Hi there,

I’ve seen a property I’d like to buy but there is a problem. It’s back on the market because the previous buyers searches noted that there is a small patch of land at the back of the garden (on a very steep, terraced slope) that is not indicated on the deeds, which has scared them off. The land is 3m x 7m at most and due to its position, pretty useless. My initial thought was that it belongs to the property that this place backs on to. However, they are at the bottom of this near-vertical slope and the buildings are on a level 5-10m lower. There is a boundary fence at the back of this unclaimed land, which borders the neighbouring property.

Is there any way I can check who owns this land? Or does anyone have any idea about any avenues I can follow? My first step will be to talk to the next door neighbours at some point.

Many thanks,

R

buy it. fence it off. maintain it for 12yrs. its yours.

they are at the bottom of this near-vertical slope and the buildings are on a level 5-10m lower

I’d hope it wasn’t mine – if it ends up in their garden due to subsidence you’ll face the bill.

So the opposite of what jam bo says really.

You can look on the land registry website. The search is very clunky. There is a map search and if you zoom in it should give you a short list to choose from. Some will have obvious names like a street address, others will be pretty vague like “land adjacent to high street”. The big issue is that you can’t see the plan until you buy it for £4 and it might take a few goes. Once you have the right map you then need to pay another £4 to find out who actually owns it

I have similar between my garden and the main road, Theres a good few metres drop down to the road and about 20m horizontal distance at the widest point, the land is just covered in trees so it’s quite a nice barrier/surround for my house, but it’s not owned by anyone as the people that built the houses in the 60’s just left it, as it wasn’t any use to anything you certainly couldn’t build on it. We just leave it and trim the odd tree out if it gets too overgrown near our garden.

Go with the Putin approach. Annexe it through a violent invasion then build a submarine base on it

 It’s back on the market because the previous buyers searches noted that there is a small patch of land at the back of the garden (on a very steep, terraced slope) that is not indicated on the deeds, which has scared them off.

Seems a bit odd ? Unless the land was so unstable actually owning it would be a liability.  Normally disputes are about people wanting land not the opposite.

Why does it matter?

No-one knows who owns our entire house and garden!

Check with the Land Registry, it really doesn’t cost a lot. If the land isn’t registered it might be worth getting copies of the titles for all the properties adjoining the land, to see if they have any kind of rights over the land. If the property at the back isn’t registered either then the land might well be theirs.

If the land isn’t registered and you don’t have any clues as to who owns it, it can be very hard (and expensive) to figure out who owns the land, and they may not exist any more. As above if it is just going to be a liability then don’t worry about it too much, and don’t let it put you off. It is likely you’ll be able to claim it in the future if you want to.

Don’t see why it would be a potential issue, unless any future landslips will take half your garden with it. Leaving it sitting there covered in trees would seem to be the best course of action.

No-one is going to build a block of flats on it.

Go with the Putin approach. Annexe it through a violent invasion then build a submarine base on it

You forgot the referendum. Must solicit support of majority of wildlife, which will immediately declare that had always thought the land to be yours, and that they are glad you finally came to their assistance.

Then you build the submarine base.

Thanks for all the replies. It’s not that this land would really bother me. It’s not large enough to do anything with and I’m happy to leave it. My concern is that the previous buyers pulled out because of it so I may be missing something. I think I need to just get all the land registry records and speak to a conveyancing solicitor. I’ve already pulled one record – the one at the back of the property, adjoining this land – and their boundary stops at the bottom of the slope. I suspect mine would stop at the top, and there is a short, but very steep section of slope between them that doesn’t appear to be registered.

Cheers,

R

Previous buyer may have pulled out because the property was advertised with it included, and then it became clear that the current owners had taken the fence down and adopted it unofficially.  It may be useless due to the terrain, but the buyer may have attempted to renegotiate based on the smaller plot.  And then walked.

You forgot the referendum. Must solicit support of majority of wildlife, which will immediately declare that had always thought the land to be yours, and that they are glad you finally came to their assistance.

What if only about half of them want to stay as part your garden and the other half want to break away from something which does sound quite iffy and make new links with the wildlife across the road or round the corner?

I have one of those bits of land at the bottom of my garden.

It was claimed by the previous owner and has its own title deed as cba to pay to have it added to the main deed.

Could turn it into a backstop

Or

A republic

Probably just a mapping error if it’s that small. According to the land registry I own the path to my neighbours garden and the central section of his garden is unregistered

Previous buyer may have pulled out because the property was advertised with it included, and then it became clear that the current owners had taken the fence down and adopted it unofficially.  It may be useless due to the terrain, but the buyer may have attempted to renegotiate based on the smaller plot.  And then walked.

Mostly likely this. Assuming the story of the reason the guy pulled out is true. Maybe he pulled out because he found out a neighbour is an axe murderer and the estate agent doesn’t fancy telling you that.

There’s a 50cm strip of land at the bottom of my Garden (otherside of my fence) which is (I think) still ‘owned’ by the builder who build the house in 1950, I very much doubt he’s still breathing. It’s no drama, I’ve already put in a gate which opens across it and when I get around to it I’m going to plant a hedge on it.

Classic ransom strip outofbreath 🙂

It could also have been because there is requirement that the prospective buyer has to maintain it, and if there is a height differential between that land and the one below there would be a risk of landslip if not properly maintained (which can be costly).

Classic ransom strip outofbreath

I assume that was the intention. He was hoping people would pay him for right of access if they wanted to put a gate it. Or maybe the local authority was supposed to take ownership of the strip when they adopted the adjacent road and when the paperwork was done they missed off 50cm. Or something else.

I’ve had friends with nightmare problems over ransom strips and I can confirm that a dead guy owning a ransom strip is a lot less hassle than a live guy!

I have had similar experiences. My solicitors cocked up, faiIed to register a strip with Land Registry that was on my deeds, and then a predatory and unscrupulous developer turned up looking to develop a greenfield site beyond my strip. Even though it was on my deeds it still had a two year battle to get it registered. Speaking from experience I would not leave it up in the air. I would try and find out before I bought.

Land Registry is cumbersome, and it’s been five years since I last wrestled with them so I’m a bit fogged on how you tackle it, but that is your best bet. I think I searched on ‘postcode’ and then looked at everything it threw up in detail.

https://www.gov.uk/your-property-boundaries