A sad, sad, day

[Lottieknees]

Hi Andrew,

the Land Registry should show you who owns the land.

Also, there is a line of houses where the back gardens back on to a green lane. bit by bit, one by one, the house owners cleared the brambles between their gardens and the lane. Some people got a bit uppity about this but I think it's as a previous poster said, about occupation being 9/10th of the law kind of thing.

[rob the roller]

You should be able to ascertain who the owner is through Her Majesty's Land Registry. The easiest way to do this is online. Go to Land Registry Online (do a google search and it should come up) and type in your own postcode. You should be directed to a map or plan and you use this to find the owner of the adjoining land. There is a telphone helpline if you have difficulty with the site. There is a charge for the service (which you can pay using a credit or debit card) but it should be no more than £6, well worth it for all the hassle you would otherwise have seeking the owner by other methods.

As has been pointed out, it may be that the owner is simply trying to avoid losing the land through adverse possession. If you are keeping up the land, which could not otherwise be utilised or maintained economically, the chances are you will be able to negotiate an agreement whereby you continue to use the plot for a nominal rent.

Best of luck, hope you can find a way to keep your garden.

[Waffler]

That's rubbish! I'm not surprised your miffed.
Have you got any grounds (excuse the pun) to put forward the fact that the over grown and weedy land was ruining your own garden through the spreading of invasive weeds?
If the problem is that the owner doesn't want you claiming the land as their own (think this can be done after 13 years of having the land fenced off as if your own) could you suggest the owner does something like the ramblers do when they 'walk the footpaths' to keep them open?
I hope you reach a satisfactory resolution.

[HeyWayne]

Fingers crossed it all works out favourably in the end dude. Good luck.

[andrew1973]

Thanks all once again for the support.
I can confirm that I now know who the owner of the land is, and it isn't the Railway, which was a bit of a suprise. I wont give away the name as I have now formally applied to buy the land so I don't want to jeopodise my chances of success.

The owners only concern at present would seem to be that my purchase would land-lock my neighbours in (ie. prevent maintenance access), but I have suggested that can form part of the agreement.

I have applied to my local Council for information regarding the complaints. Unofficially I'm told they were made anonymously (really brave!!) and it surrounds the fact that I am using it for cultivation when it should remain as a tree-belt between us and the railway.

Out of interest my next door neighbours bit of land was 'maintained' on Wednesday. Two blokes and a petrol-strimmer to attack the weeds - really well maintained eh?, & people have complained about me growing fruit and veg!!!

[zazen999]

Andrew - the world is a crazy place - it seems all these officials who went to uni to do degrees lost all sense of logic once they take their graduation gowns off.

I wish you luck in buying land - don't get me started on the history of common land which all came to a head with the Marriage Act of 1753....which benefited the wealthy males at the expense of all others [in land, marriage, children, inheritance, etc etc etc].

[StephenH]

I wouldn't be surprised if the complaining neighbours were entirely fictional. The Council official who contacted you may have made that up to deflect criticism from themself.
Anyway, good luck.

[rana]

I am suprised the council will follow up an 'anonymous' complaint with such terse demands. In this area when using on-line access to the council pages or by telephone it is difficult to register a complaint without leaving some id. I can however (in certain circumstances) understand the officials choosing not to reveal the complainent details.

It seems you are moving forward with this difficulty and unless there is some specific reason (eg. access rights, covenants, safety issues, liability, insurance etc.) for denying your use of the land I suspect the outcome will turn out favourably.

[bobleponge]

Good luck with your quest to buy the land, or it not, at least get to use it somehow. Would seem to be a waste to let your hard work fail now.

From memory Rana (similar situation a few years ago when living in the UK) the "anonymous" complaint is the standard answer. This then negates the chance of retribution from the person complained against.

[hsthst]

write to hugh fearnley whittingstall( whatever his name is)/landshare and see what they think........about the potential for all homeowners in the uk temporerily using railway sidings/land for small gardens..............there must be thousands and thousands of weed infestered acres in this country.............some free publicity couldn't hurt ( could it?)

[marathon]

Near me the land either side of an old railway line was offered to the owners of the house who's gardens back onto it. Most payed up and got extra land and a few also purchased their next door neighbours section as they didn't want it.


My friend has a veg plot at the end of her garden which is about the size of two full plots plus her garden - she is very lucky .

[Solitaire]

What a rotten thing to do , surely it's better to look at a nice tidy veg plot than a load of weeds that will encourage vermin.

Good luck with buying tha land Andrew