Neighbour fenced in council owned land

[WhatToDoWhoNow]

I've been away for 2 years- came back and my house (been rented but they didn't say anything) now has the shared bit of land between my house and neighbours fenced in.

This is affecting access to my house as I can no longer access the side of my house because of the fence.

Land is owned by the council. Does anyone know if I can complain about this, and how to prove that it is owned by council thanks

This is generally misunderstood. There seems to be an idea that after 7 or so years you legally acquire land, not so. Land Registry ask the registered owner if they agree to transfer ownership to the person claiming it, and they just say yes or no, no details needed.

That's because it used to be the case. Think it was ten years (or maybe twelve, can't recall) of uninterrupted use of land, fully enclosed, without permission from the registered owner. I know, because I did it - it was my land, and always had been, but had somehow been registered incorrectly and I only found out when a neighbour had call to check LR and told me. It has recently ish changed of course, but lots of people don't seem to realise that.

Have you always had right of way though OP?

@WhatToDoWhoNow you can check here https://search.uklandregistryonline.org.uk/

I would go to the council and act all innocent - tell them that you can see they must have sold the land to your neighbours, but unfortunately, they sold them too much of the land and that means that you have now lost your legal right of access, so their (the council's) planning department appear to have made a mistake.

Then sit back and await the fireworks!

Contact the council enforcement team. This could be a breach of planning as an unauthorised change of use from open space to residential garden ground. Even if bought from the council, the change in use may well require planning permission.

Thank you all. I am still at work but will have a proper look through when I get home.

I am fairly certain they haven't bought it.

It is like a street really, instead of being straight the street comes up between the houses, so anyone could walk on it (they just would have no reason to)

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

If I access from here, would they be notified - I do want my facts checked before I do anything thanks.

(The reason it is an issue is it is affecting my access to my house- I can't access the side of my house from the front anymore, and it affects the light)

Just report the CF!

Not normally. There is an option with LR to sign up to be notified - this is normally to ensure no planning permission is sought on a property (do not need to own a property to apply for planning) or if there is any kind of fraud or similar.

Even if the people have signed up I do not know if just purchasing your neighbours plans will notify them.

I would also post your query on gardenlaw forum - they are very good and have people posting who work for LR, are lawyers, surveyors etc.

@readbutdonotpostoften the Land Registry alert service has nothing to do with planning.

This isn't a planning issue at all, it's a "who owns the land?" issue.

If you look the Council website may well have a map with all Council owned land on it

But just contact the council and/or your Councillor

I believe the alert system does alert for various reasons. I know this situation is nothing to do with planning, I answered to the question would the owner of the property be alerted if the OP purchases the title documents for the property/owner which has enclosed the council owned land.

No @WhatToDoWhoNow the owners will not be notified. The alert is for something different and relates to planning applications on property. Just buying a copy won’t do anything.

(The reason it is an issue is it is affecting my access to my house- I can't access the side of my house from the front anymore, and it affects the light)

How is it affecting the light?

Landowners can ask to be notified is someone tries to register a change of ownership i.e fraud.

@Pearlstillsinging yes I’m aware thanks but OP was asking will they be notified if she gets a copy as she doesn’t want them to know

@readbutdonotpostoften you also said "this is normally to ensure no planning is sought on the property..."

Maybe have this moved to Legal OP.

I can't understand why you don't just phone the council to ask, as a starting point.

Just ask if the ownership of the land has been transferred, you understood it was council land.

It can very well be a planning issue, if the use of the land has changed. From amenity ground/open space or access path to private residential garden ground. Reporting to planning enforcement can be useful on that basis.

The land ownership and access to your own property is the legal issue. Checking title deeds on the land registry will help you initially, you can also contact the council to find out if they have sold the land. Your local councillor may be helpful on this matter too.

Where we used to live someone decided they didn't like a fenced footpath going along the side of their garden. They employed a fencing company to erect a new fence closing off the paved footpath. The parish council were told within an hour of this happening. The fence came down later that day!