Claiming land

Does anyone know how you go about claiming land that doesn't belong to anyone? Has anyone done this?

 

This is taking me back several years but ....I think ALL land belongs to somebody ...even though it may not be apparent ... the best place to find out who owns what is to contact the Land Registry for the region concerned; even then it may not be apparent because if land is not registered it doesn't means it isn't owned .....it could just be that the land isn't registereed because it may not have needed to be registered by the original owner,(and has since not changed hands) due to Land Registry regulations coming into force at a later date. I think you would be advised to take legal advice .....

M-L

[ 21. September 2006, 08:00 PM: Message edited by: Mona Lisa ]

 

There's land that people have owned who have died and not left it to anyone, I remember seeing something about it on TV, also unadopted roads, I thought of the land registry but didn't know if there was a website with info, so if anyone knows of one...?

 

Jay about half of all land is registered with the land registry. The rest all belongs to someone including the crown. If someone died, and had no will, and no identified relatives - then the land is held by the public trustee as I remember - Though it can be sold to pay for funeral and other expenses. If sold, it will be registered.

 

I had a neighbour once who used to move his fence back 6ft every couple of years into waste ground. He told me that if you fence it and look after it, if nobody objects after 2 years the land is yours. Don't know how true this is? But he extended his garden a good 30ft this way!!

 

I think it is 12 or 14 years windy, not 2 years!

 

Think it's 10 in Scotland.....

 

I thought it was more like 10 years. Here's the land registry site ...

http://www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/

 

There was another thread about all this, in the spring, but can't remember what it was called?

 

There's land that people have owned who have died and not left it to anyone

In this case, a person has died 'intestate' ....a search for the next of kin will be made, if no such next of kin can be found the 'property' of the deceased will go to the state ...ie in the UK's case the Crown.....
M-L

 

Dag I remember the thread - and as I recall someone was intending to extend their garden. However as I recall - the advise from the knowledgable at the time, said that this was illegal, and that if taken up by the authories, the fence would have to be moved.

 

Well I think that was half of it, but there was another side of the story I think. I believe it was all about original documentation and witnesses to events wasn't it?

 

I agree with M-L on this one. However, it is also true that people can take over land and "keep" it. Believe me, we had this problem in Bucks which is a story I do not want to go into. All I will say is that at one house the land was kept and the other it was a legal nightmare! And we were the people owning the land!

 

From what I understand of the law, if there isn't a recorded owner, then it belongs to the crown. If someone dies and there is no will and no next of kin, then it reverts back to being owned by the crown. As for Windy's ex-neighbour, it certainly isn't every 2 years!!! 12 years sounds right, as if ever there is a right-of-way dispute, if you can prove it has been used as such for 12 years, then it can't be taken away.