Land ownership

[telwebb]

I, like most here I would think, spend a lot of my travelling time spotting this or that piece of land and thinking of it in terms of a place to camp. Is there an easy way to find out who owns any given piece of woodland/countryside with a view to gaining permission (without paying search fees etc.)?

thanks

 

[Shewie]

Google Maps is pretty handy for checking out woodlands and nearby properties, follow that up with a bit of door knocking and maybe you can get something sorted.

OS maps are useful too and it's sometimes easier to work out which buildings belong to which land.

Your local library might turn something up too.

 

[Loenja]

ive also been looking for an answert to this

 

[nigeltm]

The Land Registry holds land rights and ownership records for England and Wales. You can search a map to ID a property and it'll cost £4 for them to send you the title info IDing the owner. The only problem with this is that a large part of the countryside is missing ownership information! It can be fun when a couple of people front up with historic documentation "proving" they all own the same patch of land

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/www/...Zk1hcFN0YXJ0LmRv#7_LF5418G7UHB6F0I4F7SB4G30C2

 

[ged]

You're doing the right things. In the UK there are only three alternatives as far as I know.

The Land Registry, which charges a fee, or a service which uses the Land Registry database, which will usually charge a bigger fee.
The local council but only if the land is owned by the council. I do not know if they charge fees but I'd be slightly surprised if they didn't.
Stand somewhere near the property and shout, ask the neighbours, etc.

About one third of land in the UK is not registered so for private land your chances are only average at the best of times. If it's council owned you would probably need some kind of a miracle to get permission to camp there.

Usually, if you camp somewhere without asking permission, either the owner will be along fairly smartly to tell you to move on or he'll never know unless you leave a mess. Years ago when I was camping in hills in the Lake District, after a couple of days the owner came along and grumbled about the damage I'd done to the turf with my fire. When I pointed to the turf safely taken up so that I could replace it when I left she looked very surprised and said I could stay as long as I wanted.

Once I found four lads in a caravan on woodland that I owned. They were there without permission, doing drugs and an unbelievable amount of wanton damage. I called the police before they knew I was there. One of them had a motor-bike, somehow he, er, managed to fall into a dyke , and then they all ran off - without the bike. A policeman arrived half an hour later and thought it was hugely amusing that someone had just reported his motor-bike stolen by a wild man in the woods. If they'd been responsible and sensible I'd have been more than happy to let them use the land, they could have helped me to look after it and got something out of it themselves.

 

[ged]

The Land Registry ... it'll cost £4 ...

I think the fees might have gone up: http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library/documents/rrginfo.pdf

 

[bushwacker bob]

Stand in the wood, start a chainsaw. Hey presto the owner will appear.

 

[telwebb]

I had considered just going for it, but what I was hoping was to be able to develop an ongoing relationship with a reasonably local landowner. My thinking being that if that were do-able I'd have more opportunity to take advantage, rather than having to wait for bigger time windows to come round.

 

[Ray Britton]

ged

You have me confused now!

You said it was good that a land owner would let you stay as long as you wanted, as you had protected her grass from your fire pit.....Whereas you chased off the four lads on your own land......Who sound they they had brought their own 'grass' with them!

(tongue firmly in cheek of course)

In pre internet days, if I liked the look of any land, I would pop into the local village post office and ask who owned it. This nearly always worked. Of course this is not the case in built up areas, as people know less about each other, and is further hindered by the mass closure of small post offices.

 

[bearbait]

Local farmers will generally know who owns or leases a particular piece of land. Some farmers farm land remote from their "farmhouse", sometimes a considerable distance. Wildlife Trusts also own land which is sometimes let to graziers or to arable farming so the presence of stock or crops doesn't mean you'd necessarily get "per" from the farmer or tenant. Shooting syndicates also own land and may give permission for a camp at certain times of the year.

Good luck with the hunt for a nice spot...