Who owns the beach in front of my house

[Beachlife55]

Anyone know anything about the use of the foreshore? I live next door but one to a restaurant and face the beach. The restaurant have just put 2 huge tables wit attached seating so not moveable, along with windbreak and parasols, on the beach directly in front of my house. I asked the Planning department and they said the restaurant was fine to do this as it's an area that people socialise in already. They already have tables on the pathway in front of their restaurant. To me this sounds dodgy and I am trying to pursue it by finding out about beach ownership. I think I read somewhere that the property owner owns the beach above the high water mark in front of their house, and the Crown owns it between high and low water mark. And it can't be used for commercial purposes. Looking for advice before I take this further but don't know what to do next.

“OP, you need a shit hot real estate solicitor.”

Is “real estate” a British expression?
Real property = land, but otherwise it’s just “property law” here afaik, with a quick google.

A real estate lawyer wouldn’t know about English or Scottish property law.
Unless meanings have changed and I’m out of date.
Is “real estate solicitor” a thing?

Im assuming you haven’t read the 9 pages of misinformation about HMLR, the crown and deeds in general. Either that or you are also misinformed…

I work in the landed estates team for a National solicitors firm, we specialise in real estate. I’m not arsed whether you think it’s a non term, your post just highlights your own ignorance if I’m honest. Google is your friend here pal.

@user29759764277 sorry if this has already been asked, but where do you find the map with all the title numbers please? I can't find it on the land registry website and there's a strip of land near us that none of us have been able to find out the owners of

I'm in a commercial property team but a lot of firms (particularly international ones) refer to it as "real estate" even in the UK.

@JuneIsBustinOutAllOver - for example https://www.farrer.co.uk/legal-services/property/commercial-real-estate/

You need an index map search, but then it’s possible that the strip is unregistered. That doesn’t mean it’s not owned, simply not registered yet. And no, there is no easy way to find out the owner of unregistered land especially if it’s a strip like that. It requires investigation, luck and local knowledge usually.https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/search-the-index-map

I used to be a real estate lawyer. When we started out we were property solicitors but then we got re-branded! Real estate law is very much an English thing (even if I didn’t like it).

@Ofcoursehesthefkingfarmer

Blast, things have changed since I did my LPC.

I looked here and in several other UK sources and I should have looked here where both are given.

I think you are referring to a copy of the Index Map.
From memory you send Land Registry a map with the area you are interested in and they will tell you the number if it’s registered.

If it’s not registered then it’s more difficult.

Oh it's ongoing - I'll keep you posted!

You’ve already said they’ve been intimidating.
So after you’ve applied these tips, beware their retribution.
They sound like uniquely unpleasant people.
I hope you stick to the legal - and safe - route.
Well, after I typed that, they’ll probably be shitty after the legal route too, but then you can nail them again.
And then you can go for that Mumsnet beach party. Wish I could be there.
Have fun stormin’ the castle.

Those numbers aren't actually title numbers. This is the place where you can do a map search, you can really zoom in:

https://www.landregistry-uk.com/map-search

This doesn't give you the title number but something called the "Inspire ID" which you can then use to search here for the actual title number:

https://search-property-information.service.gov.uk/search/search-by-inspire-id

It will then cost you £3 to order the title deeds and that will give you details of who owns that particular bit of land (the land registry charge £12.95 if you do it directly from their site).

The process you go through is shown in the attached images

Just as an example I did this for the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea which is a lovely little seaside town in north Norfolk. Along one stretch of the beach are a whole load of beach huts (they are really expensive to buy) so I thought I'd have a look at who actually owns the beach that those beach huts are sat on. (It turns out that he owns the foreshore as well).

The registered owner of the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea is The Right Honourable Thomas Edward, Eighth Earl of Leicester. He lives a couple of miles away in Holkham Hall.

It appears that he does actually own at least part of the foreshore as the register has this note:

"The extent of such part of the foreshore that is included in this title is subject to the effect of accretion and diluvion."

The title registry then details various easements and leases that have been granted (the RNLI lifeboat station is on land leased for 50 years for example).

@Beachlife55 did you ever get this resolved?