finding out who land belongs to, where to start?

Littlelegs

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There's about 3/4 acre not far from my house that I always assumed belonged to the council. It's bordered by disused warehouses, & unkempt. However, it has lovely long unfertilized grass & good drainage. And would only need fencing along two sides, that already have posts from an old chainlink fence. Whilst it would be too small for keeping horses on, I'm thinking that it could come in handy for extra grazing. My two are usually out 24/7 by march, but given the current state of the field its unlikely to happen this year. However, I'm thinking that my usual diy rent & renting that may only cost the same as an extra months ad-lib hay & straw, & more importantly they prefer out. Problem is, nobody knows who owns it. Householders opposite assure me its not the council, they've always believed it belonged to warehouses. However I've checked that & its not. Nobody local seems to know, & for the last 10yrs or so only use its had is local kids or dogs. And before that it was hemmed in by (now demolished) buildings. Even the farmer where I livery doesn't know, & he can usually tell you any landowners several generations back. Any tips where to search?
 

AdorableAlice

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Local Authority Land Registry department, may be a fee. Try to obtain a grid reference off an OS map before you approach the Council.
 

Littlelegs

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Thankyou, I shall give it a try. I just hope its empty cos nobody has spotted it rather than something like a contested on-going will execution.
 

YorksG

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Try the land registery, it is only a couple of quid. You will need an accurate map referrance, or I think you can use post codes (not too sure about that). Hope it works out :)
 

Shay

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The land registry may well be useless - but it is the legal definition of who owns the land. if the Registry shows it as belonging to person A but person B has had unfettered use or some other lein then it will be for person B to prove that matter - in court if needed. One reason why it is really important to check the registry every so often to ensure that you are still listed as the owner of land you think you own. They are great at making boundary errors!
 

imr

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The problem with the Land Registry is that it is easy to find registered land, but a piece of land like this may never have been transferred after the date on which compulsory registration on transfer became effective in your area, and unregistered title can only really be deduced from the documents (which can be things like an indenture from 1802 and which may have been lost) which aren't at the land registry.
 
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