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Hello,
I couldnt find anything relevant to my case on google and I'm hoping someone here could help...
I have recently leased a piece of land adjacent to my own property. Problem is that there is a 4ft wide strip of lawn with a fence separating the land from the public road.
The strip belongs to Freehold Owner (I think they are some sort of solicitors oslt) and is under management of some property managing business (grass maintenace etc.). I checked the land registry and contacted the named freeholders if they would consider selling or leasing 4ft wide by 5ft long, so a tiny bit of the whole strip and at the edge of their property, just so I can get to the land from the road (no kerb dropping, just on foot). They asked me for a non refundable fee (way exceeding the value of potential lease) just to 'investigate' the case and ownership despite me providing them with a copy of Land Registry entry clearly stating they own it, photos of the area etc.
I may be oversimplifying it but to me it seemed as a yes or no thing and considering it's a narrow bit of lawn with no sensible use to be a rather yes answer. Perhaps some legal costs of preparing agreement etc. on top.
But instead they want to cash in.
I think my question is, do I fold and pay only for them to come up with more fee's in case agreement goes ahead? Or do I take down small section of the fence (as I think I'm responsible for 50% of it anyway as owner/leaseholder of the land on the other side)? And wait for them to get back to me with a claim? Considering they don't know they own it (as they want to charge me now to identify ownership) claim may never come...
Any help greatly appreciated.
I couldnt find anything relevant to my case on google and I'm hoping someone here could help...
I have recently leased a piece of land adjacent to my own property. Problem is that there is a 4ft wide strip of lawn with a fence separating the land from the public road.
The strip belongs to Freehold Owner (I think they are some sort of solicitors oslt) and is under management of some property managing business (grass maintenace etc.). I checked the land registry and contacted the named freeholders if they would consider selling or leasing 4ft wide by 5ft long, so a tiny bit of the whole strip and at the edge of their property, just so I can get to the land from the road (no kerb dropping, just on foot). They asked me for a non refundable fee (way exceeding the value of potential lease) just to 'investigate' the case and ownership despite me providing them with a copy of Land Registry entry clearly stating they own it, photos of the area etc.
I may be oversimplifying it but to me it seemed as a yes or no thing and considering it's a narrow bit of lawn with no sensible use to be a rather yes answer. Perhaps some legal costs of preparing agreement etc. on top.
But instead they want to cash in.
I think my question is, do I fold and pay only for them to come up with more fee's in case agreement goes ahead? Or do I take down small section of the fence (as I think I'm responsible for 50% of it anyway as owner/leaseholder of the land on the other side)? And wait for them to get back to me with a claim? Considering they don't know they own it (as they want to charge me now to identify ownership) claim may never come...
Any help greatly appreciated.
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