hi

i have maintained a small piece of land right next to my property that when i moved in some 12 years ago had a hedge growing on it and had to seek the councils permission to remove this hedge.

Now 12 years on having maintain this piece of ground i would like to Adopt it so as to put a vehicle on it as parking is difficult.

How do i go about this?

And is it possible for me to own it outright and if so how do i go about it?

The rules relating to adverse possession require that you have been using the land in a way which would not be permitted by the owner and that you have been using it that way unobstructed for 12 years.

The fact that you seem to have alerted the council to your use of it and even asked their permission to remove the hedge would suggest that your possession has not been adverse. You might have been better simply to remove the hedge without any permission. That would be quite good evidence that you had adversely possessed the land.

ok as it turns out the landowner is not the council and is totally unaware of me maintaining his land..

i did contact him last year to hold a Fete on his land in order to take out Public events insurance for this event.

Does this change things

you've simply done him a free favour by maintaining it.

and you've acknowledged his ownership by getting PL insurance etc for the fete.

why don't you simply seek permission to park there in exchange for your past and on-going maintenance...re gesture of goodwill both ways?

then take things from there?

Hang on a minute your definition of adverse possession does that mean that if the owner was unaware that i was using his land for 12 years it is now mine?

no....

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-registered-land/practice-guide-4-adverse-possession-of-registered-land

dx

 

i did contact him last year to hold a Fete on his land in order to take out Public events insurance for this event.

 

You held the fete on the piece of land you have been maintaining and now want to adopt?

no....

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-registered-land/practice-guide-4-adverse-possession-of-registered-land

 

dx

I wasn't at all aware of these new regulations which in fact mean that the rules for adverse possession are even tighter than they used to be.

I'm afraid that by asking for permission for any use of the land, you are clearly occupying the land with consent. You have deferred to the right of the owner to withhold permission and so I would say that there is no chance at all that you are able adversely to assert any title over it.

When you embark on these kinds of ideas, you need to make sure that you are very familiar with the rules.

Adverse possession is mainly about usurping the rights of the owner.

Is this registered land, registered at the Land Registry? And the person you have identified as the owner is the registered owner?

From what you say I'm guessing the answer is yes, and that's how you know who owns it. But I'm asking because the rules in the link only apply to registered land. So if the land is unregistered and you found out by some other method who owns it different rules about adverse possession apply.

Is this registered land, registered at the Land Registry? And the person you have identified as the owner is the registered owner?

 

From what you say I'm guessing the answer is yes, and that's how you know who owns it. But I'm asking because the rules in the link only apply to registered land. So if the land is unregistered and you found out by some other method who owns it different rules about adverse possession apply.

Correct - but in that case you would still have had adversely to possess the land – and you haven't by deferring to the landowner's right to grant permission.

Your possession is not adverse

You held the fete on the piece of land you have been maintaining and now want to adopt?

Not actually true the land that i have been maintaining is between my property and the landowners it is where a hedge used to be. The fete was held on his land which i was not maintaining.On the deeds to my property it is not clear these were drawn up before the hedge was planted. AND ON THE PLANS IT IS A THICK BLACK LINE the area does not exist on the plans .although it must be there somewhere....?

aha makes more sense now.

I get what you mean.

you would have to get the detailed land registry stuff

use only the .gov.uk site there is a small fee.

mine had a thick black line too that was a pathway that was maintained by the org property owners thru till I got the property

turned out mine was an old pathway between land that was eventually turned into an access road for the for a WWII airfield, that was compulsory purchased and was 12ft wide, now its mine!!

it used to be that by occupying land for 12 years without interference you automatically gained the right to claim ownership. thsi chanegd some years back so now you need 12 years occupation and then inform the landowner that you intend to apply to the land regisrty to register title to the land. the landowner can then decide whether to agree this, sell you the land or seek possession. It may be that if you ask them they will say they are happy for you to continue to use the land but that doesnt create aright to seek possession but would only be a bother if they died or sold up..

it used to be that by occupying land for 12 years without interference you automatically gained the right to claim ownership. thsi chanegd some years back so now you need 12 years occupation and then inform the landowner that you intend to apply to the land regisrty to register title to the land. the landowner can then decide whether to agree this, sell you the land or seek possession. It may be that if you ask them they will say they are happy for you to continue to use the land but that doesnt create aright to seek possession but would only be a bother if they died or sold up..

This really is an oversimplification. The possession had always to be adverse –nec vi, nec clam, nec preccario.

indeed but i was trying to ppint out the difference where before 2002 an application to the land registry would be enough as long as you fulfilled the requirements and since then you apply to the land registry and the landowner(if registered land) will be notified of any application and has the right to challenge the application and that the challenged application will be denied unless certain specific criteria are met.

in the OP's case there are better ways of settling this than trying to claim "squatters rights"

I have to admit there's a bit of land near me I'd love to own

It's been neglected for about 15 years and if I thought I could get away with it I'd have fences around it already

It is actually large enough for a house as well