If you own a piece of land, do you own it all the way to the centre of the Earth?

no, you don't even really own the ground. the government can still tell you what to do on /with/in it.
 
no a company dug under someones house for oil and they were allowed to keep pumping it out ,although i cant remeber wether this was the in UK or the US
 
i can remember doing something on this during a land law unit at uni. i think you own it to the heavens above and depths below (cant remember the actual phrasing) but there are clauses in it that allow planes to fly over head, pipes and cabling to be run underneath it. bit vague i know but unfortnunatly the majority of my uni lectures were attended whilst heavily hungover.

edit. whats the reason for asking anyway?
 
I'd assume this is something to do with the oil companies trying to get permission to dig under an estate somewhere?
 
adamsymons said:
pipes and cabling to be run underneath it. bit vague i know but unfortnunatly the majority of my uni lectures were attended whilst heavily hungover.
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Not necessarily. National Grid for example have no statutory powers to enter someone's land to do this. United Utilities however do, for the purpose of water pipes and waste water pipes as far as I'm aware.
 
I always thought the crown owned the land, and that you actually only ever bought an 'estate' in the land, which, subject to council planning laws, is a right to build on / develop it. You find treasure in the garden, it belongs to the state. Similarly, aircraft can fly above your house, because you don't own the airspace.
 
growse said:
I always thought the crown owned the land, and that you actually only ever bought an 'estate' in the land, which, subject to council planning laws, is a right to build on / develop it. You find treasure in the garden, it belongs to the state. Similarly, aircraft can fly above your house, because you don't own the airspace.
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true all land is owned by the crown, not sure about the whole treasure thing never heard of any case like that.

i thought planes can fly overhead due to an easement.

please someone answer this i dont wanna go back over my notes :(

edit: you dont 'own' the land your a tennant i believe
edit edit: we are tennants with the right to exclusive possesion 'seisin'
 
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I don't know how it works in England but in Scotland theoretically you own the land a caelo usque ad centrum (roughly translated from the heavens to the centre of the Earth). In practical terms it is rather different, you own your land and can do whatever you can get planning permission for but you can't prevent aeroplanes flying overhead, piping being laid underneath your land (to an extent), interfere with your neighbours right to light etc all as examples. In the Northern Isles you've also got the mad fun of Udal law which has its roots in Norway, I don't know enough to even guess the exact terms of that but I do know that I don't want to try too hard to figure it out.

//edit and there is the complication of flats where you own your horizontal slice of the ground but nothing above or below apart from the bottom floor of a flat where you frequently own the roof in its entirity - tip is to check your deeds very carefully for the exact title conditions as you may be responsible for the sole upkeep.
 
Mr-White said:
you dont own any mineral rights the land either

MW
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I thought this depended on what was written in the deeds? Why wouldn't you own the minerals under the surface of the ground you own? I understood that energy materials such as oil and things like gold and silver were owned by the state but anything else was fair game. Else why would there be quarries etc owned by private companies?
 
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