Right of way- help?

[MsPaddy]

We're keen to buy a house which is detached and close to a new development of 6 properties. The new development has built a new access road across the house's driveway, meaning part of it is a communal driveway. The estate agents are being evasive and won't confirm whether the right of way has been affected for the property we want to purchase.

Can anyone offer any insight? I've checked all the planning application documents for the new development and can't find any reference to communal driveway.

Personally I would walk away from it as it sounds like a breeding ground for potential future problems. However, have you tried speaking to the actual developers? Pop into the show home onsite, they should have the answers. If they can’t provide any sensible answers, run away from it.

The EA probably doesn't know the answer to your questions. Have any of the new development houses sold and are the title registers and title plans available on the Land Registry website? If there's a RoW or the shared part is actually shared ownership then it should be documented on the title documents for the new houses. If the houses are leasehold it may be a bit more complicated but you should be able to get the info.

Is it the owner of the house you're interested in who has sold the land the new development is on? If you're serious about buying but want clarification then I'd ask, via the EA - put it in writing so your request doesn't get mangled by the EA - to meet the seller and get clarification on the RoW/driveway ownership. If they're serious about selling it's in their interest to meet with you and provide the information. They'll have to further down the line at the enquiries stage anyway.

Unless it’s amazing or fabulous, I would run away at speed from this one. The vendors and agent should be trying hard to provide the info to reassure you that’s it’s not an issue.

just the fact they aren’t doing this means it probably IS an issue which could develop into a massive pain in years to come … so just no.

even if it didn’t cause issues day to day it will affect resale value, so still a no.

Our current house has a communal parking area and we own part of it which has right of access to the neighbours and we have had no issues at all. I don’t understand why PPs would be so against this. All you need to do is ensure you leave it clear for ROW access

It sounds as though perhaps some land has been sold off from the detached house and then planning permission was gained for that separate bit of land.

When the land was sold off, from how you describe things, it would appear that the new owner of that bit of land was given a right of way across the driveway of the detached house.

If this is the case there's nothing you can do about it. I would suggest just quickly checking the title register for the detached house and it will (should) give details of any easements.

You can get a copy of the title register and plan here for £3 each online:

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

The new owners of those houses will have a right of way to pass across that part of your driveway whenever they like.

It's up to you how much of a problem that is for you.

I would just download the deeds for the house in question plus one of the new houses. I think that should cost you under £10.

If there are any right of way changes they should be detailed in there, as well as the actual land you own.

Unless of course the new development was put in place by the owners of the separate house and for some reason they did not decide to modify the deeds correctly.

I think nowadays I would always download the deeds to a prospective place I was buying in advance of conveyancing because the cost is very low and although sometimes the terms can be difficult to interpret it does give you a quick look see as to whether there are any obvious things you wouldn't be happy with.

Thanks all so much! I purchased the deeds and realised there are a few red flags that hadn't been raised to us by the EA - including no clear right of way to our potential property. It feels like the tip of the iceberg so we won't be proceeding. I really appreciate your help, thanks so much.