We're in the process of buying a house which is accessed over common land maintained by the Malvern Hills Trust. It's an odd piece that is, basically, a right-angled triangle from the house next door's fence to the corner of the drive on the house we're buying, 65m².
All the trust do is mow it every now and then so I was thinking that it could make a nice add-on to the front garden.
I've emailed them to see if it's something they would consider but, whilst I wait for an answer, thought I'd ask on here if anyone has done this kind of thing and, if so, what sort of costs/timescales etc were involved..
Ta 🙂
Just move the fence 6 inches at a time, twice a year.
In a few years it'll be all yours. 😉
These plots come up at auction quite often. I think most auctions I go to have one or two like this. They usually go very cheaply (a few hundred to a few thousand quid, plus a whole load of fees) unless they are viable building plots in which case they are very expensive. I was under the impression the council couldn't just sell these sites they had to offer them up to the open market, hence the auctions. Maybe its a guideline rather than a rule, though. Can't see anything that involves the council being quick.
MHT = Conservators. Theyre not the council
They never sell land - theyre not allowed to really.
They aggressively monitor any encroachment "domestication" of their land, so no planting daff bulbs or storing materials on their grass.
An email costs you nothing, but Id wager they really wont entertain any idea of selling to you Im afraid.
It may be that the land has been left in council control so they can control the height of any planting etc so highways can get the visibility splays they require for road safety.
The council were difficult to deal with so we just planted trees around the border and annexed the land. Had it for twenty+ years before new neighbours complained about the height of the trees and the council said we had to cut them.
Cut the trees ourselves?
Why should we, they're on council land after all. 😆
How very odd! Why on earth would conservators/trust give a toss about a tiny patch of ground abutting a couple of houses? It appears to have little or no amenity value, or have any relevance to an SSI or possible scenic value.
^ What perchy said.
Also, start mowing it yourself, then you can claim that you maintained it and 'enjoyed the use of the land'....
Why on earth would conservators/trust give a toss about a tiny patch of ground abutting a couple of houses?
Looks like the remains of a ransom strip. Is there still open land behind these houses?
Not ransom strip.
The conservators own and manage large tracts of common land around the Malverns. Quite a lot of the land is large verge, but it is what is left after historic enclosure. The largest commons are the likes of Castlemorton common (where I am) or Peachfield which is not far from Steve's new gaff.
They dont care about individual patches of land and their inherent value as such, its more the principal of their obligation to conserve, prevent enclosure and keep the land in one single ownership. Under the Acts of P that created the conservators, they were only permitted to sell some named bits of land (s8
) years ago, and since then they are not permitted to sell any other land.
That looks like it should be joint access to both houses,
I'd guess its possibly been fenced off by your predecessors or the neighbors themselves (to keep kids dogs etc in/out) but quite likely they still have a right of access over it.
Edit: stoners answer is much better mind, and appears to be less guess work.
Even if you managed to purchase the land, you may need to apply for planning permission for "change of use".
A former neighbour bought a similar triangle of land from the local housing association, only to be refused permission to incorporate it into his front garden. He's currently waiting for the result of his appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
I'm a bit confused by the suggestion of the amount of land involved, as I thought the Conservators owned all of the huge "verges" down that road*, which is confirmed by Stoner's map, so it's not just that little triangle involved. What exactly is your basis for marking the outer edge of that bit of land, both sides of the line being under the same ownership? As Stoner says, the chances of them either selling it to you, or acquiring it by stealth without somebody noticing are minimal. The question is, whilst you might like a bigger front garden, what's wrong with just leaving things as they are?
*I know exactly where that is from the photo
*I know exactly where that is from the photo
aye, I don't even know the area, took me about 7 seconds to find it in google maps, best delete that OP/mods.
Thanks for the comments. I think Stoner is probably going to be right but will see if they respond.
The track is an access to two houses but the marked area does not affect the house next door.
Why do you think I should delete the picture?
I personally wouldn't advertise my address on here.
Ah, yeah, good point..
Can you report it and get the mods to remove the pic please?
I note that you comment that its accessed over common - If the land you're talking about is registered common then you'll stand zero chance of ever adopting it into your garden, you cant even change the surface or fence it without special permission.
tried to, just came up with a -1 after I submitted though so don't know if it went through.
about 90% of conservator land is registered common, However, I dont know if that bit of verge is, as the 10% may well be road verge sections.
Road verge is often a messy area - sometimes it might fall to the conservators (or parish council in other areas) as inheritors of the former waste lands of the manor, other times it will be highways - handy data viewer here that ties in with the land registry:
http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=6a5896a2ac91485e90e83a84efd19215
and registered commons can be found in one of the layers on magic.gov.uk
[s]handy map, but I cant see the common land layer, if there is one?[/s]
Just sen your edit
And having looked at the registered commons raster, yes, Steve's "front lawn" is a common.
No chance then IMO
I've recently dealt with a coupe of cases (via LAF) where a landowner has sought to overturn commons registration by claiming the land was curtilage of a dwelling at the time of registration, and another case whereby common was being used for parking - Commons law is incredibly complex and essentially anything that might impair public access would be ruled out.
The guidance alone is complex enough:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/common-land-guidance