Ransom strip across middle of garden

[Hittapotamus]

Most of the research I've done suggests ransom strips are at the boundaries of people's land so a ransom must be paid for access.

The house I'm looking at buying has an enlarged garden and the end bit has a ransom strip all the way across it. The landowner clearly sold the current owner the extra bit to enlarge the garden (land registry edged in red) but even on the land registry document there's a dashed line about 10m from the far boundary. For scale the garden is about 65m long.

In practical terms what does this mean for the end part of the garden please? It backs onto fields.

I obviously need a shit hot solicitor then who WILL worry about it and get it nailed down.

I think this is the important point OP. There's clearly something odd about this set up and you need to be careful that this doesn't adversely effect the value or convenience of the property.

A solicitor with the full plans and searches should be able to get to the bottom of what's going on.

Not sure if my info will help but when I sold of a large area of land that would in the future have development potential it was sold with a 1 meter wide ransom strip around the whole area , this was so that it could only be used for the purpose it had been sold ( and valued accordingly ) if in time the owner was to develop and build on it he would not be able to do so without my permission and purchase of permission
In other words see why it was put there in the first place , it may not affect your usage

I'll go to that forum thanks @Thinkingabout1t

Yes the area lined in red is around the whole garden area with a blue dashed line saying that is excluded. The owner says it's about a metre wide which tallys with ransom strip research. The owner agrees it's a ransom strip. It goes across the whole back of the area. Which includes this garden because he extended it 15 years ago. The current owner doesn't own it. The previous landowner does but doesn't own the field at the back so I'm assuming now that it's to stop that land owner developing that field and them not getting a cut of it.

No services run under it. As big gardens go it's a really simple massive flat area which contrasts with our steeply sloping existing one!

I'm narrowing my solicitor search down to 2. My previous favourite has retired which is a shame because he was an eagle with details. And his secretary absolutely bloodhound like!

It won't affect my usage as such but what if that's where I wanted to put my shed or the trampoline etc?

You'd just have to move it if it were needed for access. Sounds as though it could be costly to resolve, i.e. buy.

I bought some additional land to extend my garden and to give us rear access and parking. 15 years later, when I put the house up for sale we discovered the neighbour who had sold us the land had put in a little ransom strip across the access! We lost the sale as a consequence and had to pay the neighbour an extra £4000 to make it legally ours!

When you've got to the bottom of it all, do think carefully about proceeding. Friends of ours bought a house on a private estate where the developer had registered dozens of ransom strips including strips across the entire front boundaries of the houses and their drives. My friends were assured at the time that this was just a way of preventing people selling their gardens and building infill properties but they are now literally being held to ransom because they need to renew their drive, including the ransom strip. It's become clear that the ransom strips are a nice earner for their owner.