Does anyone know if one can claim land on the basis of it having been used/fenced off for a certain number of years?  If so, how do you go about it?

i did this about 10years ago, then the criteria was 12 years uninterupted use (it was also fenced which helpd) speak to the local land registry, although you may want to get a solicitor involved?

We did this but the rules have changed recently and it is now 10 years I believe. If you look at the Property Law website it should tell you how to go about claiming Adverse Title to the land.

Thanks for that!  :)

try reading practice guide 4 and 5 on the land registry web site http://www.landreg.gov.uk/publications/?pubtype=35

Thanks, will do!  :)

[bDoes anyone know if one can claim land on the basis of it having been used/fenced off for a certain number of years?  If so, how do you go about it?]

Sorry, you are not claiming the land, you are stealing it,   the land belongs to somebody, and may be registered with the land registery,    would you go into a shop and help your self to something of the shelf, just because nobody else has bought it,??

This is one of my pet hates,  people who claim land,  we have just gone through this yet again, someone claiming land that does not belong to them,    and quiet rightly,  they lost there case, you have to be a good liar ,  to stand up in court,  luckely all  the companies land is registered now,  so it is not as simple for people  to steal it.

Do the decent thing , find out who owns it, (because someone will) and offer to purchase it.

No, we won't be 'stealing' it neither will we be 'lying' in court! We do not care one way or another whether or not we claim it, it is just that the owner does nothing to stop his cattle invading our garden and we are having to maintain the fences and make good the damage caused, so we thought maybe we ought to 'claim' it since we are doing all the maintenance on it!

There is nothing wrong in you maintaining your fences on your own land,  but as you know who owns the land you cant claim it either,  as he is using his land to grase his cattle,

It never ceases to amaze me, the excuses people come up with, when they claim   someone elses land.

I think I would look into how you stand in obliging him to secure his animals from getting onto your garden but I don't think you have any case to claim the land just because you have opted to repair the fencing yourself when he clearly is using the land. 

Thanks Isabel for your input, we had already decided to do exactly what you suggested! :)  Isn't it a shame that some people decide to judge others when they don't know the full story?  :)

They can't know the full story unless you tell them ;)

On a slightly different note, does anyone know how you go about finding out who owns a piece of land.  there is a field next to us that is used for crops and fingers crossed depending on whether our plans get through the planners (second attempt) and how much money we have left from the extention, we might be interested in buying a piece of it for the dogs. 

I've not gone as far as asking around yet as we're not in a position to know whether we can afford it but after seeing this thread thought I'd enquire.

Jill

Asking around seems like a good way to start :)  Perhaps you will see someone working in there sometimes, you could ask them or even if you ask anybody you see working on the land locally they would probably know whose bit was whose.

You can do a search at the land registry (cost about £4) and if the land is registered which most of england and wales is, you can get a copy of the register which will contain the name and address of the owners.
This link contains information on how
http://www.landreg.gov.uk/kb/Default.asp?ToDo=view&questId=8&catId=2

Thanks

will look into it

Jill

Theres a piece of land at the side of our house which we would like to buy but no one seems to know who owns it. We got in touch with land registry - they dont know! We saw some gardeners from a local garden centre so I wrote to them, they said this estate owned it so I wrote to them and they said they dont own it so now Im back at square 1! Anyone know how I can find out who owns it??? Otherwise I may be tempted to use it to park my car and slowly take it!! :D