Land grabbing — anyone done it?

[Dreadnaught]

Does anyone have any experience of grabbing a small piece of land that nobody owns and which abuts your own land?

 

I am familiar with the legal principles of adverse possession, I am more interested in the period before, when the grabbing actually occurs.

[nod]

Yep done it at the house we live in

and fenced an area off in the woods at the back of our plot

[Dreadnaught]

Just now, nod said:

Yep done it at the house we live in

 

Thanks @nod. Any do's or dont's? Is it just a matter of fencing and a long wait? Who can challenge the fences (other than an owner, which in my case certainly does not exist)?

[nod]

12 hours ago, Dreadnaught said:

 

Thanks @nod. Any do's or dont's? Is it just a matter of fencing and a long wait? Who can challenge the fences (other than an owner, which in my case certainly does not exist)?

Yes clear the area quickly then get your fence in just as quick. If you leave it a few more weeks It won’t look like you’ve touched it a month later where as if you do anything in the winter months it’s pretty obvious what you have done

 

When we moved the fence out at our house one neighbour rumbled us and came round

As he didn’t want us getting in any bother 

We thanked him for the heads up and moved it anyway 

Five years later guess what he moved his boundary inline with ours

 

On the new plot we contacted the land registry They told us that they mostly relied on estate agents measurements

I couldn’t believe it either 

So the wooded area that separates us from the eighteen green Half has become ours We has to fell six large tree

The green keeper said he would be upset if any droped his way

That was twelve months ago 

The six stumps have virtually rotted

Our neighbour has started clearing their half now

[Russell griffiths]

My friend did it, when he fenced it hr used rusty angle iron as posts and put them in all wonky then put rusty chain link on it to pretend it had been there for years. 

[ProDave]

I think my neighbour is about to do this.

 

His plot has an oddity, a little bite of land adjoining the field is missing and fenced off. It is clearly shown on the land registry as being part of the field, but has in the past just been used by them to dump rocks they pull out of the field when ploughing. It is fenced by a wooden post and rail fence in very poor condition.

 

While talking to him over the weekend he mentioned he had spoken to the farmer who said he can take the fence down.  I suspect that is a rather tall story aimed at me saying nothing when the fence goes as stage 1 of his land grab.

[MikeSharp01]

4 hours ago, Dreadnaught said:

nobody owns

Somebody owns everywhere seems like a good code to start with. There used to be an 8 year rule now it is 12 years in total IIRC.

Once you fence it in you will need to be unchallenged for 12 years. After 10 you write to LR and tell them you have had unrestricted personal use for the last 10 years. You then need to wait 2 more years and if you remain unchallenged the land becomes yours and can be registered to you. 

[newhome]

How does anyone know if it’s been 10 years? So you could write after 6 for example? 

[Dreadnaught]

7 hours ago, newhome said:

How does anyone know if it’s been 10 years? So you could write after 6 for example? 

 

Good question. Anyone know an answer?

 

7 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

and if you remain unchallenged the land becomes yours and can be registered to you.

 

Yes. I wonder who can challenge the fences? Not just a neighbour: as far as I can see they have no basis for a challenge at all, unless it is a right-of-way.

 

Is the only legitimate challenge for someone to assert a title claim to the land? In my case it has been well established on multiple occasions by multiple people that that owner has been lost in the mists-of-time. Thus is no challenge even possible?

[SteamyTea]

I know a few people that 're-fenced' their back gardens.  While doing that they took an extra 20 yards or so of land.

The strip of land had been unused for many decades (part of an old mine.  Just the other side of the strip some new houses had were being built and they were worried that they would put a road in and build some more (the developer had implied this in a local consultation).

I seem to remember that that the people that pinched the land were claiming they had possession of that land (they did not) and were relying on the 12 year rule.

Personally I think it will come back to haunt them and they will be paying out a lot to defend it against the developer.

 

It is an odd thing, people want to live somewhere nice but at the expense of stopping other doing the same.

[joe90]

15 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

 

 

It is an odd thing, people want to live somewhere nice but at the expense of stopping others doing the same.

 

This happens so often, TV programmes have shown where people living on the edge of an estate overlooking farmland do not want more houses built to spoil their view but their house was built spoiling someone else’s view ?

[ProDave]

42 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

It is an odd thing, people want to live somewhere nice but at the expense of stopping other doing the same.

Not at all. Why would you want to buy or build a house in a lovely quiet spot with views, and then have a developer build a housing estate behind you?

 

We front and back onto fields and any attempt to build on those would fail the local plan so we bought in the fairly secure knowledge that housing behind us would never happen, but we accept if our neighbour ever applies for permission to build another house alongside us, that would almost certainly be approved.

[Temp]

As I understand it only the legal owner can evict someone from land. So if there is no legal owner then nobody can legally evict you. 

 

I've heard of the land registry rejecting claims where the fencing allowed visitors like the postman access. As I understand it you have to demonstrate you have taken possession "to the exclusion of all others". Worth reading up on this point if there is any doubt.

 

If a third party reacts badly and starts to take down your fence then I think your only option is to call the police. Technically they could be guilty of criminal damage but the police might not want to take action when they discover you don't own the land. Try showing receipts as proof you own the fence.  I suppose you might have to resort to solicitors letters or getting an injunction if the police won't help or the third party continues to cause damage.

 

[MikeSharp01]

15 hours ago, Dreadnaught said:

 

Is the only legitimate challenge for someone to assert a title claim to the land? In my case it has been well established on multiple occasions by multiple people that that owner has been lost in the mists-of-time. Thus is no challenge even possible?

It sounds unlikely and you might think you have exhausted your search but if someone turns up with a title deed for the land before the parcels were sold and can show that the gaps between the parcels were never sold they will have a valid claim. Land registry is not the only repository of land ownership.