Status of passageway

I wondered when I might get an answer to an enquiry (receipt #1688-0960) submitted on 21/5/24. We are trying to establish the ownership of a passageway running behind our property and others. The Council have no knowledge of its status and we need to know before installing a gate on the recommendation of the Police. 
Many thanks. 

Rosamund - that's not a reference we generally use so can you give me a reference such as 240424-123456 for example where the first part is the date of your enquiry?

Sadly not. All I have is the emailed receipt for my request for Official Title Register & Title Plan. 

Rosamund - understood although you referred to an enquiry in the original post but now refer to a request for an Official Title Register & Title Plan. So did you apply for a specific title number perhaps?
And which HMLR service did you use please and what did you pay?
I ask as I can find no record of an enquiry linked to your email address. And there are other sites online that offer information services but that are not HMLR

I'm so sorry if I have caused confusion in my anxiety to get this sorted.

I posted this online on the website, including plans, but we have no title no. as we don't know to whom or what the piece of land belongs to at SW14 8RT.

I attach a copy of the only evidence I have, which is the emailed receipt but, as you mention, I may well have applied to another site, although I don't think so, as I wanted to make an enquiry to the Land Registry as suggested by our lawyer.

Would be very grateful for your advice as to where I can chase this!

Many thanks

Ros 

Rosamund - no need to apologise at all but you have used one of the third party websites and not the official government HMLR, which is what this forum is linked to. These sites are not 'scams' but offer a different service and for a higher fee. 
In my experience the T&Cs on their site indicates that IF the land is unregistered then you don;t get a result/any information so that maybe the case here but you'd need to contact them to clarify as appropriate
What's your property and I can try and steer you re information?
Otherwise if you want to use the HMLR service then I'd recommend completing a postal search of the index map

How stupid of me - doing something in a hurry but I'm not usually that dumb!

I will get in touch with them but suspect you may be right - that they won't have an answer for me.

Thank you very much for your sympathetic response and your offer to steer me in the right direction. In case it helps, I'm attaching a copy of the map of the area with the alley in question marked in red. It is a service alley for the properties in Vicarage Gardens (who all have a right of way noted in their leases) and emerges onto Palewell Park, but we don't know who granted the right of way and we should get permission before installing the gate I mentioned.

Thanks again for your help

Ros

Rosamund - it's not a stupid approach and one many people do use albeit some perhaps don;t realise that the 'sponsored' search results are not the official HMLR. 
In this case the land you are referring to is unregistered so we don't have any information as to who the legal owner is. 
As such I suspect you won't hear from the website you used but I'm not 100% familiar with their service for example
My advice would be to seek legal advice but there's perhaps some groundwork to be done to at least arm yourself with available information 
If the lease refers to a right of way then the landlord/lessor granted it so if you wanted to try and identify who potentially is the legal owner then you would need to work through the registered information (leases) and see if they offer clues as to who owned the land - for example if a landlord granted a right over the land the logical conclusion is that they owned the land or had the right to then grant access over it.
In my experience trying to unravel the legal ownership and more is often problematic and the energy and focus should be more on why you want to know. If you want to make the alleyway secure then the focus might be more on who currently uses it and 'needs' it as well as do they have a legal right to use it. Again the registered information for the adjoining titles will help confirm or the owners can be approached and their views sought - doubtless already done I suspect.
If everyone is then in agreement re the security you can consider having the works done bearing in mind that such works may well cause the legal owner to reveal themselves and challenge matters or someone else challenges your denial of their access. 
These are all simple musings base don past experience of dealing with similar enquiries. From a HMLR perspective we don;t know who owns the land but a number of properties have a right to use it. Everything else is pure conjecture and very much something for you and your neighbours to consider and to then seek legal advice /take action as you deem fit
I hope that helps in some way

Hi Adam

Thank you very much for this and for taking the time and trouble to write such a helpful reply.

For your info (hoping you're having a quiet afternoon), my law degree was in the distant past, so I did also run this past our lawyer. All our neighbours in Vicarage Gardens apparently have this right of way in their leases but even though I have some very ancient versions of ours, freehold and leasehold, none far enough back to find out who granted the right of way in the first place, so I assume the developer in 1901 allowed for this service alley (tradesmen's entrance?!) and put this mention in the lease, but not drafted in the most helpful way. 

So, as we are all in agreement, I think we're going to go for it and put the b****y gate up and see what, if anything happens. It will make some of our neighbours feel safer, the alley has been in common use for years, the Council has no objection, and the Police are quite keen for us to do it.

The most important thing is that we have enquired and you have confirmed to me that the land is unregistered so I can report back.

Thank you again - we really do appreciate your helpful reply.

Best wishes

Ros

Hi Rosamund - all sounds very logical to me and I wish you all luck. There's invariably some uncertainty with such things but hopefully with everyone on the same page it need not be an issue and even if it is there's usually a amicable solution