Fee Simple Interest -

There is a derelict site in my neighbourhood. I've tracked down the company that own the site (as the owners of a large former landlord estate) and agreed a price (nominal) with the Company to acquire this property.

The Company own the Fee Simple Interest in all of the property held by the former estate. I am being advised that if I purchase the Fee Simple Interest, someone else may 'pop out of the woodwork' with a subsequent claim to the land. Therefore if I try to build on it, it is possible someone could claim title to it. Has anyone come across something like this before?

Any ideas how to resolve this one way or the other once I've acquired the Fee Simple Interest?

I've had this kind of case recently. My client has bought the freehold interest in the piece of land adjoining her property. As far as we know, the "owner" was free to sell it and had not sold it to anyone else in the 25 years since constructing the housing estate. But its not Land Registry land so we cannot point to the Land Registry map and identify it as still being owned by the original developer. Searches will not show anything.

My advice? Fence it off, establish acts of ownership and let "time" work its magic. 12 years is the length of time it takes to acquire title adverse to anyone elses interest.

mf

Thanks for the info. I'm going to proceed with the purchase, and fence it off.

I believe there is another option whereby the site can be advertised in newspapers requesting anyone who has a claim on it to identify themselves. If no one else claims then useful evidence to back up my claim with. I'm going to consider this, as you never know what might come out of the woodwork, whereas fencing it off is likely a smoother course of action.

Really nice thread and information, Thank you!

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