Buying a house with possessory title

[Pigment84]

Would you still buy a house if you found out it had a possessory title rather than title absolute? There will be an indemnity in place but we will be unable to apply for the full title for another 12 years. Would you ask for a reduction in the offer price an others may be put off in the future - as we are? Our agent has said it makes no difference to the valuation but we are unsure. Thanks

We bought a house in the 1990s with possessory title. The vendor paid for an indemnity policy to cover us for costs just in case someone tried to claim ownership before the title could be upgraded to absolute.

I believe the land on which the house was built previously had an old bungalow on it and had been left untended for many years. I think that someone had fenced off the land and built two houses after some years but without having definite ownership of the land. I think with the passage of time, the likelihood of someone claiming ownership gets less and less risky.

Our vendors had owned the house for 8 years and had a Statutory Declaration to that effect, so I think we only had to own the property for 4 years before the title could be upgraded. I definitely didn't get a reduction in the purchase price and actually lived there for 14 years before I sold, so the title had been upgraded by then.

Thank you. I think it's more common than we thought

I dont think it is that common. Well I've only even seen one and that was adjoining land and not the property itself. If you have a lender, you may have an issue. I wouldn't buy it

All the land the house sits on? No. A bit of garden? Yes.
Check what your lender says before considering it.
Estate agents are sales people, not property lawyers. They know bugger all as a rule.

It is the whole property, house and garden. Apparently this happens a lot with list deeds

The key question is can you get a mortgage on it?
I wouldn't ask for a reduction, just make sure the seller pays to have the indemnity policy updated to the current value and to lengthen the term of the poliicy if necessary.

I'm a property solicitor and it's definitely not common for the whole house and garden to be Possessory.

As PP says, the estate agent is a salesperson and will likely have no idea what this means, what the risks are or anything other than that you pulling out over it means they'll miss out on their commission!

Mil has 'lost' her house deeds (bought in the 50s, mortgage paid off in 60s), so nothing with the Land Registry. We forced the issue, as fil left his half between dh and his brother, and made her apply for a title after filling died. The whole thing, house, land and land over the way is possessor. Better than nothing though.

I think mil knows damn well where the deeds are and is trying to screw us over again.