Solicitors struggling to confirm rights of access for the house we're buying. Any experience?

[VirginOnTheRidiculous]

Has been quite a straightforward process thus far (famous last words, eh?). No chain on either side, offer accepted, valuation and survey all fine.

Mortgage approval is not in as the solicitors are still struggling with searches. We've had another call today asking for more money for additional searches.

It's a terraced house. The problem is the access to the rear. There is a parking space at the rear and you access it by going through a gap in the terrace about 3 doors up from the house. All of the houses access the rear in the same way. Presumably there's some info on it somewhere.

I am now worried that it's all going to fall apart.

Just spoken to the solicitor who has confirmed that they're struggling to find that we have any rights to access our back door. It's always had a back door. It's a 100yr old property. Surely this has come up before?

What about all of the neighbours? Do they all levitate to the rear of the property? Is it a condition of buying a house in that road?

I might just live in a caravan. I know I have every right to access it up the steps and through the door after all.

If the rear access has been used for 100 years then you should have Prescriptive rights to use it and should easily be able to get an indemnity policy in place.

Its not uncommon for documentations for rights of way/access to be lost and therefore indemnity policies are commonplace. Try not to worry - it should be fine.

As the others have said, check with the neighbours and how long the rights of access have been there. You can get insurance for this kind of thing too - sister had to get it for the alleyway to access her front door which had no documented right of access. Not that expensive and you can pass it on to a buyer.

Oh thank you kind people who have some sort of idea what you're talking about.

The solicitor made it sound like that was it. If we couldn't hover from the road to the back door then the mortgage would never be approved.

They've said 10 days and more searches. So if they still find nothing, I need to push for an indemnity policy.

The house is 35 miles away and I don't drive so will have to wait until the end of the week for me to talk to the neighbours. I've met them all though. They were very pleasant and offered me marrows.

Just been where you are OP!

In the end we took out an indemnity to protect us in the event of anyone trying to claim ownership of the rear lane and deny us access. £180 I think. Cheap at the price IMO.

You need to prove 20 yrs of use before you can establish right of way.

Well the outside toilet is still there too. Presumably you were allowed to walk across the yard to use it once upon a time? More than 20yrs ago I'm guessing. Unless to cheer everybody up during the war they installed trapezes and somersaulted across to the john.

The garden (separate from the property and accessed via the aforementioned bit of land that everybody seemed to be happily sharing each time we visited) has an Anderson shelter in it too so people have been tramping across that yard for years.

We just had a similar problem and it was easily rectified - give your solicitor a kick because this should be a walk in the park for him/ her.
You can take out an indemnity policy to cover things like this, and that can be knocked up fairly quickly between solicitors, surely.
Speak to the neighbors and ask if they will either sign or write statements saying how long the houses have had uninterrupted access (walking and or vehicular) to the properties. This is extra weight and proof should your mortgage company enquire, or for future selling purposes.
Really - your solicitor should be very well versed on this.

There probably will be a way to resolve this but a couple of points (20 years experience)
The searches will still need to be done.In order to get indemnity cover you normally have to make full enquiries
The mortgage company have to specifically approve the use of an indemnity policy,some simply won't
I would consider these points before kicking the solicitor :)

Absolutely the searches will need to be done (and as there is a right of way issue, i'm presuming they have) as part of the conveyancing process, that is one of the reasons you instruct a solicitor, unless you are intending to do your own legal work etc....and I'm presuming this is a straightforward purchase. Most mortgage companies will accept an indemnity policy on the back of searches and due diligence - in my experience I have never had a mortgage company refuse one. That is just my experience.
I would still be kicking the solicitor on the basis that all of this should have been explained to their client ensuring they are not left in the state the OP is in - a state of uncertainty and not knowing how it will be resolved. I would expect to feel better looked after as a client, particularly on the back of rather expensive legal fees.

To clarify it is additional searches that will be required.It is entirely up to the mortgage company if they accept an indemnity,it can have an effect on the marketability of the property and in the current climate...

Agree completely. We also just purchased our own property that had a right of way issue (unmade road/ vehicular access etc) and that was completely resolved using searches, statements and idemnity policy.
Interestingly, the solicitor acting for the seller did not have much of clue how to proceed.

We had the same thing when we sold our first house. Interesingly it wasn't an issue when we bought the place.

Our buyers solicitors though were concerned about our rights of access. In the end they took out an indemnity policy and we signed a legal statement to say that we had always had access with no restrictions whilst we had owned the property.