Seller apparently doesn't own their garden any more...

[Darkerdowndays]

We viewed and made an offer on a house a few months ago, and at the time the seller casually mentioned that only half of the garden was actually on the house deeds, but that it did belong to the house and they'd had exclusive use for 20 years, were happy to provide evidence so we could get it added to the deeds, etc.

Our solicitor has now asked the seller for details and they've completely changed their story, claiming they've actually only maintained that land as part of his job, and that it's belonged to a local trust the whole time I'm gutted and incredibly frustrated; a decent garden is a big deal for me, and I don't know if we'd have made an offer without it. But the market round us seems to be absolute rubbish at the moment, there's literally nothing else we like within our budget. Not sure if we should pull out and stay in our current house (and let our poor buyers down), or let the cheeky buggers get away with the lie and proceed with the purchase, both feel like rubbish options at the minute.

I'd pull out, keep your sale going and rent for a bit
It could be a massive pain to sort out and would put off any potential buyer when you want to sell it. At the moment its not your problem, you don't need to take it on.
While you are renting if the seller resolves the issue you can proceed, if you tell the agent that you are happy to buy the house provided the garden issue is sorted they will hopefully put pressure on the seller

We had this when we bought 20 yrs ago. Large garden but the estate agents then told us that the seller was letting a neighbour buy some of the land for parking. Problem for them was that the property description included the whole of the land and this was never mentioned. Everyone involved was misled because it went to sealed bids as per the description/map.

Instead of pulling out, our solicitor rang the sellers solicitors and pointed out it was property misdescription. The sellers conceded and the Estate Agents agreed because they were already in hot water over a similar incident. The seller was the Church.

Whilst not the same, you need them to sort this out. If you still want the property, could they not take out an indemnity policy? If no-one has laid claim to the land in many years you may be able to register adverse possession. But do get it sorted out prior to exchange. They will have to do this because it will always come up as an issue. Ours had no deeds and it was sorted out on the basis of statutory declarations and was registered with title absolute to us.

Pull out.

It’s probably been on the market for 6 months because other potential buyers have also found out about the garden. Step away!

So how big is the garden for the house actually without the bit owned by the trust? This is a very strange situation. If you love the house and the garden that you would own is a decent size, I would drop the offer significantly and continue with the purchase.

I'd be squawking mad at the agent for not raising this. Walk away, they're screwing you over.

Sort it out properly before you buy op. Make the offer contingent on it. No point dropping the price. You want a big garden and they may not be able to move otherwise.

If you want the house still, if it was me, I'd be looking at the average price for a similar bed size property without garden, put in that much lower offer and tell them accept or walking away due to the dishonesty over the garden.

I'd pull out. If you're in doubt now you might have others viewing this similarly and then struggle to sell on.

Reduce your offer or pull out if the missing piece of garden is significant in size.

Don’t commit to buying it at the current price otherwise you’re likely to spend years feeling frustrated by the whole thing.

If it was easy to add the land to the house's deeds, the seller would have done it already. Or, at least, you would both expect that he would do so as part of the sale process.

I'm afraid his casual 'it would be easy for you to do it' story would have rung loud alarm bells from the start.

But I think that alertness to anomalies comes with experience, which has taught me that everything to do with houses that could possibly be a problem, will be a problem and should be investigated as early as possible.

What would I do? Understand that I'm never going to get the extra garden and decide first whether the true garden is enough. If yes, then whether the house is worth the agreed price, or whether you want to ask for a reduction. If you ask, you need to know what you're going to do if they say no.

I had something vaguely similar with a flat I bought that appeared to have a private garden. It turned out the garden was not on the deeds and belonged to the council. We spent 6 months wrangling with the council and got nowhere. In the end I told them to knock £10k off the asking price or I was walking away and I bought the flat.

I owned it for 7 years and never bothered to sort it out. When I sold it, it was priced without the garden, the agent was instructed to make it very clear to buyers what the situation was and the particulars said "access to a fenced garden area" and I had no problems selling it at all.

If they've had exclusive use of the land for a long time it's unlikely to be challenged. I'd negotiate a discount to reflect the loss and push on!

Btw, did the agent even know the owner was spinning this tale about the garden? Do you have evidence of that? Did you ever view with the agent and discuss the garden, or only with the owner?

If a garden is extremely important to you, then I’d pull out, as you have no guarantees on that one!

Would you like the house with just the legal garden? Could you sell it on with just the legal garden or is it too small? Would you feel comfortable using the existing not-quite-legal garden in the same way the previous owner did?

If yes, just drop the price substantially, because part of your offer was for the land that is no longer sellable, and see what they say.

Don't throw good money after bad. The garden situation is a deal breaker.

Do you need a mortgage to buy? If so, you need to check with your solicitor whether the mortgage company might refuse to lend you all the money on the basis that the property is worth less with less land.

Would you be left with any garden at all?
If you'd end up with no garden then pull out.

If there would be some garden then you need to find out exactly how much garden you would have and whether that would be acceptable to you and then lower your offer to take account of the fact you'll be getting much less garden.

I think I would pull out completely though. If they've lied about that what else have they lied about?

Have you got a copy of the details, post it on here and mark out what area from the garden is not the houses

Is this your forever home? Are you likely to sell in future? Is the real garden too small if the Trust decide to fence off the rest?

@drspouse

What do the deeds show?

It’s in the OP.

Sort of similar issue for me that I've just bought a house with parking space. The space is a little way away from the house and is on the plan of the original builder. However, it should have been registered separately at Land Registry and hasn't been. Vendor's solicitors said it can be done after sale. Our solicitors said no way - without it being registered there is no proof they own it. It's been done now, registered by the vendor so they can officially pass to us.
In your case it looks complicated - if he has been maintaining it as part of his job, does he work for the Trust and will they agree to you using it if YOU maintain it? Or will it still be part of this person's job?
I would be looking at the garden as it is on the deeds, and offering a reduction in price. Your sellers will have been thinking about this for a while and sort of dreading telling you. My bet is they will accept a bit less (if you really want the house)

I’d walk away. This smells like the start of one of those “My nightmare home” programmes on channel 5.

A similar thing happened to me years ago and I pulled out. I don't think the seller realised in my case though as it was due to a mistake by a solicitor many years previously. In your case ,the seller has been hugely deceitful. They knew all along and have let you waste your money on surveys etc. If the seller currently maintains the garden as part of their job there is a good chance that someone else will be maintaining it once they have sold it. You could end up with no garden at all.

@SillyCow6

If the photos of the garden showed a fenced in area that suggested the whole thing came with the property, then Id be telling the EA that you are seriously annoyed about all the money and effort you have ploughed into a house that wasnt as described.

Selling it on will be hard so unless you love the house, Id pull out.

I don't think the EA will care... unless they lied there's nothing you can do, and even that, their argument is that they are just passing on information given by the seller.

How many people have bought a house with x "bedrooms" only to discover that
-the "box room" cupboard in any other country is too small to fit one BED
-the "loft room" doesn't meet planning regulations at all, and is not a bedroom
etc etc...