Land Ownership

Nasher · 18 July 2008, 20:42

Does anyone know how to go about discovering who owns a bit of land?

Or even if its information thats freely available?

I'm going to try the land registry office, but I believe there may be a charge to search.

Edit
The land registry site has a good facility that lets you click on a map to find addresses etc before applying for information, unfortunatly the land I'm interested in is coming up blank despite having buildings etc on it.

Nasher

Ian Sharlot · 18 July 2008, 20:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nasher

Does anyone know how to go about discovering who owns a bit of land?

Or even if its information thats freely available?

I'm going to try the land registry office, but I believe there may be a charge to search.

Thanks

Nasher

Hi Nasher

That is the way to do it. there is a charge but it's not much, £15 max from what I can remember

John Kennett · 19 July 2008, 10:38

You can find out who owns a property for £3 from Land Register Online.

It's slightly more complicated for land (as opposed to buildings) as you can't do it directly on line. You need to send a plan of the area in question to your local Land Registry office and ask them to do a search of the Index Map. They will then send you a list of any titles which you can then look up online for £3 each.

There's no chage for the Index Map search (providing the area contains no more than 10 titles). They prefer you to submit a 1:10000 OS site plan with your request, but these are not cheap. I've used an enlarged regular OS map with an aerial photo as backup, and didn't get any complaints.

John

Nasher · 19 July 2008, 10:49

Thanks John.

I've never given up on my dry storage plan, and have recently identified an overgrown piece of land that may be suitable.

Nasher.

richyrich · 19 July 2008, 11:20

If Land Registry search draws blank, then you can try searching adjoining land and working backwards in time since all adjoining land was invariably at one time owned by the same people. You might be lucky and find references to covenants and easements which relate to the land. Or ask neighbouring owners if they know. If you are interested in buying no one will mind, if you want to complain because it is a tip this may not work. You can try using the land and see if anyone tries to throw you off. and after 12 years uninterupted use you will own it! (But you will have to show you have used it.) In practice doing something like parking a boat on it may cause the rightful owner to get in touch pdq!

Bigfoot · 20 July 2008, 09:56

get the little un's to camp on it for a week, if no-one makes a fuss start to build!

Nasher · 20 July 2008, 20:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigfoot

get the little un's to camp on it for a week, if no-one makes a fuss start to build!

nik · 22 July 2008, 22:27

It is possible that the land in question has never been registered.
It happened to me recently with a bit of school land.

Nick.

m chappelow · 23 July 2008, 01:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by richyrich

If Land Registry search draws blank, then you can try searching adjoining land and working backwards in time since all adjoining land was invariably at one time owned by the same people. You might be lucky and find references to covenants and easements which relate to the land. Or ask neighbouring owners if they know. If you are interested in buying no one will mind, if you want to complain because it is a tip this may not work. You can try using the land and see if anyone tries to throw you off. and after 12 years uninterupted use you will own it! (But you will have to show you have used it.) In practice doing something like parking a boat on it may cause the rightful owner to get in touch pdq!

i know of someone who did that he had a horse grazing on some waste land and no body complained so after 12 years and the day, he goes to make a application and the local council pops up and says ,are though but its ours and he lost it sadly even with all the village on his side ,dont know if its right but he was told that its 12 years and a day to take the land over and use it rightfully but 21 years and a day to claim full ownership , so long as no one pops up and proves its theres .

Simon Hawkins · 25 July 2008, 13:44

You are nearly correct but a little bit of the trail. Nasher if you want to know the proper answer then get in touch with me as this is what I do day in day out, when I am not on the water. You can email me direct on simonhawkins@c-g-m.co.uk

Simon