Land Registry & Solicitors Advice??

[Fadcode]

It may be worth looking at your own deeds, as the land is hard to reach, there may well be a covenant on your deeds giving the farmer/owner of the land, the right to access it through your land.
Your boundary should be clearly marked on your deeds, and you can look at the boundaries on the internet,for instance if you have a fence at the boundary of your land, if your boundary is marked with a "T" this means the fence belongs to you, and you must maintain it.
What may be more interesting is, who owns the stream, if its the local Water Company, it may be them who own the strip of land.

 

[demographic]

So theres no old fence, no line of trees that would be an overgrown hedge?
Usually a river will erode the outside of a bend and the inside will get bigger.
Does the land drop away as if there was an old riverbank on your side?

 

[TeeDee]

So theres no old fence, no line of trees that would be an overgrown hedge?
Usually a river will erode the outside of a bend and the inside will get bigger.
Does the land drop away as if there was an old riverbank on your side?

No Fence.

Where I was standing taking the above photo is a stream that's formed a deep Gulley that joins the River at a Right Angle.

 

[Tony]

I've been out of all this for a long time, so forgive me if I'm completely wrong.

When I did law if you have use and sole possession you can claim adverse possession, usually that would mean you fence off the land so you possess it to the exclusion of others for your sole use, the river likely acts as the same exclusion boundary... The fact that you acknowledged his ownership by offering to pay for the land probably scuppers this as you've acknowledged someone else's right to it.

I think your options are butter him up and try your best to get a deal from him on the land - unlikely to happen, especially as he's said no.
Fence it off and take possession - this will cause issues and bad feeling and you'll end up fighting but you might win out in the end if he can't prove ownership.
Or just use the land how you want and leave it to him to deal with, again though it will create bad feeling. It's a bit tight though that he won't let you use it if it's just sitting there.

Ultimately you've already acknowledged his claim on the land, you'd need to prove he didn't have ownership, persuade him grant use or sell, or just use it and come what may, he can't do a lot about it given trespass is a civil offence and he'd have to pursue that and it's a complete pain to do...

 

[TeeDee]

I've been out of all this for a long time, so forgive me if I'm completely wrong.

When I did law if you have use and sole possession you can claim adverse possession, usually that would mean you fence off the land so you possess it to the exclusion of others for your sole use, the river likely acts as the same exclusion boundary... The fact that you acknowledged his ownership by offering to pay for the land probably scuppers this as you've acknowledged someone else's right to it.

I think your options are butter him up and try your best to get a deal from him on the land - unlikely to happen, especially as he's said no.
Fence it off and take possession - this will cause issues and bad feeling and you'll end up fighting but you might win out in the end if he can't prove ownership.
Or just use the land how you want and leave it to him to deal with, again though it will create bad feeling. It's a bit tight though that he won't let you use it if it's just sitting there.

Ultimately you've already acknowledged his claim on the land, you'd need to prove he didn't have ownership, persuade him grant use or sell, or just use it and come what may, he can't do a lot about it given trespass is a civil offence and he'd have to pursue that and it's a complete pain to do...

I'm not being the normal contentious cactus adornment that I'm normally , but I wouldn't say I ACKNOWLEDGED and AGREED that the land is his or else I wouldn't be investigating if I could 100% ascertain it is.

I'm obviously £50 down to the Land registry already so clearly there was/is doubt in my mind.

I honestly don't want any bad feeling but neither am I just the type of person to blindly be 'advised' of a fact without doing my own due diligence and empirical fact finding. Which I consider I am.

 

[Tengu]

If his or your deeds say its his...you are scuppered.

 

[TeeDee]

If his or your deeds say its his...you are scuppered.

N.S.S !!

 

[Tony]

I'm not being the normal contentious cactus adornment that I'm normally , but I wouldn't say I ACKNOWLEDGED and AGREED that the land is his or else I wouldn't be investigating if I could 100% ascertain it is.

I'm obviously £50 down to the Land registry already so clearly there was/is doubt in my mind.

I honestly don't want any bad feeling but neither am I just the type of person to blindly be 'advised' of a fact without doing my own due diligence and empirical fact finding. Which I consider I am.

In light of possession, offering to buy the land is acknowledgement that it's his by right.

I have already mentioned to him I'd be interested and willing to purchase it or use it which he declined

If you learn that it's not his then just possess it and use it as he's no claim at all.

it's often a case that a farm will sell land for hosing etc and keep strips like this to make sure they're always protected.
Looks like you're going to be doing some digging good luck with it all, it's definitely worth pursuing, that's a lovely little addition if you can get it...

 

[Tengu]

But...research is great fun.

 

[TeeDee]

Looks like you're going to be doing some digging good luck with it all, it's definitely worth pursuing, that's a lovely little addition if you can get it...

Think I've now dug as much as I can... I'm all out of ideas.