Abandoned house - entitlement?

Keano! · 25-04-2010 07:44PM #1

me and a mate found this boarded up bunglaow in a field about 2 miles from the nearest village. not on any main routes and pretty out of the way. we've done some research n it and found out that the owner died 12 years ago. the house is pretty run down but we got inside and the bones of it are there. its livable if we spruced it up a bit.

thing is, are we allowed to do this or is it completely illegal? we know the man whose name is associated with the house is dead and there's no sign of family in the country.

we were thinking of un-boarding it, weeding the drive, painting the outside and then over the summer do it all up. there's no electricity or payments to be done on it like that.

views? we don't plan selling it though, more...keeping it for ourselves.

Agricola · 25-04-2010 07:49PM

Who owns the field the house is on?

El Siglo · 25-04-2010 07:50PM

Keano! wrote: »

me and a mate found this boarded up bunglaow in a field about 2 miles from the nearest village. not on any main routes and pretty out of the way. we've done some research n it and found out that the owner died 12 years ago. the house is pretty run down but we got inside and the bones of it are there. its livable if we spruced it up a bit.

thing is, are we allowed to do this or is it completely illegal? we know the man whose name is associated with the house is dead and there's no sign of family in the country.

we were thinking of un-boarding it, weeding the drive, painting the outside and then over the summer do it all up. there's no electricity or payments to be done on it like that.

views? we don't plan selling it though, more...keeping it for ourselves.

You might want to read this. The chances are that the house is in somebody's name, so you'll have to refer to the land registry. You can't go claiming something that is unoccupied, even though there's thousands of unoccupied houses around the country.

banjopaul · 25-04-2010 07:50PM

Look up laws on adverse possesion in Ireland.

An Irish High Court case in 2007 set out the tests for determining whether a squatter has acquired the property by adverse possession. In summary, they are:

1. Occupation must be for a continuous period of twelve years;

2. The occupier must show an intention to possess the land, rather than the exercise of grazing rights or the like over the land; and

3. The legal owner can break the period of possession by certain acts. Time then begins to run when that act terminates.

The owner, CIE, had carried out works to a station on part of the lands and had also sent out a contractor at one stage to re-establish fences between the lands and a neighbour's lands. The Court found these actions to be sufficient to start the clock running again.

Although each case will be decided on its own facts, these new tests will make it very difficult for squatters to acquire rights, where the legal owner has taken any action to assert its rights over the property.

From: http://www.williamfry.ie/article.asp?categoryID=7&articleID=1789

minidazzler · 25-04-2010 07:50PM

In Britain at least you will have squatters rights until such time as the owner files for you to GTFO.

Not exactly sure of the position here, but alot of our laws will mirror britains.

Also, further reading.

http://www.lkshields.ie/htmdocs/publications/newsletters/update23/update23_08.htm

Absurdum · 25-04-2010 07:50PM

I own it, go away or I will shoot you.

My name is URL · 25-04-2010 07:51PM

No sign of family in the country.. How exactly do you know that.. did you do a genealogical search? I'm sure there's someone that has more rights over it than you!

But sure do it anyway and see what happens

Ruu_Old · 25-04-2010 07:52PM

Pat Kenny owns that land!

galwayrush · 25-04-2010 07:53PM

Where exactly is it, it could be mine...............:D

El Siglo · 25-04-2010 07:54PM

My name is URL wrote: »

No sign of family in the country.. How exactly do you know that.. did you do a genealogical search? I'm sure there's someone that has more rights over it than you!

But sure do it anyway and see what happens

Can't wait for the mirror article:
"Squaters get the boot in bungalow bid!":rolleyes:

Keano! · 25-04-2010 07:55PM

Agricola wrote: »

Who owns the field the house is on?

the state. and as my friend said, we're the state so we can claim it :rolleyes:

My name is URL wrote: »

No sign of family in the country.. How exactly do you know that.. did you do a genealogical search? I'm sure there's someone that has more rights over it than you!

But sure do it anyway and see what happens

yeah, we've checked out his name and traced it. we also have in writing a letter from him to have the house knocked down in 1996 but it was refused by the people he applied to.

we were thinking of doing it up, so that if people did 'catch' us or whatever, we could just say,

we were tidying it up, whats the harm?
we're not avoiding any legal payment (electricity/bin charges etc...)
the house was scheduled to be knocked down

Agricola · 25-04-2010 07:57PM

Keano! wrote: »

the state. and as my friend said, we're the state so we can claim it :rolleyes:

yeah, we've checked out his name and traced it. we also have in writing a letter from him to have the house knocked down in 1996 but it was refused by the people he applied to.

we were thinking of doing it up, so that if people did 'catch' us or whatever, we could just say,

we were tidying it up, whats the harm?

we're not avoiding any legal payment (electricity/bin charges etc...)

the house was scheduled to be knocked down

Oh fúck it sure. Its so crazy it might just work. Good luck!

El Siglo · 25-04-2010 07:58PM

Sounds like a great plan op, but you're better off getting your hands on the deeds of the property. Either a bank or somebody has these somewhere.

Loopy · 25-04-2010 08:00PM

I would seek better advice than this before you put money and time into it..

storm2811 · 25-04-2010 08:01PM

Ruu wrote: »

Pat Kenny owns that land!

WANT IT!

:pac:

TanG411 · 25-04-2010 08:01PM

OP, it sounds like a good plan. I can't see any law arresting you over it, and it is a good plan for the summer.

If anything, you should be rewarded for doing it up.

El Siglo · 25-04-2010 08:02PM

storm2811 wrote: »

WANT IT!

:pac:

I hope they do a t-shirt of this chap...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FmVopEs9yI

minidazzler · 25-04-2010 08:03PM

El Siglo wrote: »

Sounds like a great plan op, but you're better off getting your hands on the deeds of the property. Either a bank or somebody has these somewhere.

The whole idea is that you get it for free. If he establishes it as his then there should be no problem really after a certain amount of time.

OP, give it a shot, don't invest too much money TBH, but do give it a shot. What's the worst that could happen? Don't expect to own it for years though.

Keano! · 25-04-2010 08:03PM

Larkin91 wrote: »

OP, it sounds like a good plan. I can't see any law arresting you over it, and it is a good plan for the summer.

If anything, you should be rewarded for doing it up.

Thats exactly what we were thinking.

El Siglo · 25-04-2010 08:06PM

minidazzler wrote: »

The whole idea is that you get it for free. If he establishes it as his then there should be no problem really after a certain amount of time.

OP, give it a shot, don't invest too much money TBH, but do give it a shot. What's the worst that could happen? Don't expect to own it for years though.

Wouldn't he not have to establish squatters rights then? That's twelve years so it is.

The_Minister · 25-04-2010 08:12PM

AFAIK you even if you clean it up, you don't have any rights until you have squatted for twelve years (longer if the council own it).

You can just be kicked off by the rightful owner.

CreepingDeath · 25-04-2010 08:12PM

Keano! wrote: »

views? we don't plan selling it though, more...keeping it for ourselves.

Still sounds a lot like stealing to me.
Never agreed with squatters rights.

epgc3fyqirnbsx · 25-04-2010 08:13PM

Advers possesion on state owned land is 30 years - see The Statute of Limitations 1957

minidazzler · 25-04-2010 08:21PM

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Still sounds a lot like stealing to me.
Never agreed with squatters rights.

Would you rather see land or houses go to waste not being used for 30+ years?

Take it OP, and turn it into the ultimate Man sanctuary, I am talking all the trimmings.

miss_shadow · 25-04-2010 08:23PM

I took on a house like that once apon a time...

put alot of time,effort and a heck of alot of cleaning,travelling etc into the place.

The person who owned it died. And after he died his ex-ginger haired girlfriend claimed it as hers because she had his two daughters

Only problem is that I went away for one night and she broke in the window and changed the locks!! god knows what happened to the place but it was lovely, and its probably all messy and back to crap again just because she wanted it back..

crazy.

Don't paint the outside of the house or any changes..you never know who might catch wind of it and want their slice

DonkeyStyle \o/ · 25-04-2010 08:28PM

Start a secret gang and use the cottage as your club house.

PARKHEAD67 · 25-04-2010 08:38PM

El Siglo wrote: »

I hope they do a t-shirt of this chap...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FmVopEs9yI

so do I.Everything he said was 100% spot on.He just got a small bit carried away. Pat Kenny is as ignorant as they come off camera.Know a fella who installed his alarms and he told me what a prick he is.Do this.Do that like hes the queen of sheeba or something.He was doing an interview in Ennis before also and Im reliably informed that he took about 4 times what an average woman takes to get ready for a night out to plaster his ugly mug with make up so he could look normal on tv.TOSSER;)

Mike 1972 · 25-04-2010 08:45PM

If someone dies without a valid will and no relations the property reverts to the state.

On the other hand you might be able to claim either abandonment and/or squatters rights

miss_shadow wrote: »

The person who owned it died. And after he died his ex-ginger haired girlfriend claimed it as hers because she had his two daughters

Nope it wasnt hers but it may have been her daughters.

miss_shadow · 25-04-2010 08:52PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

If someone dies without a valid will and no relations the property reverts to the state.

On the other hand you might be able to claim either abandonment and/or squatters rights

Nope it wasnt hers but it may have been her daughters.

We were aware of that, we'd rather had looked after the place until the daughters had grown up and taken on the property instead of someone who couldn't maintain it!

Keano! · 25-04-2010 09:02PM

Thing is, we're willing to put in time and effort and (a bit) of money into doing it up and then having it as 'sanctuary' at times if that makes sense. If we're told to piss off or whatever, we would be more then willing to and the same case if someone else claimed ownership. Otherwise, we'd treat it as our own.

From the replies here...sounds like its all systems go!

Loopy · 25-04-2010 09:05PM

miss_shadow wrote: »

We were aware of that, we'd rather had looked after the place until the daughters had grown up and taken on the property instead of someone who couldn't maintain it!

Must have been v frustrating for you..

Abandoned house - entitlement?

Comments