Who owns England?

[#1]

About 15% of all land in England is unregistered. What this means is that if you go to the Land Registry and ask them ‘Who owns this piece of land?’, they simply can’t tell you, for a huge chunk of the country. 

These gaps in the map have now got a map of their own.

Check here

http://unregistered.whoownsengland.org/ 

[#2]

I love this article. The fact that you cannot legally map all of the owned/registered land, but you can map all the unregistered land is a priceless loophole!

I got excited at the idea of claiming a piece of it before I read the article. It seems that the land isn't up for grabs, it's just not in the Land Registry because it hasn't changed hands since that body was formed.

[#3]

@sarahaxonTo your Question. The Crown owns England, whatever those of us who've bought a freehold may think.

The freehold can be revoked if The Crown sees a need. See Imber for an example.

[#4]

Ooh gosh.. try looking up Mr Rothschild and Rockefellers ..its worth a mooch ..and it isn't good news nope.

[#5]

That's so interesting I didn't even know!

[#6]

Interesting. I know most of the land where I live is farmland and/or is owned by United Utilities (water catchment area). Use is restricted not only by the nature of the terrain, but to prevent water supply contamination.

[#7]

@piethorne
So knowing who owns the land in a water catchment area is really important for planners or the environment agency. But at the moment there is simply no way of finding out if the land hasn't changed hands and been registered.

I find this stuff really interesting. If we had a complete map of landownership we'd be able to see all sorts of things, such as how much land the volume house builders are holding onto. And more generally, who is holding onto what.

[#8]

The EU

[#9]

Fascinating. Imagine trying to determine this kind of information before the advent of the internet!

[#10]

That’s so interesting I didn’t know