Ransom Strip

[kerrymucklowe2020]

20cm "ransom Strip" ( presume it's this as not in title deeds ). Presume it's being retained by the builders ( 9 year old house ). Causing delays and frustration as solicitors seem to be at loggerheads. It's in-between 2 houses at the side of the neighbours house but within boundary of property I'm buying ( I think ). Advice? Will a Stat Dec cover this?

@titchy

This is why I don't understand what's going on. There's nowhere to build anything!

Because if you also bought next door, you could knock down both houses and put up a block of flats on the whole plot and make a million. This strip rightly prevents you from doing so without sharing the million. I'm not sure what you/your solicitor is making such a fuss about tbh.

This! This is why they exist. It’s very very normal for builders to keep a stretch to profit in the future if development is planned. It’s hugely common.

I have no clue why there is an issue with this.

There's lots of discussion about the physical strip - IME these don't actually physically exist practically speaking - there is no 20cm wide piece of overgrown land that no neighbour can set foot on - it's purely on the paper/deeds.
I viewed a bungalow not long ago that had a 100m+ long rear garden with ransom strips all round the back half along with recently applied restrictive covenants as it could have been easily built on (all the neighbours equivalent land had) but the old fella selling it didn't want the garden/wood to disappear. I did lightly enquire with my solicitor if it'd be an issue & they said not.