I have a plot of land at the side of my house which hasnt been used ever since I moved in 6 years ago. Its now overgrown with brambles and thistles. I have a traveller knock on my door this morning asking if I knew who owned it because he wanted to buy it. I just wondered if anyone knew what would happen if they just moved onto the land? Would I be able to call the police if they did or would they have squatters rights??

Difficult to get people moved off land if you dont know who owns it.

Personally, id stick a fence round it joining it to my land and start using it, see if anyone either notices or says anything. If you get away with it after a certain amount of time its yours (well, sort of and you can fight and win and then it really IS yours).

You can I think, check with the land registry to find out who it is registered to.

The law with regard to adverse possession:

The land in question must have been in the claimant's factual possession for the requisite period (10 or 12 years depending on the circumstances).

For factual possession, the claimant may acquire possession of the land by  occupying land belonging to someone else (which will be the usual situation), or by taking possession of land that has been abandoned by the owner (which is less usual because abandonment of land is not easily established). The occupation of the land must be without the consent of the owner--in other words, you can't lay claim where there is a legal entitlement to occupy the land in question, for example with the owner's permission, or under a legal interest such as a lease, licence or tenancy.

You need to prove a sufficient degree of exclusive physical control over the land. An example would be the occupation of a "field". The claimant would need to maintain the land and regularly cultivate the land for example by mowing the grass, tending to flowers, and cutting trees. The claimant would need to regularly use the land perhaps by growing crops or grazing animals  on it and treat the land like their own exclusively and as the registered title owner would have done.

Putting a fence around it is one way forward, but you then have at least 10 years to go.

this happened to us years and years ago in our other house... woke up one morning with around 15 caravans all nicely parked up with washing out and kids running around... I nearly choked...

They set up stalls and tried selling junk ... being a bit of a complainer as my ahem.. other post on another topic gave away... re my lack of apathy..LOL
I hammered the council ... reported thier every move regarding dumping and noise and they eventually were moved on... I waved them off with a big flag  >joke< the land was then blocked with posts and eventually a home built on it for the elderly.

We have checked with the land registry, its not coming up with anything. We are going to start maintaining it. We know what we need to do to 'claim it' after 12 years so we're going to start parking cars on it and see if the owners appear! Hopefully they will and they can start maintaining it properly!

Doing the same with some land near us, sshhh we have been on it since 2008 so a way to go but so far so good!

good luck, both of you. I did this with my allotments, which belonged to a real monster of a developer. Heobviously had bigger fish to fry because he never bothered to collect the rent. I had been on their for 15 years when I thought I would look into registering my claim. As it turned out he had a sudden fall from grace (no super injunction for him!) and his wife sued him for every penny. He eventually sold the land to a couple who are well into their smallholding. I liked them so much that I thought it would be really churlish to try to sneak 'under the wire' with a claim and I am very happen to pay £20 a year rent to them :)

Personally, id stick a fence round it joining it to my land and start using

Would you also advise her to go into a shop and help herself to any of the goods without paying for them.

Because  ,  taking possession of  someone else's land, is  "stealing".

Contact the land registry and    , if it is registered  the owner will be easily found.

I feel that complete neglect of land is a crime and that people do not deserve to own it if they are not prepared to act as proper stewards. It is far better off in the hands of someone who will appreciate it.

Gives a little pocket for nature.

>I feel that complete neglect of land is a crime

Neglect or allowing it to revert to its natural state?

I feel that complete neglect of land is a crime and that people do not deserve to own it if they are not prepared to act as proper stewards. It is far better off in the hands of someone who will appreciate it.

Then buy it, dont steal it!!

How people keep their land, house, car,   any possessions is their businuss,     the facts are ,  its "stealing"   "stealing land" is something that always amazes me,  law abiding citizens who would never    consider committing a crime ,  s  , seem to think its OK to  "steal" land, because it is next to theirs, or unkempt.

What would you do if you left your car all dirty and unkempt and someone took the same attitude  and acquired it because they thought you did not deserve to own it , because you left it in  a less than pristine state.

Its something my hubby deals with all the time, people trying to pinch a bit of land here and there, and the excuses they give   is  never cease to amaze  me.

The law permits you to do what I advised the OP to do. I did recommend they check wtih the land registry to see if it is actually owned, sometimes these pieces of land are not owned, sometimes they were but whoever owned it is long gone and impossible to trace.

If you do 'adopt' a piece of land in this way, it ISNT stealing as long as you are not challenged, and as long as you do not sell it as if it were yours, because until the time limit is up, it ISNT yours to sell on. If the original owner comes along and says 'hey thats mine' then you have to give it back, and since its LAND, not a car or a tv, you can do that by removing the fence. You cant TAKE land with you, the land is still there...

This is not the same as being devious and underhand and moving boundaries int he night without the neighbours noticing, I was purely talkign about a rough, unadopted piece of land that you could reasonably assume has no owner.

taking possession of  someone else's land, is  "stealing"

Jackbox, read the law regarding adverse possession--if it is registered to someone who cares for the land, or leases it to another party, and collects the rent etc, there's no question of claiming the property. The law applies where a landowner is unknown, or where he/she is negligent in that they do not collect their rent--there is a duty of care on landowners too, not just those who lease property. There are plenty of exemptions (e.g. where a right of way or road is involved) and before any claim is finalised the landowner, if he/she can be traced, has plenty of opportunity to object and re-establish their rights of ownership.

You might be surprised at the number of cases where there is no record at Land Registry--this happens much more often than you think.

Jackbox, read the law regarding adverse possession

I dont need to , as I said, my hubby has been dealing with this for over 40 years, he knows the law inside out!

You might be surprised at the number of cases where there is no record at Land Registry--this happens much more often than you think.

Believe me, I know how often it happens,  Land NOT belonging to anyone is rarer than some like to see it, and finding the owner of land (unregistered) is also easier than you think.

The exceptions of  "Lost" land, are  far fewer than   you beleive.

But hay ho , as I said,   some law abiding citizens   seem to have a mental block where a piece of land is  up for grabs....   taking something that does not belong to you is stealing in any language.

I wonder how may who dont see it that way, would also agree with squatters rights regarding  taking possession of someones property!

If you do 'adopt' a piece of land in this way, it ISNT stealing as long as you are not challenged, ........thats like saying its isn`t stealing  as long as you dont get caught!

and as long as you do not sell it as if it were yours, because until the time limit is up, it ISNT yours to sell on  ..........exactly!

. If the original owner comes along and says 'hey thats mine' then you have to give it back ..........exactly

, and since its LAND, not a car or a tv, you can do that by removing the fence. You cant TAKE land with you, the land is still there... .........hence why so much is stollen, becuase you cant keep it in yor drive and watch it constantly.

If you know the laws so well, argue with them not me! How exactly do you define 'theft'.. usually its 'taking something awayw ithout the owners consent'but you cant 'take away' land! Is putting a fence around something 'theft'?? I dont think it is UNTIL you deny the rightful owner access, THEN its theft, but merely putting a fence around it isnt!

I 'adopted' a piece of land that actually belonged to the council - whilst it didnt in fact fall within the laws we are discussing here, when I bought my house I asked for that piece of land to be included in the sale (though after they had valued the property), on the grounds that they had insisted I maintain it all the years I have lived here as part of my property, even though on the original deeds that piece was NOT part of my property.

According to your thinking, because I adopted it, used it, maintained it and kept it safe, I stole it? I don't think so!

Anyway the council agreed to include it (it was of no use to them, accessible only via my property anyway) with no extra charge after a minor wrangle about whose it ought to be (once i showed htem copies of letters they sent me insisting I maintain it and keep it tidy 'or else' they backed down!)

If you know the laws so well, argue with them not me!

I am not arguing with you, simply   responding to ..............Jackbox, read the law regarding adverse possession--  and putting a landowners point  across.

.....Jackbox, read the law regarding adverse possession--  made me smile, as I am sure  the response you would get from my hubby would be something a long the lines  of ......... dont try to teach a grandmother how to suck eggs!!!

Thats my  last response    on this!!!

Registering a property in the Land Registry  (est. 1862) is not obligatory. Records of land ownership even after this date were often haphazard, to the extent that legislation had to be redesigned to persuade people to use the new, expensive and clunky system :) and nearly 140 years later we still don't have a full picture of land ownership--still, why let that hold us up?

I can appreciate that you have a moral objection to the law of adverse possession and the notion that someone can seize property in certain circumstances--to you that's stealing, regardless of what the law says. Personally my sympathies are with anyone who uses the land to its best potential. At the end of the day the whole idea of land ownership is a bit academic because as we all discover in time the ultimate owners are the worms :)

To me, absentee or negligent owners are a social and environmental nuisance. If we take your argument to its logical conclusion, we would never have orphan toxic waste sites because we could easily trace ownership, and the conveniently absent or anonymous owners would never be bailed out by superfunds. Now that would be something to cheer.

taking something that does not belong to you is stealing in any language

Not where land is concerned apparently, otherwise history would be very different :)

Diffecult one, actually the land we are "possesing" has no registered owner and the adjoining landowners do not have it on their deeds, what we have is a small area of land  NOT ON ANY DEEDS.
So we have enclosed it and are using it, I cant say where buts its a community group using it not an individual.

Some land is unowned, not a lot but small areas missed off land registration documents. If I had an area of land adjacent to my land which I maintained and no one else did I would feel that all the years of maintaining that land did give me a stake in it. Thats why people are able to claim after proving 12 years use.
Its a grey point but stealing is a harsh word and not in this case I feel justified.

Good for you and the local community group, Whistler, it's perverse not to accept that land owners have responsibilities as well as rights, and if there is someone or a group of people better able to care for and improve the site then that should be recognised. Even where occupants fulfil the criteria for claiming the property, adverse possession still gives landowners plenty of opportunity to justify their right of ownership--nothing is simply handed over on a plate.

To clarify my situation....

We HAVE paid for the land registry to find out who owns it and nobodys name is coming up. The only reason I am actively looking to try and claim it is to stop travellers. I am even willing to maintain it until the real owner is found just so that I dont have a load of caravans as neighbours! :-)

No need to argue guys!!

Go for it, if someone does claim it then you have done them a good turn, if not keep it, some times small areas are just overlooked. We consulted with neighbouring land owners and neither wanted/owned the site, so great we are using it regulalrly and maintaining it so its win, win. Not everyone owns everything in this country.

My Step Mum mentioned a piece of land her Dad owned about 55 years ago, we checked and he still owns it, he died, her Mum died and she is claiming it. Its land locked really with an old shed but it is her's been neglected for over 50 years!! - some people have no idea and its lost in time.

Some on here take the black and white view, sometimes guys it is def. grey!!!

go for grey, guys--it's what makes life interesting :)

Yeah I agree. We've tried so many things to find out who owns it. Wrote letters to various places who Id heard owned it, only to be told its not them its X who owns it, tried them to get same response. Rung local council - nothing. Paid for land registry - nothing. So Im at a loose end really. Noone has tended to it since I moved in 6 years ago and its a shame really. I guess when I start digging the weeds up, whoever owns it will probably make themselves known! :-)

You could try putting an ad in the local papers to ask the landowner to contact you.

A suggestion that has been made before ....when you fence it round, take a photograph and at the same time, ensure that the current day's paper is visible in the photograph - with the date showing!   Apparently this "authenticates" the date!