Advice on buying part of a council pavement

[PTR Hoar]

Have any goaters ever tried to buy a pavement from the council to increase their boundry?

The reason i ask is because out the front of my house there is a redundant pavement that cuts a nice triangular section out the top end of my garden. I say redundant because at either side of this diagonal section is a straight section that links them, it has no use whatsoever! If i did manage to buy it, it would give me an extra 80sqft to the front garden!

And as i guess one of the quentions asked will be "do we maintain said area?" the short answer would have to be no but we do some weeding between the pavements concerned.

Any help would be appretiated before i get fobbed off by the council!

 

[POB]

Mate, there is a law, (derived I believe from "Squatters Rights" type legislation.) which basically says if you occupy the land for 12 years or more, and no one complains/notices you can apply in court to have it transfered to your name. It sounds like a substantial piece of grass though to add 80 SqFt...They'd notice!

The problem with notifying/asking is it gets them looking at your property...You never know what they might find. Tax band too low?

 

[PTR Hoar]

Hmm, we've only been in the house 2 years. I might aswell have a pop as our neighbours are putting up a low brick wall round the front and asked if we wanted ours done at the same time so if i'm gonna have a go at it, it may aswell be soon!

 

[sparks will fly]

I was offered 9sq meters from my neighbor for free but the cost of changing my deeds and his was £2k and that was back in 2005 So I politely said no.

 

[gemarriott]

A friend of mine enqired about a narrow triangular strip that bounds the full length of their garden and separates them from the the local comp playing field. It is about a foot wide at the bottom and 5 foot at the top so as you can see no use to the comp but would just sort of square their garden up. The council want 50K for it. At the moment it is fenced off with 2 8ft chainlink fences and is full of kids debris, ie pop bottles, crisp packets etc.

I wish you luck!

 

[POB]

Hmm, we've only been in the house 2 years. I might aswell have a pop as our neighbours are putting up a low brick wall round the front and asked if we wanted ours done at the same time so if i'm gonna have a go at it, it may aswell be soon!

You could just fence it off, (low fence) and take over the maintenance and see what happens...Worst case, shift the fence back...Best case, no one notices, (Or reads this thread!!!) and you get the land...



If, by accident, the concrete path part gets dug up and removed over night, a flower bed appears etc....

 

[dantura]

Since the Land Registration Act (LRA)2002. The law changed WRT registered land (which I guess this would be?). Now, after 10 years 'occupation' where you exclude the rest of the world... i.e. put up a fence, you can then apply for the equitable ownership to the land registry. The legal owners are then given notice, in which they can then proceed with an eviction notice. If they do not object [reply] within that 2 years (bringing it to 12yrs) they may forfeit the equitable rights of that land, but do not forfeit the legal ownership and regain it back after the death of the new equitable owner.

The 12 year 'squatters rights' law still stands for unregistered land.

I would advise approaching them with a view to buying it openly and above board.

Good luck.

D