Our neighbour is currently digging up the land between a load of houses. Gossip from his daughter suggests he thinks he owns it, and also a strip alongside our property. Now, we're pretty clear we own the bit alongside ours, since we have a map attached to the official copy of register of title. We bought the house from the builders 12 years ago, so there should be no historical problems.
So I have a few questions:
1) The document I have is 'copy of register of title'. Apparently this isn't the same as the actual deed? It suggests the map is not definitive. In a separate issue with the other neighbour on the other side, she thinks we own the fence because the Ts are on our side (she did a search), but unless it mandates a fence then the Ts mean nothing. Anyway there are no Ts on the map I have so I'm guessing it's not the same as the deed.
2) How to find out if he does in fact own the land? There seems to be a form you have to fill in to get the LR to do it for you and it costs £35 - is that the only way?
Ask the neighbour to see his copy of the LR?
You can do it all online. Go to the proper land registry site: https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk and use the map search. Its a bit clunky but zoom right in and use the aerial view and 5m radius. You should get the title and plan. They often have unhelpful names if it isn't residential (like land to the west of xxx). You can then download the plan for £3. You might need to download a couple. You can also download your neighbours house and see what he owns. You will probably also need to download the title for another £3 to see the accompanying text. If it is a bit confusing you can phone them up. They are usually very helpful for residential enquiries. They should be able to tell you what plan and title each bit of land is on.
Last time I needed land registry information it was £3 per document and that was only a year or so ago, where are you paying £35 and what for? Title plan to show boundaries etc and title document to get details of the owner, covenants, etc. Do you need more than this?
Examples
Edit: Beaten to it ^ damn work interfering with my posting 🙂
Just be aware that the red edge used on most title plans is quite thick and so it may be difficult to accurately delineate the boundary depending on the scale of the plan you can get.
I read £35 on some other site, that's wrong.
The people adjacent seem to think they own it. Which is a little odd since the previous owner was sure he didn't. I went on LR and they don't have the title plan available for some reason, and it's £7 for a paper copy. Not sure if I should just leave it or if I should indulge my cynicism...
Land registry aren't always correct either - had to do a bit of sorting out when we sold our dad's house, neighbours and his plans both showed them owning the same section of land.
If the online search says that it doesn't have a record then chances are that it is unregistered land. Might be worth getting the paper copy.
I read £35 on some other site, that’s wrong.
Yes. You need to go to the proper land registry site. There are loads of third party sites that add a hefty fee to do the same thing
How much of your land is he nicking?
If the online search says that it doesn’t have a record then chances are that it is unregistered land
No necessarily. Could just means it hasn't changed hands since records were digitised. That's quite a lot of land
If he’s digging up land bordering your property it’s worth getting some advice on any potential party wall infringements as well.
What’s he digging up the land for as well? Burying bodies or something more sinister?
