Adopting council land

[suffolkpunch85]

When we bought our house, the previous owner had maintained an area of grass (say 4m x 3m) adjoining their front garden and had an established conifer around it. We have carried on maintaining it (for 15 years) but would now like to get rid of the conifer hedge and put a fence up.

Is it possible to claim the land since it has been looked after by the occupier of the house for circa 20 years? If so, how do you go about it?

We had a similar situation; also with local authority land. We were advised by our solicitor that claiming adverse possession would cost thousands in legal fees and that the council would definitely fight it as they are obliged to protect council tax payers' assets. In our case the council said we could buy the land at approx £35 per square metre plus their legal fees of £500. Then our legal fees on top of course. The only problem with approaching the council is that you would be alerting them to the fact you're using their land and they may say you either pay for it or reinstate the boundary.