Neighbours access rights and non disclosure by previous owner!

[Pitwoman]

Previous owner didn’t disclose a dispute and missing conveyance from our deeds! 😩😩
Bought a end of terrace house with a parking space. After a few renovations...removal of a shed to create a courtyard garden and new bathroom, neighbours came around saying he had ‘washing rights’ and we couldn’t park our car on our driveway. It turns out that their was a conveyance missing off our deeds that were attached to neighbours. We instructed solicitors to resolve and found that the conveyance has to go on our deeds. We then tried to address a resolution with them about us having parking and then using area for washing but he won’t be resasonable about it and keeps hanging a washing line across my driveway...he’s never used it as his house is filthy! We found out during that process that he had been having the same issue with the previous vendor. Our solicitor wrote to them asking them to agree our reasonable terms, (there access apparently can not stop our enjoyment of the land) and ended the letter by saying if you don’t reply we will assume your agreeable. 18mthd later we put up a For Sale sign as this has been so distressing in a day to day basis, and they write to the Edtate Agents saying we are in dispute and please pass this on to the potential vendors! As such no sale....not sure if it is linked but still. Even tried to part ex but property older than 1930’s. Can anyone help me here. I am reasonable and understand they have rights but also to take previous owner to court will cost £20,000 and it’s such a simple resolution. 😩

Have the rights now gone on your deeds? I would try contacting another solicitor. You potentially need a fair sized firm with a few solicitors, who know all the aspects of the the law. Someone somewhere was negligent. Or else the clause isn’t enforcible if not on your deeds. I know a good firm in England. I can pm if your are interested. It’s probably going to cost you at least 1k for initial work though.

Assuming the neighbour has the legal rights claimed, your only alternatives are to allow him to exercise them or to buy out his rights.

Lying on a conveyancing form is a big deal. (So therefore is accusing someone of same, so careful how you tread). Suing individuals is time-consuming and often pointless though.

Missing something off the deeds sounds more like a 'search' failure, so could have been your solicitor's responsibility. Action against solicitors is more likely to be productive, as unlike vendors, they are regulated and insured.

You need legal advice.

Put this in legal.

My non legal view is you have a case against previous vendors and your conveyancing solicitor. Mine missed a outstanding charge on my property which I had to resolve at the 11th hour with the help of my solicitor friend.

Either it's on the title and your solicitor missed it, in which case they are at fault, or it's not and your vendor concealed it, in case they're at fault. The former is the softer target as they will have insurance; the vendor will have probably dispersed the funds.

You need an independent solicitor to review your conveyancing file and the title, OP.

Legal advice. Its not the previous owners fault its the person doing your searches. Find your deeds and go to a solictor and do this probably. Is he only allow access to walk across your land not to hang washing up. You need to find the exact rights he has

Diagram needed!

OP clearly states it wasn't noted as an encumbrance on the deeds to the property, so the solicitor would not have been aware of it. It is not common practice for solicitors to check all neighbouring property titles to see if the Land Registry have left anything off.

OP - you may be entitled to compensation from the Land Registry if your property is worth less with the encumbrance. See www.gov.uk/government/publications/rectification-and-indemnity/practice-guide-39-rectification-and-indemnity

You need a real lawyer here. It may be that it is unenforceable if it's not documented in your deeds. If it is enforceable you may have a case against your conveyancing solicitor for not finding it and warning you. You probably also have a case against the previous owners for lying. If you end up either suing the solicitor or previous owners, or being sued by the neighbour, your home insurance may cover the costs.

I would also be interested to know whether there are any limitations on a neighbour declaring a "dispute" like this - there must be cases where a neighbour just wants to be a pain in the arse. Can a declared "dispute" be negated by something official noting that whatever crazy neighbour thinks, this alleged right is unenforceable and the dispute is resolved in the eyes of anyone sane.

how about completely blocking his access to put the line up and let him bear the expense of taking you to court?
i doubt he'd be willing to part with a penny.

Also, aren't your solicitors to blame also for not checking out the facts for themselves as surely they must be registered somewhere?

don't do that as in the case of someone obstructing the rights of another costs are normally awarded so please don't listen to above users as it will become expensive your best bet is to go after the solicitor that originally handled the purchase as that is their job to find these issues and alert their customers to them. It will be the OPs former solicitor to prove that they discharged their duty correctly rather then they saying it was not on the deeds we do not have to even look around for information.

You might also have a case if the seller did not disclose and legally recognized disputes aka court cases, counical complaints noise complaints. It does not cover simply neighbour issues like sue next door is a royal pain in the arse vendors did not tell us she is a pain so i want compensation because i dont want to live next to bad neigbours (they do not need to disclouse if bad neigbours unless they have offically complained).

The above is assumption you are in England or Wales I do not know the Northern Ireland or Scottish law about this so please ignore if not in England or Wales.

Would it be worth doing a search on his property to see if his "washing line rights" are registered?

Not a lawyer.

1. look on household insurance to see if covered.

Sounds more like blame is the conveyancing solicitor or land registry. When purchasing a property we have always been sent a copy of the land registry title deed to check ( accompanied by a call/ cover letter from our conveyancer). If there were any details left off when Land Registry transferred details from the Sasine Register deeds to Land registry deeds then the Land registry may be at fault.
Please note that your deeds and neighbours may have slight variations when recorded in the Sasine Register ( hence details on your neighbours deeds and not yours).

I assume your neighbour has shown copies of his deeds to you . Are his deeds Sasine or Land Registry?

It depends, yoyo. There may have been a written agreement and the vendor should have registered it on his title, or it may be a right that the neighbour claims accrued over a number of years.

Sometimes a "bona fide purchaser for value, ie a genuine buyer who pays a fair price, can take free of any interests that should have been registered but weren't.

It's not straightforward and without seeing the deeds and the searches and replies etc, we can't know. And the OP can hardly show us those!!

She needs an independent solicitor (or for the neighbour to have an unfortunate accident involving a pair of giant pants, a washing line, and a very windy day, or something...)

I like the last paragraph bee[ - divine pantervention.

beep - darn fingers

Just park your car with his washing resting on the roof, don't clean it for a while.

Be interesting to see who crumbles first...

Definitely independent solicitor, household insurance initiated. Needs all deeds both properties (Sasine and Land Registry). Accural of rights are hard to prove ( written is obviously best-i.e. in deeds). Land registry ( in my experience ) keep anything allowing rights over land on the deeds when transfering detail from Sasine deeds to their title plans ( eg our property has rights on to a footpath over our neighbour's property. This right is removed if the footpath is built on). The footpath in question was built on many many decades ago, this right is still listed ( naturally we never would/could use it- and it is void).
If though they missed a right then I do not think the conveyancer is to blame. Again...get an independent solicitor.

The wording is the right to dry clothes. It doesn’t say anything about a washing line. It’s just that there is a hook on my property and my neighbours so he he attaches it to that!
Also the Land Registry did not have this conveyance and were not aware of it because it was not on his or our deeds. He just had a copy. We went through solicitors but the Land Registry said it had to be added to our deeds-which we have but he’s not reasonable about us parking and still having enough room to put up his washing....on a clothes airer.

No and it doesn’t say washing line. Just a right to use land to dry clothes.

WE NEED A DIAGRAM!!!!

Take down your hook OP?!!

Hi the deeds are Land Registry. I’m in England.
I have contacted the conveyncing solicitor but they say that they couldn’t have know as the conveyance was not on our deeds.