In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, a ransom strip is a parcel of land needed to access an adjacent property from a public highway, to which the owner is denied access until payment is received. The strip of land can be either between the property and the highway, or be located between two properties. The width of the ransom strip can be as narrow as wide, but it can lead to significant conflict. The

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for those working in the Built Environment, Construction, Land, Property and Real Estate. The RICS was founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental ...

advises property owners to locate and price any ransom strip on a property, as the cost to release the "ransom" should be deducted from the overall purchase price of the property. The agreement to access such ransom strips is lodged with the

Land Registry Land registration is any of various systems by which matters concerning ownership, possession, or other rights in land are formally recorded (usually with a government agency or department) to provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions, ...

. It may be possible to claim a prescriptive easement if there has been 20 years of uninterrupted access. A ransom strip can also include permission to widen a public road leading to a property. In 1999, a 10-year dispute over a ransom strip in Riddlesden, West Yorkshire, resulted in a £1.6 million payment to a group of homeowners, who agreed to sell a tract of their properties to widen a road leading to a new development of 350 executive homes.

Case law

The

Law of Property Act 1925 The Law of Property Act 1925 ( 15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 20) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It forms part of an interrelated programme of legislation introduced by Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead between 1922 and 1925. The progr ...

( 15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 20) makes it a criminal offence to drive across

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

without permission. The 1961 case of ''Stokes v Cambridge'' determined that if a parcel of land would allow access to develop a neighbouring property, in a compulsory purchase of the land its owner is entitled to one-third of the resulting property value. The 1925 law was cited in the case of businessman Michael Farrow, who in 1986 purchased the title ''Lord of the Manor of Newtown'' at auction for £4,200 from the Earl of Carnarvon. Farrow claimed Newtown Common and registered it with the Land Registry. He then transferred it to his company, Bakewell Management, which requested a fee of 6% of the property value from all of the residents who used the common to access their property. He was initially successful, although the courts cited the

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), also known as the CRoW Act and "Right to Roam" Act, is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament affecting England and Wales which came into force on 30 November 2000. Right to roam The Act impleme ...

to set at 2% of the value of their homes as the maximum amount that owners of ransom strips could charge homeowners. The

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

ultimately overturned Farrow's victory on 1 April 2004, deciding that the residents had satisfied the requirement of using the property continuously for 20 years.

Railway context

The term 'ransom strip' is used in the rail transportation business if a train has to be equipped with safety systems from a monopoly supplier in order to travel on a short connecting line between two parts of a network that is equipped with standard systems.

References

{{Property navbox Real property law English property law Real estate in the United Kingdom

Case law

Railway context

See also

References