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Derelict Houses


Angel
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^ So, you'd rather pretend it doesn't happen/sweep it under the carpet for the "sake of appearances", than warn folk of the dark side, would you?

 

This world and what's in it, sweetness and light, it certainly all isn't....

 

Lets get things straight here, as far as I'm concerned any stranger arriving on my doorstep uninvited, and particularly without giving prior notice, I consider an invasion of my private property and as such probably potentially hostile. I will allow them as long as I feel necessary to assess whether their presence interests or annoys me, if the latter, they will be told once, and only once to leave. If they do not act on that instruction immediately I will use whatever means and methods I deem "reasonable" and are available to me to remove that hostile, unwelcome threat from my property and on to the nearest public throughfare.

 

Anyone attempting to sell something I have no wish to buy, or buy something I have no wish to sell, I most certainly consider a hostile and unwelcome threat.

 

I see absolutely no difference between a door-to-door salesperson offering to sell you anything from clothes to dodgy fire extinguishers, to someone offering to by scrap metal (all of which the SIC, Police etc regularly warn to be exceedingy careful in yoru dealings with, to the point the SIC have had a campaign against the former, and supplied warning notices to display on folk's doors to anyone who wants them), and someone offering to buy a property, piece of land etc.

 

To echo Crofter's point, all of the above more often than not are only after a bargain, and become "offended" when told the going rate. The "its only a pile of rocks".....(let me do you a "favour" and take it off your hands (for peanuts)) attitude is prevalent with all "door-knocker" buyers.

 

A purely seperate practical point which greatly discourages owners of vacant properties on crofts considering selling, is that many crofts have their properties located away from any on the boundaries. By selling the property and retaining the land you create a situation where before the sale you had a generally square/oblong etc field, that by selling becomes a generally "C" shaped field (the property will expect some fenced garden ground, and an access road (usually also fenced - as if you insist the buyer instals grids either end, the cost quite often becomes a contentious issue, and even if it goes ahead you end up with endless moaning about livestock crapping on the road that they have to drive their shiny car through) leading out through one of the croft boundaries. A generally square or rectangular field is relatively quick and easy to round up livestock in, and/or work with machinery, a "C" shaped field is considerably more difficult and time/fuel etc consuming to do the same work in. And that's before you factor in the issue of that while you may well have the ability to ensure the property is sold to a "suitable" person, you have no say over who it may be sold on to in the future, and sooner of later you will end up with a neighbour from hell, living in the centre of one of your fields of livestock and/or crops, causing damage and loss, not to mention endless hassles to you.

 

End result, a lot of folk simply do not consider any amount of money adequate compensation for the potential negatives of having strangers living in such a location "within" their property.

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I only see a lot of good advice not negative response.

Did you miss the macho posturing about punching people in the mouth and waving shotguns about?

 

^ So, you'd rather pretend it doesn't happen/sweep it under the carpet for the "sake of appearances", than warn folk of the dark side, would you?

 

This world and what's in it, sweetness and light, it certainly all isn't....

 

So hypothetically, you mean you'd rather they met someone like me ... yep, I'd offer them cookies (but if after a chat they persisted when I'd said no but I had been friendly, and they grabbed hold of my arm/were threatening) ... if male they were then met with my right knee in the goolies? :wink:

 

On a more serious note, the reason I referred to the OP's wording and Paulb's post re the law, is because the OP's post asked re the law in his/her particular reference, not about a general although perhaps related topic matter (new thread?) regarding getting unused croft houses back into use.

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For the benefit of anyone who may not be familiar with Shetland, can I assure you that the more extreme views and attitudes being expressed by the minority on this and other threads on Shetlink are just that - the minority! For the most part Shetlanders are hospitable, reasonable people and there is very little chance of being physically abused or accosted with a shotgun or other deadly weapon whilst gong about your normal business or pleasure!

 

Ghosty, if you insist on digging this particular hole any deeper we may not be able to get you out of it!

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For the benefit of anyone who may not be familiar with Shetland, can I assure you that the more extreme views and attitudes being expressed by the minority on this and other threads on Shetlink are just that - the minority! For the most part Shetlanders are hospitable, reasonable people and there is very little chance of being physically abused or accosted with a shotgun or other deadly weapon whilst gong about your normal business or pleasure!

 

Ghosty, if you insist on digging this particular hole any deeper we may not be able to get you out of it!

 

I'm sure nobody would be 'accosted' if they didn't enter private property in breach of the legislation mentioned above and when asked to leave politely that they did. Anyway, if you specifically referring to Ghostie, it may well be the case that he'd be too busy eating cookies to answer the door ... :wink:

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for pity sake ghosty and unlink your very unlikely to get anyone think your homes are ruined croft houses.

 

now if anyone was to wave a gun around because someone was looking at a ruined croft house then they would be having a long chat with some fire arms offices.

 

i am not surprised the op has not been back on they way you two are going on.

 

the op was not wanting to set the council on someone to force a sale they were just asking if they knew who owened it. a reasonable assumption until you know how the system works.

 

the best offical place to ask would be the rural payments place over the job centre. they should be able to id the owner/tenant.

 

now can we please stop scarring people the locals are not from Aintry unless you two have started playing the banjos.

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i am not surprised the op has not been back on they way you two are going on.

 

the op was not wanting to set the council on someone to force a sale they were just asking if they knew who owened it. a reasonable assumption until you know how the system works.

 

I didn't know you were psychic, Paulb. Going by the OP's previous posts on here and other posters, not everyone has access to the internet on a daily basis. For all you or I know, they may well have decided not to take "unsolicited advice" and sought legal advice from a Solicitor or alternatively from CAB. It may also be the scenario that if they were intending to obtain a mortgage that upon learning that many lenders do not provide them on properties unfit for human habititation, etc., they decided not to pursue.

 

As for the comment re "not wanting to set the council on someone ..."; again, we don't know. Granted, unless somebody does know the system inside-out (namely a solicitor perhaps?), they are not necessarily going to know.

 

I have a degree of sympathy for the OP. If, for whatever reasons, they need larger accommodation than they are presently occupying or want to get a place of their own, fine. Likewise, I also have a degree of sympathy for any property owner who has fallen on hard times, would dearly love to furbish said property with TLC but perhaps they have been struck by the recession, lost their job, had their insurers refuse to pay out for repairs ... whatever; perhaps not having the funds to bring the property up-to-standard, intend passing the property onto their own children when they reach a certain age ... if I was in that situation, I wouldn't necessarily want to sell and unless the property was causing a significant amount of danger to passers by, I wouldn't like to see all my hard-earned cash that I had to purchase the property in the first place and said property forced off me by legal means.

 

Legislation does state if peeps are in mortgage arrears that LAs should assist them by perhaps going into joint ownership with the owner occupier or buying the property so that the owner can still live in a property. It doesn't work - LAs don't have the money. (Unsure of Scottish legislation) Likewise, in a situation of a "derelict" (if indeed it is) property, it doesn't usually occur overnight. I'd far rather see some scheme whereby perhaps a charge was put on the property and assistance given to the owner rather than what can only be described as legalised theft. Any householder could fall on bad times.

 

 

the best offical place to ask would be the rural payments place over the job centre. they should be able to id the owner/tenant.

 

And be in direct breach of the Data Protection Act no doubt if they hadn't applied for any dosh?

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Just wondering if what Angel meant by the laws about derelict houses was a quiet way to ask about the law on squatters in Scotland. As I understand it if you moved into a derelict house in England and managed to live there for rather a long time without any protest from an owner you could claim the place as yours. Well not only derelict houses but just empty houses.

 

Anyone know what the legal position on this is in Scotland and would it differ on croft land?.

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^ So, you'd rather pretend it doesn't happen/sweep it under the carpet for the "sake of appearances", than warn folk of the dark side, would you?

This "dark side" exists almost entirely in your own head.

 

People don't need to be warned about crazy gun-toting crofters who open fire on househunters, lost tourists, and innocent passers-by, for the simple reason those crazy gun-toting crofters are a figment of your imagination.

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^ So, you'd rather pretend it doesn't happen/sweep it under the carpet for the "sake of appearances", than warn folk of the dark side, would you?

This "dark side" exists almost entirely in your own head.

 

People don't need to be warned about crazy gun-toting crofters who open fire on househunters, lost tourists, and innocent passers-by, for the simple reason those crazy gun-toting crofters are a figment of your imagination.

 

Really.... I could PM you a list of names and addresses and/or map references you could try visiting, if you like.

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Just wondering if what Angel meant by the laws about derelict houses was a quiet way to ask about the law on squatters in Scotland. As I understand it if you moved into a derelict house in England and managed to live there for rather a long time without any protest from an owner you could claim the place as yours. Well not only derelict houses but just empty houses.

 

Anyone know what the legal position on this is in Scotland and would it differ on croft land?.

 

The legal situation may well be more complex, but in practice doing such does sometimes lead to ugly and apparently illegal confrontations.

 

Scroll down approx half way....

 

http://www.shetlink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=27048&sid=1f90a1da8b07b6eb82e25cc67641d1b9

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For the benefit of anyone who may not be familiar with Shetland, can I assure you that the more extreme views and attitudes being expressed by the minority on this and other threads on Shetlink are just that - the minority! For the most part Shetlanders are hospitable, reasonable people and there is very little chance of being physically abused or accosted with a shotgun or other deadly weapon whilst gong about your normal business or pleasure!

 

Ghosty, if you insist on digging this particular hole any deeper we may not be able to get you out of it!

 

:lik:

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For kind attentions of Mr Ghostly Rider

 

Sir - I am informed that you have put your house for sale on this Shetlink internet forum.

 

Please could you let me know when I can bring my wife, her mother, my aunts, uncles and children, to inspect inside your property at your earliest convenience?

 

We like the outside very much.

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