Can I adopt a tiny bit of land at the bottom of my garden (photos attached)

[BG2015]

We've cleared the bottom of our garden and are undecided whether to replace the rotten fence or remove it and fence either side and adopt the 10 x 10 foot no mans land.

Currently it's full of rubbish that next door have thrown over plus tree debris etc.

Next door have incorporated their extra bit into their garden and is a football area for their son ( see picture). They have lived in their house since they were built 15 years ago. The house next to them have also done it. We have been here 5 years. We aren't going to put anything on it just incorporate it into our garden.

There is a large fir tree that would also need to be cut back quite a bit (hesitant to remove it as it gives privacy). We've tried to read up on the law but it's very confusing. My solicitor did mention it when I bought the house but I wasn't totally sure what she meant (messy separation and head not in the right place)

Any advice would be great.

From your plan and what you have said, it looks like you actually already own the land...

The green highlighted bit is the wasteland. The bit that's circled is the bit that next door have incorporated into their garden.

It also looks like your neighbours do actually own the bit they claimed too. It's on that property map afterall.

Morningstar - how can you be sure. I do believe my solicitor inferred that but I'm not sure as I was so stressed at the time.

Was it supposed to be a path to allow rear access?
We had something vaguely similar. There was an old path that gave rear access to our house and next door neighbour. Next door neighbour had built a wall before we moved in and the former owner of ours had put a fence up blocking off the path (It was used as a urinal on the way home from the pub apparently). We incorporated it into our garden but when we sold we put a 3ft fence across it and told every viewer clearly what the deal was. Sold no problem.

Can you explain which but if land on the plan is yours and which bit you are proposing to incorporate? Is the line behind the gardens the access path? Obviously you can’t incorporate that.

The previous owners of my house had tried to claim some land as part of the garden, the land registry contacted the registered owner, who went mad and had a massive row with my vendor, and tried to charge him £5k for a small patch of land. My vendor moved the wall so now there's a strange unkempt bit next to my garden. I've spoken to the owner of the land who said that if my vendor had approached him directly he'd have been happy to come to a sensible arrangement, but because he went to the land registry first he wasn't happy.

So I'd suggest finding the owner of the land via the land registry and contacting them first.

The neighbour’s plot does look bigger on the original diagram of plots that you’ve drawn on. I’d speak to them, ask if they bought it. Or know who owns it.

Sorry x posted.

So the neighbours have incorporated some access path?

Your boundary red line shows that you do own the land! The fact that your other neighbours and fenced their extra piece in suggests you do the same too.

Is the green bit the wasteland you want to incorporate?

If so it does not look as if you own it.

I did this on a bit of unregistered land. Someone reported me, but the council came round, took a look then left without saying a word. It was never picked up when I sold the house

Sounds like incompetent solicitors

So OP and her neighbour are attempting to take ownership of the access path that runs between two sets of gardens. How do your neighbours behind feel about that?

Anyone see that thread last year where a poster called something like ‘Twittlebee’ had a man fence in some woodland she owned?

You could probably check original planning permissions online. It might be a designated strip for wildlife or for access to services for maintenance. Are there any covenants among your purchase paperwork relating to it?

This shows it better

Pic 1 - gate to the left
Pic 2 - through the gate, access path and no mans land running to the road
Pic 3 - behind that fence is a massive fir tree and the area I would incorporate

Adverse possession can only happen where (as a pp said) you can demonstrate that you have had sole responsibility for the up keep. To do this the owner of the land must not have been able to access the land. Ie you need proof of a fence and a lock dating back 12 years that only allows you or previous owner to access the land.

Where you go from here - order up the title for the land from the Land Registry, contact the owner and offer to purchase it. I work for an organisation that owns a lot of scraps of land - unless there is a reason to keep it (easements, ransom, RoW retention) we are more than happy to get rid of them for legal costs. However if it becomes subject to adverse possession we will dispute it and take it to a land tribunal.

There doesn’t appear to be a house behind the bit your neighbour has taken. However there is a house behind the piece you want, if nothing else you may find they report you because they’d quite like a bigger garden too and why should you get the whole strip.....

Personally I wouldn’t touch it. It had the potential to be SO much more hassle than ten shitty feet of trees and shade is worth.

All modern houses have access paths to them. This is very poor of your neighbours to do this and I would be complaining, not trying to do the same.

If it's an access path no one has accessed it for years and years. It's totally overgrown.

Found this in my solicitors stuff from the builder. It's from 2003. The yellow shows the access paths but no wasteland. The houses that are numbered 25, 29, 33 are a different builder.

So the access gate starts at your property? So by taking on the extra land you wouldn't be affecting anyone's right of way?

Are you proposing just to adopt the bit at the bottom of your garden (so you eventual plot will remain a rectangle, just longer than now, or are you proposing to take all the area you've coloured green, so your plot becomes L shaped?

Also, out of curiousity, what is the much larger triangle shaped piece of land behind the terraces 9-21. Is that no mans land too?

Houses backing onto me

I think as the house is only 15 years old you need to find out why it is there. In our recent house search there were several houses /estates that had wildlife corridors on them that look quite similar to your pic.

Surely you can’t take all of it though as it runs behind your other neighbors house . Maybe just the bit directly behind your garden

I was wondering about wildlife corridors. They are put in intentionally aren't they?