Land at the back of my garden

[buzzyb]

Morning,

According to the deeds on my house there is a 3ft by 25ft piece of land behind my back boundary fence and in front of the boundary fence of the adjoining land.

According the deeds this small patch of land cannot be claimed, however, historic deeds show this patch of land used to run the full length of the row of houses and was originally used as an access route for an old factory that is no longer there.

All houses to the left have "claimed" this land and our deeds show the land now belongs to the owners of those houses. Only myself and my neighbour to the right have not claimed this land. How do we go about legally claiming this land?

Many thanks

[cassa333]

You would have to fence it off to the exclusion of all others for 20 years and claim adverse possion.

You could however fence it off and claim you have had it for 20 yrs.

You could also ask the neighbours that have claimed how they did it.

[buildersmate]

No, you fence it off to the exclusion of others and wait 10 years, then you can start to claim it using Adverse Possession.
And claiming you've had it when you haven't involves making an untrue statement for which you would get found out. And probably fined.

[LoftyLottie]

Builder's Mate's answer is spot on (as usual).

[IggyB]

be sure not to ask anyone's permission - simply enclose the land and wait 10 years

[buildersmate]

No, simply enclose the land AND maintain it (a little) for 10 years.
You have to demonstrate that you've actively occupied it.
An occasional thrash around with a scythe (or similar) plus an occasional piccy of the event should do the trick. .

[buzzyb]

Thanks for all the advise.

two further questions -

1) what happens if the ownrs of the land/property at the back of our garden notice that we've removed our fence and blocked the land off? We plan to move our shed back about 3 ft asap - should we wait 10 years?

2) why shouldn't I ask permission, this sounds rather dishonest. Is this because if I ask and I'm told the land can't be claimed then that's the end of it?

[maclarencat]

If you ask permission to use it then its not adverse possession. Its use with permission and then you can never claim it. This applies when asking the owner for permission to use it but as you dont know who the owner is you couldnt ask anyway.

[buildersmate]

1) Suggest you don't remove the whole of the original fence - yet. Just make a gap in it for access to your newly-discovered land. And don't move the shed yet either - there is no technical/legal issue - it's just that you might have to move it back again.
2) Answer to this question as per maclarencat.
If there is going to be a 'scene' over what you do, it is likely to occur within the first 3 months of you doing it. After that it is just a waiting game.

[buzzyb]

Morning everyone,

Thanks for all the advice - this has been very helpful

B