Sea erosion legal question.

[Ian Stirling]

If you own a house, and it falls into the sea, do you have any remaining rights to the seabed? Is it legal to (for example) place a new house there on stilts, or a raft?

[S Viemeister]

Don't you have that backwards? Wouldn't the owner of the seabed have rights to your house?

[Bob Mannix]

Ask the questions you have posed on uk.legal. If the answers are yes and yes then come back an ask about the stilts!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Possibly BUT you might find the BCO will purse his lips.

OTOH maybe his jurisdiction doesn't extend to the sea....

[Ian Stirling]

Make that if the land your house is on crumbles into the sea, forming new seabed.

[Peter Crosland]

No!

[Smudger]

ISTR that the land between high tide and low tide belongs to the Crown.

The "Extent of the Realm" extends to mean low tide.

see

the first 12 nautical miles (presumably from the Extent of the Realm) is claimed as "territorial sea" and belongs to the state.

see

is slightly different in Scotland see

CIA World factbook will probably tell you something you didn't know about the UK as well...

here

[Frank Erskine]

I believe the seashore actually belongs to the Crown, although it's managed (sometimes!) by the LA.

[AK]

Correct - my parents live in a beach front flat and the block owns up to the high tide mark, though it has public access

[Will]

I have always understood this to be the case, but have at the same time been puzzled by one situation: at Woolacombe, north Devon, the main beaches are tended - very well it must be said - by "Parkin Estates." They have a number of signs in place which state something along the lines of "Anyone trading on these beaches will be prosecuted by Parkin Estates".

Is this enforceable, or are they trying it on? I have no interest in trading on the beach btw, I live many miles away.

[Aidan]

Woolacombe, north Devon,

I've always wondered that about Woolacombe, too. I'd think it's nonsense. They may own the land over which you access the beach & so might impose conditions on access. There's quite a few beaches displaying 'Private Beach' signs or instructions from the 'Beach Management'. It gets up my nose. Anyone got any hard facts?

[dg]

Well, a private company cant't prosecute anyone - they can take out a civil action, but only the Crown can prosecute.

A bit like those nonsense signs ... "Trespassers will be prosecuted".

dg

[Aidan]

I don't think the Woolacombe signs say 'prosecute'; I think it's something like 'civil recovery' or 'proceedings' but I can't recall the exact wording.