Aggressive Land Law solicitor sought

[Dinnerplatedahlia]

Does anyone know of a property lawyer who is red hot about covenants and stands no nonsense? We are being pulverised by our affluent neighbours’ solicitor and our solicitor is no match. She sadly dropped the ball during the conveyance process and it has only just come to light. She doesn’t want to go there but unfortunately we’ve got no choice. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi OP - I am a senior associate specialising in professional negligence litigation. If you would like to PM me, please feel free and I can point you towards my firm. I offer CFA no win no fee arrangements on occasion (basically if I think the claim is strong enough).

OP said the land was already registered and the covenant was referred to in the charges register. I guess the register stated something like "and subject to the covenant in a deed dated 1928..."
Copy deed filed under title XY12345

That specific deed should have been downloaded and checked by the solicitor. It wasn't.

First Registrations aren't new. I was dealing with them in the 1980s when there was also a backlog due to Right to Buy.

@NewASDMum I don’t think it was missed.
@burnoutbabe sorry I know it’s maddening when you’re trying to work things out from an incomplete post. It’s very unique and identifiable, I believe.
It is on the land registry
@Alilacat Thank you. I appreciate all recommendations. What is CFA?

@Alilacat Sorry, just found it on google Conditional Fee Arrangement 👍

CFA = conditional fee agreement (no win no fee payment arrangement).

@BurntBroccoli

The OP's property isn't registered, or wasn't.

X owns land. He sells part of it to OP. He is neighbour and seller.

That land's title - the parent title- is made up from deeds which were used over the years to convey this part to Y and this part to Z and so on. Its easements and covenants come from many historic deeds which may still affect the land.

X carves up the land in selling part of it to OP.

They buy the land and in doing so will ask HMLR to create a brand new title.

OP's land is not registered until it is. It comes from registered land, I believe, but is brand new - the sol will have sent an FR1 to HMLR to register this new plot in the buyers' name.

The covenants that affected the parent title will likely affect the brand new title (this will depend on boundaries etc but HMLR will make that clear).

It is unusual to hear of a positive covenant that successfully binds the land for future owners of that land, but it might be a cleverly worded rest cov.

Hard to tell, but that's the process for registering the title which WILL be brand new.

Obviously we don’t have all the detail, but piecing together the information we have, without a chain of indemnity for the positive covenant (even if it’s worded as a restrictive covenant) I would be dubious as to whether it bites. Presumably if her conveyancer missed it, there would not be indemnity wording in the transfer.

I agree with @SphincterSaysWhat , a legal opinion on whether this covenant is enforceable on OP would be helpful to ascertain whether this is truly an issue or just bossy neighbours trying it on. I’d suggest, however, OP’s solicitor’s firm arranges and pays for this if the presence of the covenant was missed altogether.

@Dinnerplatedahlia Just to say, DD is a barrister. Not in this field. Do not think solicitors are cheaper in court. They might not be. They aren’t in court 100%. They prepare the bundles for the barristers. It will depend on lots of factors regarding how you get on with other avenues to get this rectified. I’d avoid court. However why can the solicitors not claim on their insurance? However what would resolve this case? What do you see as a solution?

Hi all thanks for your feedback. There’s a few points on here I don’t want to clarify at the moment. We certainly want to avoid court for sure. We need to be patient and allow answers from our solicitor first I think. There are a few strands to this problem, as you can tell. It reminds me of those old ‘problem questions’ we used to get for seminars. We need to slowly unpick this and I am very aware that different opinions/expertise may be required for the various strands. It’s overwhelming when you’re a lay person and personally involved but we’re coming out of the fog and starting to lay our plans. Just as an interesting aside, we had sold this with full disclosure to the potential buyer and a big reduction in price to compensate. They were perfectly ok with it because coincidentally, it’s their line of work and they could sort it out much more cheaply than we could. However, they spoke to our neighbour and then withdrew as they got ‘bad vibes’. We felt that as we do not have the ready cash to sort it, an option is to sell it with a big reduction following total transparency. That seemed to be working until our dear NDNs got involved. I’m just hoping that the old adage applies here, ‘he who laughs last……’🙏🏼

During the sales process were the neighbour-sellers pricks, OP?

Neighbours can be the making of someone's happiness, or unhappiness. I feel so sorry for you esp as you had a willing buyer and the fecking neighbours put them off because they're absolute fucking cranks.

@SphincterSaysWhat oddly enough they weren’t, they were charm personified, until the exchange got very slightly delayed and they were excessively stressed which baffled us but we just thought it was because they’re elderly and just overly worried about the whole thing. We found ourselves placating and calming them down over the phone, but we both thought how odd! Then we moved in, and boy did things change fast. We were mystified, but just thought they’re not used to neighbours - it’ll settle. We tiptoed around them, as in how they like things done (I know, I know) and allowing them to question eg ‘what is he [insert trade] doing here….. there’s nothing wrong with xyz?’ and explaining ourselves and almost apologising. And on and on….
The buyer would have been perfect because he’s got more money than them (I am making an assumption here but I stick by it), and that is hugely important to them, he very clearly takes no crap from anyone, very straightforward person, bordering on abrupt. I doubt they’d have said boo to him! Also the dynamic would be different from the outset. We have ourselves to blame there.
Having said that, this worm has definitely turned. You cannot appease a bully.

I must look into this Northby. I know nothing about this area. Thank you. Yes this opinion is paramount we think so too.

I expect Tizer that this (PII) will be investigated in the next few weeks. We are awaiting some replies.

I thought that your purchase was a recent event and that the covenant discovery was also recent.
I hadn't realised that you'd also gone through all the walking on egg shells to appease the neighbour who'd sold to you .
AND that you'd marketed at a low price and then lost the sale because of neighbours.
(of course this may all also be recent )but goodness what a nightmare .And it's horrible living close to people where there is a conflict .
Golly I have huge sympathy for you

@Thisoldheartofmine It is a recent purchase! We put it back on the market because we realised the nightmare we’d walked into (meaning the NDN’s behaviour ). It was when the offer came in and they heard about it, that the letter came and bang! Soooo we went back to buyer and ‘confessed’ (we genuinely didn’t know), and came down a huge amount, he was happy because he could sort it for a lot less, but in the meantime, (we believe) he spoke to them and pulled out because of ‘bad vibes’. Oh believe me there’s more to this saga. It’s like having a fiendishly difficult jigsaw and each day, you get another piece. All we did was buy our dream property and expect to live quietly and peacefully and be good neighbours, but the universe had other plans….😔

I wonder if your buyer, although he's pulled out , might resurface. Unlikely I'm sure.
I shall be keeping a close eye on Midsummer Murders for a plot that involves the untimely demise of an elderly couple who stitched up a charming couple who bought their dream home from them.

@Thisoldheartofmine 🤣🤣
I did wonder that about the buyer also. He’d be perfect and he admitted this would fit his needs to a tee. We’d give him a further reduction if he promised he’d be as awkward as he possibly could be with them and as noisy (we are like mice); they don’t deserve good neighbours. We have stated to rebel slightly though, we have started to put our patio lights on when it gets dark and we’re still pottering about. Can you believe we kept them off because they didn’t like them on, I know I know I know. Talk about made a rod 😖

Such a horrible situation to be in. Are you physically attached to your neighbour?

No TG. 🙏🏼

@Dinnerplatedahlia
That's a relief!

OK here’s a conundrum. A owns the land, he carves out a plot and sells it to B. He places a positive covenant on the land binding B. He stipulates that this will continue and benefit his successors in title (I know legal terminology is rubbish here but bear with me). B sells to C, C sells to D all the time this covenant remains. Eventually D divides the land and sells a portion to E plus passes 100% of the burden/responsibility of the positive covenant to E. Even though D also has equal benefit of the structure that E now has responsibility for. The structure remains in ownership of A and is outside the boundary of both A & E. What are your thoughts please?

Hmm. I've no real legal knowledge at all, but oddly I do spend a lot of time reading deeds and covenants for work. That doesn't sound like it should be possible, does it? If your seller was A, and owned the original land that had benefit of the covenant then I think it would be possible for them to stop it, but they don't, they just own the bit with a restrictive covenant?

I'm imagining a situation like a bridge that serves you and your seller/neighbour. It's owned by another neighbour, and there was a covenant to say seller/neighbour had to pay 100% to maintain it, and has ROW over it.

Seller neighbour now has tried to keep the benefit of the ROW, and sell you a parcel of land that also has ROW, but also the whole maintenance burden for the bridge?

I'd agree with PP that legal advice on whether they can just rid themselves of the covenant like that - but best case if not then I guess it would be 50/50 cost to you and the neighbour? (Better than 100% but still not great!)

The only way I can think of them managing to get out of the covenant is if the covenant says that any land bordering X has to pay for Y, and they've carefully sold you the whole slice of their land that borders X? It's not something like that is it?

This in itself is fine. e lives on land which is burdened. D has legitimately passed on the burden. E’s solicitor has been negligent if they did not inform E about the covenant and the cost.

Es remedy is against the law firm which will have professional indemnity insurance to cover this.

@GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut Thanks Granny the seller isn’t A they didn’t own the land. @user68712226 Is there a process for altering a covenant that the ‘alterer’ for want of a better term, isn’t the original covenantee? It’s a positive covenant. We will definitely seek a legal opinion though. It’s the only way. I’m trying to clarify the questions I need to ask her. Otherwise I will look like a blathering idiot.🙄

You first port of call is ascertaining that there IS a loss. That the covenant DOES effectively bind the land (despite being positive in nature).

If the covenant does bind the land and that will certainly cause you financial loss, then you have recourse against your original form of solicitors.

The covenant has been missed, so in your position I would be instructing your original firm of solicitors to figure out for sure (whether they have to pay for an Opinion themselves or use their property litigation partner (if they have one) to fully expand on the position. If the overriding concern is that the covenant IS enforceable and you can show that this will cost you £Xxxxxx then you at that point start your claim against your original firm of solicitors.

It may seem counterintuitive to ask your original firm to assess the covenant, but they will be honest about it. If they find it does, then they'll put their PII on notice and the process begins.

If there's a question about the covenant and whether it causes you loss, then you'll be having a fight with them and they'll be putting you to proof with your claim - so you get your Opinion at that stage.

Best case scenario is that the covenant doesn't bind the land (and I would say again, this is unusual for a positive covenant) and your neighbours are bullying you, hoping to outmatch you. It is so rare to bind successors in title -
I hope it's not enforceable and you can tell them to fuck off.

Your original firm of solicitors ought to be helping you figure that out, though, as they didn't disclose the covenant and its potential ramifications to you in their report on title. They also might turn around and say there's no loss here, please instruct your own solicitor and that's that. Then you get your aggressive land law litigator involved.

But find out about the enforceability of that covenant first.