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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

New neighbours

667 replies

Plannergirl9 · 10/06/2020 12:12

Sorry this is a long one. TLDR: Essentially we were gifted land from ex-neighbour when they died. New neighbours who bought her house has told us we must sell it to them.

A bit more backstorey. Our elderly neighbour lived next to us until they died in late December. She had a side bit of garden like an allotment that we used to help her with (hatched area on diagram). Unbeknownst to us she gifted us that area of land in her will. The rest of the house and land was to be sold and the money given to charity.

After the will reading we have had the land registry changed to confirm we now own the land. The house was put up for sale late January. In mid February we received a letter from a solicitor asking that we sell the land to the potential buyer of the house. We emailed back saying no we won't sell. We then heard nothing more from any solicitors. House was then sold during lockdown.

The new neighbours moved in on Monday. Yesterday they came to our door asking for the name of our solicitor so the land purchase can take place. We told them we were not planning on selling the land and that we told their solicitor that. The new neighbours didn't take it well. Apparently they only bought the house on the provision that they could buy the land and this was agreed with us via their solicitors.

The new neighbours got quite loud and angry about us apparently misleading them and left to speak to their solicitor. They seem to think we legally need to sell them the land as there was a written (email) contract between them and their solicitor who confirmed to them by email prior to the sale of the house that we would sell the land.

Aibu to a) not sell the land even though we technically didn't buy it and b) that the fact their solicitor has mislead them is not our problem?

Neighbours land is in red.
Our land is in black and the hatched area is the land they expect to buy.

New neighbours
OP posts:
mumwon · 10/06/2020 19:17

I wonder if nn df gave them money to buy land? Re deeds wouldn't the probate/will & land registry show the change of ownership to you of that strip? & your other gossipy neighbour might have mentioned it to your nn & she & her df hatched this idea/
(goodness I love to know - cant you have innocent (huh!) chat to your gossipy neighbour (& sound her out without suggesting you think she is responsible? if she is a gossip you might be able to find out what she learnt about your new neighbour but don't mention the correspondence let her tell you. Act innocent - harness your Miss Marple - & for goodness sake tell us!!!!) Grin

1Morewineplease · 10/06/2020 19:18

They have been misled but I would certainly approach your solicitor with this information.
It’s your land.

RedRed9 · 10/06/2020 19:19

Oh I very much would have to call the dad, just to listen to what madness he had to say.

diddl · 10/06/2020 19:20

@tealandteal

Is there any way this land might be described as a meadow?
GrinGrinGrin
GrimDamnFanjo · 10/06/2020 19:20

Vaguely similar thing happened close to us. In this case neighbors sold house to include land they only rented. The next set of neighbours on the rental list claimed the land. New neighbours found themselves without a garden!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/06/2020 19:20

I really want to know what the dad has to say about it. I wonder if he’ll start speaking Latin ?!

Grin For some reason, that made me think of Pete Postlethwaite's character in Brassed Off when, in all seriousness, he announced to the band that they were going to play 'Rodrigo's Concerto D'Orange juice' Grin

ostinato · 10/06/2020 19:21

OP, I would look into registering an interest in the plot on the Land Registry. This will mean you get an alert if anyone tries to alter the title. It’s a good thing to do when you own a property outright as there have been cases of fraud where people have managed to effectively steal title by processing a fraudulent sale, and as there was no mortgage lender involved it wasn’t noticed in time. Just a thought as this whole situation is very fishy.

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 10/06/2020 19:22

That email! Bollockius totallus

diddl · 10/06/2020 19:22

@1Morewineplease

They have been misled but I would certainly approach your solicitor with this information. It’s your land.
They might not have been misled, just lying to try to get Op to feel sorry & sell the land.

I would say if that if they only wanted the house wit the land they would have made sure that it was included, but...

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/06/2020 19:23

They have been misled but I would certainly approach your solicitor with this information.
It’s your land.

But why? What's the point in paying a lot of money to a solicitor just to ask them to record that what's already on your title deeds is in fact correct?

Friedbluetomatoes · 10/06/2020 19:24

Find out their names and have a little google/social media dig about. I bet they are property developers, they had plans to buy your land for peanuts and built a couple of houses. It’s happening everywhere where I live, even the teeniest slivers of garden etc are being built on.

Shedbuilder · 10/06/2020 19:25

Bright Yellow Daffodil, was that in England or Scotland? A PP mentioned Scotland but the OP specifically mentioned the Land Registry:

After the will reading we have had the land registry changed to confirm we now own the land.

I'm pleased for you. It seems quite miraculous to me.

What's a will reading?

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/06/2020 19:31

It's amazing how many people think that, if you come into money (or land etc) through inheritance or winning it, you'll be more than happy to pass it straight on free (or for next to nothing) to strangers. That you almost have a moral duty not to benefit from something you haven't worked for so therefore, erm they should benefit from it instead!

I hear (sadly haven't been in the position to experience!) that lottery winners get it constantly. Not just trying their luck on the off-chance but genuinely believing that they should have a right to it, just because they want it, and getting angry at you if you say No; even if you won £100K and they're one of a thousand people each expecting you to give them £10K!

FelicityPike · 10/06/2020 19:34

@Shedbuilder

Bright Yellow Daffodil, was that in England or Scotland? A PP mentioned Scotland but the OP specifically mentioned the Land Registry:

After the will reading we have had the land registry changed to confirm we now own the land.

I'm pleased for you. It seems quite miraculous to me.

What's a will reading?

Cheeky, lying swines!
KitKat1985 · 10/06/2020 19:34

That solicitor e-mail is definitely fake.

They are chancers. I'd politely just keep re-iterating you have never agreed to sell and have no intention to sell, and after that stay well out of it.

Although secretly I'd love to know what cheeky neighbours dad says

FelicityPike · 10/06/2020 19:34

Sorry @Shedbuilder didn’t mean to quote you there.

saveeno · 10/06/2020 19:39

I'm assuming the situation is real. On that basis I would honestly laugh in their faces.

On the other hand, I would ask to buy THEIR house in order to build two gorgeous detached houses on their plot and my own land.

The worry is they might agree!

But I am a bit like that! Sorry now.

EchoCardioGran · 10/06/2020 19:41

What's a will reading?
Interested to learn this also.

Sounds very Charles Dickens.

heartsonacake · 10/06/2020 19:49

YANBU! I don’t think you should ring her dad as I think you should just ignore them, but I am intrigued as to what he would say.

AfterSchoolWorry · 10/06/2020 19:50

Ho ho 😂

sueelleker · 10/06/2020 19:51

'Enid Blyton's Teach Yourself Basic Law Book 16' Or the Ladybird book of 'The Lawyer'.

saveeno · 10/06/2020 19:52

I don't think there are any "will readings" anymore. It certainly does sound Dickensian. Imagine alerting people to attend and they get great aunt Mary's candlestick or something.

Shedbuilder · 10/06/2020 19:55

Ach, being called a cheeky lying swine is the least of my problems!

Blueuggboots · 10/06/2020 19:57

@NoClarification - I did probate for my grandad within 6 weeks of him dying? He died at the beginning of feb. He had a will, we did it all ourselves and it was completed by the middle of April. If the lady knew she was dying, there are plenty of things that can be sorted before death.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/06/2020 19:57

Or the Ladybird book of 'The Lawyer'.

Yes, that's much more like it Grin