house not to be an issue with the roots getting into the foundations (although I suppose it could render the wall unstable). I don't know what type of tree it is (I'm not very good with my tree knowledge) but it is one that grows like a weed round here, so not an oak or horse chestnut or anything.

The issue is that the bushes obstruct access to our side gate and hang over the highway (actually a layby) next to our side gate. So they do in a way obstruct the highway, but it is only an issue for people parking in the layby (which doesn't include me, as we have our own driveway at the front of the house),

Thanks to everyone who has gone out of their way to try and assist me. I didn't expect to get so many helpful suggestions.

The layby and land adjacent to it is almost certainly highway land. Considered part of the highway. As it’s not obstructing moving traffic the HA won’t care. The Parish Council should be taking this up with them in my view.

I would just prune them. Who, realistically, will care?

Thanks. If I could prune them, I would, but due to a physical disability, I am not able to do so, so I either need to pay someone to do it, harass a friend or neighbour to do so, or harass the parish council or borough council. I would prefer to get for example the parish council to put it on their rota to regularly when they trim the bushes on the opposite side of the road.