ransom strip
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File:Forgotten gate - Mongewell.jpg, Oxfordshire, now used as ransom strip]]
In the United Kingdom, 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.{{cite news|last1=Snell|first1=David|title=Plots: Ransom Strips|url=http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/2010/01/22/plots-ransom-strips/|accessdate=11 October 2015|work=Homebuilding & Renovating|date=22 January 2010|archive-date=9 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109113141/http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/2010/01/22/plots-ransom-strips/|url-status=dead}} The width of the ransom strip can be as narrow as {{convert|150|mm|in}} wide, but it can lead to significant conflict.{{cite web|title=Ransom strips in the UK|url=http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/ransom-strips/|publisher=Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors|accessdate=11 October 2015}}
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors 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.{{cn|date=March 2020}}
It may be possible to claim a prescriptive easement if there has been 20 years of uninterrupted access.{{cite news|last1=Webb|first1=Christine|title=Property nightmare: held to ransom|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/mypropertynightmare/3345664/Property-nightmare-held-to-ransom.html|accessdate=11 October 2015|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=26 October 2005}}
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 {{convert|16|ft|m|adj=on}} tract of their properties to widen a road leading to a new development of 350 executive homes.{{cite news|last1=Wainwright|first1=Martin|title='Ransom strip' nets £1.6m|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/nov/19/martinwainwright|accessdate=11 October 2015|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=18 November 1999}}
Case law
The Law of Property Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 20) makes it a criminal offence to drive across common land without permission.{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/3336472/The-battle-of-Newtown-Common.html |title=The battle of Newtown Common |first=Ross |last= Clark |date=3 November 2004 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |accessdate=27 January 2021 |url-access=subscription}}
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.{{cite news|last1=Kettles|first1=Nick|title=Who's that traipsing through your back yard?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2005/feb/20/property.observercashsection|accessdate=11 October 2015|work=The Guardian |location= London|date=21 February 2005}}
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 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 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.{{cite BAILII|litigants=Bakewell Management Limited v. Brandwood and others |court=UKHL |year=2004 |num=14 |date=1 April 2004}}
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.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}
See also
References
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