Ransom strip

[PartyPlan]

I’ve come across some land for sale on Rightmove which looks to be a ransom strip on a private road.

From the listing it looks like there are 4 properties who have driveways leading on to the land which is their only access to the main road due to being surrounded by other properties.

I’m just musing but is there anything stopping someone buying this land and parking 20 caravans on it and blocking their access? Could they charge the home owners for use of the land?

It looks like a disaster waiting to happen if there isn’t any rights of access in place.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/117821597#/?channel=COM_BUY

It doesn't so much look like a ransom strip to me (which is, in my experience, usually not a road), but it is an odd thing. I would assume that there are established rights of way for all of those properties. I would also assume that you couldn't park caravans on it because of planning and the existing rights of way. I don't quite understand why anyone would want to buy it though!

You'd probably be liable for the upkeep of the road too. I can't see how it is worth buying.

Unless you also buy the land to the rear of the two houses on the main road and build on them - you'd have no access issues if you also owned this road.

It would make sense for the homeowners to buy it but it would be an odd buy for anyone else if there isn’t anything you could do with it.
Paying for the upkeep of the road for others to drive over wouldn’t be ideal either.

That is not a ransom strip.

It is a weird set up though.

However, just because you own land, doesn't mean you can do what you like with it. It would be subject to planning restrictions and policies just like any other piece of land so the possibility of plonking 20 caravans (or doing anything else with it ) is extremely low.

My parents lived along a similar road which they didn't own. Upkeep was an ongoing issue and it took years to track down the actual owner.

I’m not considering buying it, more wondering why you would buy it and what someone else might do.

Is there anything built on the verges? EG have the homeowners extended their gardens on to verges or do their driveways cross the verges etc? Also, what is the green land opposite the top of that road and is it potentially going to be able to be built on. I ask because about five years ago a neighbour approached us and asked if we knew anything about the land her house was built on prior to them living there (and at this point they’d been there about ten years). It turned out there was a small ransom strip (their solicitor hadn’t spotted it when the purchase went through ) at the end of their driveway - which had a fence between it and the next property’s land. The developer had kept it because he thought the land would eventually be sold and he could buy it as he had the ransom strip to access it, anyone else buying the land would then have to pay him a hefty price for access. However the land owners made it clear they would never sell it to him (long story). So eventually he must have realised his plan wasn’t ever going to come to pass. By this time neighbour had built a car port on the ransom strip they didn’t know existed. They suddenly received a demand from him GBP25k for the land they had built on or else he would sue them. So I’m just wondering if there is some benefit to someone buying that road and then going to the home owners already there saying you now owe me money to drive over my verges to access your driveway. Or, if that piece of green land might get sold in future maybe the road becomes valuable in terms of access rights being sold?

@TyrannysaurusXXrightshoarder The property driveways do cross the verges. The green area across the main road is owned by the council, there’s a war memorial there and it’s used for community events so unlikely to be built on.

Did your neighbour have to pay up?

It is incredibly unlikely that there isn't an easement in place allowing all those homeowners access to the road (even if it has been acquired by long use or necessity rather than being expressly granted). It would also require upkeep of the road.

Where it may become valuable is if one of those houses (or several houses) becomes several houses or flats and the access has to be increased - I would expect it to be ransom strip for future development potential rather than any existing benefit.

Did your neighbour have to pay up?
No, they didn’t pay anything. The ransom strip was something like 3 metres by 30 cm at the end of their driveway so they just dismantled the car port and now park on their driveway so they are no longer using his teeny bit of land that is now useless to him (haha good, he’s a vile human being who almost bankrupted another neighbour over a land dispute). I imagine that, had anything come of it, their solicitor would have been liable in some way having missed the fact there was a strip there in the first place.

I would presume there might be some income value in it from the homes which use it for access. I expect the owners of the homes will form a consortium to buy it for themselves. It hold the most value for them.

I'd assume it's for auction because the current owner (probably the developer) has gone bankrupt or died and the receiver/executor has a duty to get the best price.

Guess they're hoping for competing factions of homeowners (or homeowners who hate each other) to fight for it rather than a general purchase.

I'd be most keen to buy (subject to easements) if at the far end...