Quizzes & Puzzles2 mins ago
Parking / Land problem
3 Answers
There is a slip road positioned in front of my property and my neighbours property that enables access to our drives only. The land is owned by our properties, however many years ago the council adopted it. My neighbour an i are suffering from people parking in front of our houses on the slip road. Whilst this does not block access to our drives, it is getting frustrating. Is it posible to reclaim the land back from the council and make it a private road again and therfore make up our own set of rules?
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As I suspect you know, an adopted highway is one that is maintained at public expense by the local authority.
What is interesting in your case is the ownership; normally a S38, Highways Act 1980 agreement is made between the developer of the land and the local authority such that developer makes the road up to a necessary standard. The ownership of the land forming the highway just lapses in that it is owned by no-one at the Land Registry and it is just part of a public right of way.
But what you are saying is that your land title shows a plan that relates to your ownership of this land? I have known of a few situations where the local authority maintains a piece of land that is owned by someone else but this is quite unusual.
Are you doubly sure about this?
If you do own it, you don't have to necessarily reclaim it from the council (how long has this situation been like this) - but the passage of time may now mean that you have lost control of it by virtue of it now becoming part of a public right of way.
What is interesting in your case is the ownership; normally a S38, Highways Act 1980 agreement is made between the developer of the land and the local authority such that developer makes the road up to a necessary standard. The ownership of the land forming the highway just lapses in that it is owned by no-one at the Land Registry and it is just part of a public right of way.
But what you are saying is that your land title shows a plan that relates to your ownership of this land? I have known of a few situations where the local authority maintains a piece of land that is owned by someone else but this is quite unusual.
Are you doubly sure about this?
If you do own it, you don't have to necessarily reclaim it from the council (how long has this situation been like this) - but the passage of time may now mean that you have lost control of it by virtue of it now becoming part of a public right of way.
Thankyou for for answer it is very useful information. My parents owned the property for 30 years and their land registry plan shows ownership of the land. The coucil adopted it after 5 years but my parents don't seem to remeber any legal documentation at this point, however i have asked them to check again. I bought the property a couple of years ago from them, but as you say i should doudle check my land registry plan. From what you are saying it does sound like i have now lost control, however if the council did not follow legal procedure when adopting it, could there be a case to reclaim it? Maybe i could buy it back from them. Would they do this or am i wasting my time?
I think you would be wasting your time but there is no harm in asking. Suggest try talking to the Highways Department - try for a meeting where you can show them the title plan.
As far as I know, the requirement of a Local Authority is to maintain a list of public roads. There is a separate register of public rights of way (that are not roads) and another list of Register of Commons, Common land and Village Greens. Any definitive maps tied to these lists is unlikely to show the clarity of detail you require. Also, as far as I know, none of the above categories of land use are tied to the Land Registry in terms of land title (in other words, neither the Local Authority or anyone else 'owns' them as such).
So if you have a land title plan showing that you own a piece of the (current) public highway, that may be interesting.
The business about a piece of land ending up being a public right of way is a different story. There is a principle of unchallenged use of a piece of land by several people that can lead to it acquiring a public right of way status. This of course these days largely applies to public footpaths or bridleways, where the land underneath the path belongs to someone. The historic principle is of course how roads came to be in existence in this country, long before the need to protect one's scrap of land by legal means. All I am saying is that after 20 years, you may find you have forfeited to the piece of land into a public road.
See this for a better explanation of the principle.
http://www.solihull.gov.uk/transport/publicrig htsofway_14232.htm
If it does end up that the Highways Dept say the land is now part of the public highway, you could try and persuade them to put parking restrictions on it - in the form of yellow lines.
As far as I know, the requirement of a Local Authority is to maintain a list of public roads. There is a separate register of public rights of way (that are not roads) and another list of Register of Commons, Common land and Village Greens. Any definitive maps tied to these lists is unlikely to show the clarity of detail you require. Also, as far as I know, none of the above categories of land use are tied to the Land Registry in terms of land title (in other words, neither the Local Authority or anyone else 'owns' them as such).
So if you have a land title plan showing that you own a piece of the (current) public highway, that may be interesting.
The business about a piece of land ending up being a public right of way is a different story. There is a principle of unchallenged use of a piece of land by several people that can lead to it acquiring a public right of way status. This of course these days largely applies to public footpaths or bridleways, where the land underneath the path belongs to someone. The historic principle is of course how roads came to be in existence in this country, long before the need to protect one's scrap of land by legal means. All I am saying is that after 20 years, you may find you have forfeited to the piece of land into a public road.
See this for a better explanation of the principle.
http://www.solihull.gov.uk/transport/publicrig htsofway_14232.htm
If it does end up that the Highways Dept say the land is now part of the public highway, you could try and persuade them to put parking restrictions on it - in the form of yellow lines.
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