Should we proceed with this house purchase?

[Deckie]

We are in the process of purchasing a property on an unadopted road and we are due to exchange contracts in a few weeks. The conveyancing solicitor has just found out that there is no legal right of access along the road because it is private land and the owner is unknown because the land is unregistered. He explained that the unknown owner would be within his rights to put a padlocked gate across the road, albeit very unlikely.

I would imagine that when the land was sold off into several plots for development in the mid 1980s, the road itself was left behind and nobody thought about granting legal access (or maybe didn't think it would be necessary). A public bridleway runs along the road but it's illegal to drive along a bridleway without the owner's permission, even if the owner is unknown.

The main issue is that the solicitor is of the opinion that no lender will offer a mortgage on a property with legal issues with access, and that when we come to sell the property it can only be sold to a cash buyer (assuming one is willing to take it on). I asked some mortgage lenders about it but couldn't get a definitive answer. The solicitor will be asking the vendors to take out an indemnity policy but this only covers unforeseen costs and it obviously won't help with the access issue and future mortgages.

The solicitor advises that a deed of easement would need to be put in place by the courts to overcome this issue which would be an extremely expensive and lengthy process and may not be possible if the owner of the land is unknown.

Can anyone see any way round this or do you think it's just a storm in a teacup?

Added bonus: you'll find out if there's anyone you wouldn't want to live near!

I wouldn't listen too much to chat gpt other than for ideas as it's just glorified Google

and I certainly wouldn't listen to the estate agent as they are only going to get paid if the sale goes through!

If you don't like the advice your own legal advisor is giving I would recommend engaging another qualified legal advisor.

Having said all that my 2p from behind the keyboard is that it would be fine despite the paper issues especially as there will be another 15 or so people in the same situation on the ground to work together with, and it sounds like you're not worried about potential loss of saleability later.

You can't trust anything the EA says; she just wants a sale to complete.

I live on an un adopted road which belongs literally to no one. It did once belong to the local aristocrat, but he seems to have abandoned his rights ( and so any maintenance) after WW1.

we have an insurance policy ( not very costly) against possible trouble. We also have a residents group which pays to have the potholes filled in occasionally. nDN has lived here since 1977 without perturbation. He has registered ownership of the verge on his front under the 20 year rule.

Your house sounds lovely, and the situation very pleasant. I would buy it.

It does sound like you love the house. Given the information about your circumstances, i.e., age, lack of dependents, I would say, go for it. You aren't doing this for profit, and you will hopefully enjoy your final year there, which is more important.

This wouldn't put me off, under the circumstances. I imagine it is mortgageable but time will tell.

It sounds like you would rather choose the house you love and accept there is a chance it may fall in value or be tricky to resell in future. Which sounds a reasonable decision in your circumstances.

The worry would be the small chance of the landowner turning up and making your life very difficult if they do padlock the driveway. It would be worth getting some clear legal advice about how a right of way is legally established by usage over the years.

If the landowner could literally padlock the driveway and leave you stranded that would be a very difficult position, albeit unlikely to actually happen. Whereas if you will have an established right of way but may need to spend some money on legal fees, that would probably be acceptable to you.

I was going to say this. My parents bought a house with a similar legal issue and the vendors paid for an insurance to cover any problems arising from this.

Are you going to buy the house @Deckie ?

I didn’t realise there had been so many responses since my last posting (I’m not receiving any notifications).

Many thanks for all the responses and help, we now feel the same as those suggesting to go for it. The vendor was asked to pay for an indemnity policy but they refused because they don’t believe that it is required. They say the lane has been used by several properties for decades without any problems and apparently there is a council sign at the top of the lane confirming that access to the premises is permitted giving them lawful authority. We agree that the risk of the unknown landowner putting a padlocked gate across the lane (as suggested by the solicitor) is negligible. But the vendor hasn’t taken into account the risk of future mortgage applications being refused due to legal issues over access (something they check up on) so we have decided to go ahead with the purchase and pay for the policy ourselves to help reduce that risk. Exchange of contracts is due some time in September, all being well.