Land grabbing/ squatters rights.

joseph brand · 27-06-2011 6:22pm #1

Any help with this appreciated.
Bought our home in 2005. Behind our back wall there is a strip of 'council land' as we were told. Consists of old trees and it separates our estate from another estate. It was also called 'No-mans land'. We never payed it much attention.

Then around 2 years ago a guy moved into the house behind ours and within a few weeks he had pulled down the fence at his side, and chopped down the trees (which we loved as they prevented us from being overlooked).

When I asked him what he was doing, he said that it was his land, that his land came up to my back wall, and even a few feet INTO my garden?? He is not very approachable, a view shared by 2 of my neighbours and myself.

The Developers who built our home said that the actual boundary wasn't very clear, so they built our walls around 3ft back from where they believed it was. The distance from my back wall to his side fence (my house faces side of his house) was around 15ft. His fence is completely knocked down now. So there's just mud between my back wall and the side of his house.

My neighbour was in contact with the Developers who built our home, and they say they have basically washed their hands with ownership of the piece of land behind my house. My neighbour then spoke to his Solicitor who reckons the guy behind me is grabbing this land, and after 12 years of claiming this land for himself, he will own it.??

It seems that another house (4) is up to some similar tactics, and has removed his fence, but hasn't chopped any trees down, . . . . yet.

Neighbour reckons we could take down our fences too and claim land also.

I'm attaching an aerial pic.
1: My house
2: HIS house
3: Neighbour
4: Someone else.

All trees in white section have been removed. This marks extent of his 'new' garden.

BryanF · 27-06-2011 7:05pm

start by visiting the land register office, this will establish your land holding and his. there may be a case for him to answer for cutting down what seems like a landscaping division between your properties, it was probably a stipulation of whatever planning permission was applied for (by which ever houses were built last). so maybe visit your local planning office to assess that application. I'd then see what your local authority suggests with regards to enforcement, then depending on far you wish to take this id seek legal advice.

No6 · 27-06-2011 8:27pm

I think your question is more of a legal issue and should maybe be in the legal forum rather than here.

joseph brand · 27-06-2011 9:09pm

Thanks for the replies.

it was probably a stipulation of whatever planning permission was applied for (by which ever houses were built last)

What I can't understand is how this strip of trees which border around 40-ish houses, is only chopped by 1 guy, to make HIS garden wider? Nobody is touching the rest of the trees.

muffler · 27-06-2011 10:43pm

You wont get the answer on this forum or at least you wont get the answer you want.

Im not sure what you hope to achieve by posting here but I think you realise that this is a legal issue and is between you and your neighbour. We dont do legalities on this forum so the best advice I can offer you is to seek opinion on it from your solicitor.

As our forum charter prohibits debate on legal issues I'll move this to the legal discussion forum. Im not even sure if the lads there will offer any advice or not.

NoQuarter · 27-06-2011 11:32pm

What you are talking about here is called adverse possession and is allowed by law as it promotes turning old useless land into valuable land.

The problem now is that even though he is essentially squatting, he has more right to the land as a squatter than you have. This is, of course, assuming that the land is neither yours now his. A trip to the registry office will establish this. If its your land then enforce your ownership. If its not your land and is "nobodys" land, then its probably his now and there really is not much that can be done!

Supertech · 27-06-2011 11:58pm

NoQuarter wrote: »

What you are talking about here is called adverse possession and is allowed by law as it promotes turning old useless land into valuable land.

The problem now is that even though he is essentially squatting, he has more right to the land as a squatter than you have. This is, of course, assuming that the land is neither yours now his. A trip to the registry office will establish this. If its your land then enforce your ownership. If its not your land and is "nobodys" land, then its probably his now and there really is not much that can be done!

..... except it takes 12 years uncontested occupation for adverse possession to be viable, so if the neighbour only moved in 2 years ago he doesn't have that.

As has been said, Land Registry is your first port of call. Get a copy of your Land Registry Map and that of your neighbour, and enquire as to the registration of the plot seperating you. It may or may not be registered, and it could even be registered to somebody else! If it's registered check out to whom. If it's the Council, (as was claimed originally) then they would have to pursue him as the registered owners of the land.

I'd be willing to bet that your neighbour has already checked all this out. If he hasn't he has some neck !!

Once you've established the facts, I'd see your solicitor to work out your next step.

As has been said above, the removal of the trees may be a planning issue, although whether or not any local authority would enforce it is another story. A scan through the application documents that were lodged, and the permission and any conditions attached to it might yield some further information as to whether that avenue is worth pursuing.

FreudianSlippers · 28-06-2011 12:04am

As posted above, see a solicitor for this query.

Land grabbing/ squatters rights.

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