Donate SIGN UP

Use of land entitlement

Avatar Image
vpetite28 | 12:31 Thu 25th Jun 2009 | Civil
4 Answers
When I brought my property (over 22 yrs ago) the ceptic tank and associated drainage were already located on an area of land adjoing the property but not registered with the property.
Can I now lay claim to this small piece of land and have it registered, if so how do I do this?
At the time of the original house purchase I took out an indemnity to cover this piece of land.
I am now thinking of selling the house and it seems both sensible and advisable to resolve this matter. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 4 of 4rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by vpetite28. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
It is pretty unlikely you would be able to do this.

I imagine that the adjoining land is unregistered at the Land Registry and, because the owner was unidentifiable and your land has no easement for the passage of sewage onto the adjoining land, the insurance indemnity policy was set-up to underwrite the cost of negotiating an easement, if rightful owner did one day turn up.
Clearly he hasn't, but that doesn't strengthen your case to claim the land as your own.

To make a claim for the unregistered land using Adverse Possession, you'd have had to fence it off and maintain it as your land for 10 years before you can make the initial claim to the Land Registry. Unless you have done this, the mere running of your pipes through there to discharge your sewage doesn't in my book mean you are maintaining it.

When you come to sell the house, the same process will apply as happened before. These policies are not typically transferable, so the purchaser would have to enter into an agreement with an insurer in the same way that you did. He will probably wish to factor this cost into his offer, however the cost of such policies is in the low hundreds of pounds (because the historical probability of the rightful owner turning up is small).
Question Author
Thankyou for your answer I have been maintaining this area it actually forms apart of my garden and the driveway access onto my property/ garage entrane etc (so is used everyday) .The grass is cut reguarly and shrubs etc maintained.
The owner lives along the lane from me and apparently believes the land belongs to me now ........ perhaps I should 'simply' go and chat' to them to effect a solution.
Then I suggest you download and read through this PDF document from the Land Registry (I assume you are in England & Wales - different process if you aren't).
http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library /documents/lrpg005.pdf
Then ask more questions if you need to.
Don't go and speak to the owner.
This process only works for unregistered land. Since 2003 its been a lot more difficult (nye impossible) to make a successful legal claim registered land.
You may need a solicitor to help you though in theory it should be straightforward.
One issue is likely to be whether the owner has given you consent. If he has ever put it in writing, that constitutes consent (and a claim for Adverse Possession will fail). Not sure what the LR will say about a situation where the owner knows you are on it (illegally) but simply has done nothing about it.
Alternative may be you just buy the land off him if he's friendly and wants little for it.
You may legally claim this space as your own by submitting and application to the "Land Registry".... If you can prove that you have used the space "uncontested" for a certain ammount of time, they will grant you ownship..... A great site I found for the entire step by step process of claiming land can be found at http://www.claimfreeland.co.uk Media URL: http://www.claimfreeland.co.uk
Description: how to claim free land

1 to 4 of 4rss feed

Do you know the answer?

Use of land entitlement

Answer Question >>