Best process to locating ownership of small strip of land?

Hi,

Our property is located down a single track road that is used by a small number of residents for property access, the road is un-named and no ownership appears on the online land register. I have it confirmed that the road is not owned by the local council, but is classed as public footpath.

Between the front of my property and the road is a approx 25ft x 6ft strip of land, that is unused, overgrown and unmaintained, I would like to try and find out if that strip is owned by anyone, maybe take ownership of it so I can do something with in, maintain it and tidy it up a bit. 

I am not sure where to start, its a bit complicated, any suggestions or advice.

Thanks 

 

Scott - all land is legally owned but not all land is registered. A great sentence to quote and you may find our blog article on the subject of some interest if you actually want to try and trace the legal owner
Two things to add though - the first being that the online service won;t confirm that the land is unregistered. It only confirms what is registered and there is always a small chance that a non result online is given because the registered information is not linked for example. As such you may wish to consider doing a postal search of the index map to be 100% certain.
And secondly if you are thinking of trying to claim the land as your own then trying to find the legal owner wouldn't be something to do as you are in effect seeking to claim possession of the land. Our Practice Guides 4 and 5 explain more about the registration requirements but please do seek legal advice before trying to find out who owns it and to confirm what you need to do to make a legal claim.

Thanks for the quick response, that is very helpful, I will take a look at your suggestions