Unlclaimed access to property - searches by land registry

[TheHazelPombear]

Hi

We are in the process of buying a house and there's a piece of land that has been flagged by the searches which is a gap between the property boundary and public highway (pavement). There is currently a legal statement coming from the vendors via the solicitor confirming they have been using it for the last number of years. See attached (green).

See the official solicitor wording:

As you will see from these plans there is a gap between the road and the property and where these situations arise, you will need legal rights of way in place to use the unadopted “gap” however, there are no such rights noted on the title in this respect. The Sellers will be providing a Statement of Truth which is a legal document confirming their use of this “gap” during their ownership of the property and this will be submitted to the Land Registry following completion, to see if the Land Registry will note the claimed right on the title.

Any suggestions here?

Thanks

What have they been using it for? And would you be bothered if it was claimed ?

I would want the sellers to submit the information to the Land Registry BEFORE completion.

It's no good if it is rejected by the Land Registry after completion, as it would be too late to negotiate any price reduction, even if you still wanted the property without the additional land.

Initial thought is why haven't the sellers already submitted this to the land registry in preparation for a sale? Your solicitor will be able to advise but I'd tread carefully, especially if this is your only access to the property. It might affect mortgagability or solicitor might suggest an indemnity policy if the risk of access being revoked is deemed to be low.

As someone earlier said, it depends what the intended use is.

If it is used to access a driveway or a property that to me would be a far bigger issue than if it were just a piece of excess unused land that was not currently used for anything.

If it is used to access a driveway then there may also be issues re the ability to drive a car over the pavement for access.

I would guess as other people have said, they need to take ownership of it, or you need to proceed as if it is not yours. But really your solicitor should be used to outline the benefits and drawbacks at stake here. That is what you pay them for.

its to access the property

Solicitor is washing their hands of it and saying docs will be sent to the LR post completion.

Run away! You could so easily end up with a property you cannot legally access. This sounds an absolute nightmare. Let it be someone else's problem, not yours!

I’d want it sorted to proceed any further. You TELL your solicitor what you want him to achieve not the other way around.

Then you tell them you won’t be buying it…

Blimey no! I thought it was just a random piece of unimportant land but if it's access to your property you'll be royally screwed if it goes tits up. And this sort of thing invariably goes tits up.

why would they know this. i believe the searches uncovered this some weeks ago, but only now its been flagged.

The sellers solicitor would have checked access rights when they bought it. Either their solicitor was negligent and missed the issue, or they bought the property fully aware of the issue and haven’t been able to resolve it.

Your solicitor will want to be absolutely certain that you have the right to freely access the property and that there is no possibility of a “ransom strip” scenario occurring in the future.

Here’s the latest from solicitor

I have no knowledge of what happened when the Sellers purchased and given the time that has elapsed, I doubt very much the Sellers would even hold any paperwork dating that far back.

The area in question is unregistered, i.e. not registered at the Land Registry and therefore, I am unable to confirm who owns this area. As advised previously, the Statement of Truth will be submitted to the Land Registry following completion to see if we can have noted a claimed right of way in this respect and if we request that the Sellers Solicitors make the application now, this will delay exchange and completion.

One

@julia08 The sellers solicitor would have checked access rights when they bought it.
When I bought my previous property you'd like to think they'd have mentioned the rentcharge on it and that the bottom of the garden of the property was on a separate deed and wasn't put in my name. These only came to light decades later when I came to sell. Sorting that deed mess out took three months even when expedited. Back then I got the conveyancing for free with a mortgage deal, I guess I got what I paid for.

Given the OP's would be property only has access over this unclaimed land I'd not be waiting til after completion to clarify matters. The vendors need to either sort it or take a swingeing cut in the price for a new owner to then untangle it. Someone could pop-up out from under their rock and demand money to allow easement, which could get very ugly.

Hmm..

I have asked to get it sorted.

Their responce:

Noted and yes, I raised it with the Sellers Solicitors when I received the search results. The Local Search is with the Local Authority not the Land Registry.

As explained previously, where there are areas that have no legal rights to use them, a document confirming the use of the land during the seller’s ownership accompanied by an indemnity policy will normally suffice and if you were getting a mortgage, in my experience lenders would accept this course of action also.

Until an application is made to the Land Registry and reviewed, we have no way of determining the outcome and they still may not note a claimed right on the title in any event.

To clarify, are you asking that I raise with the Sellers Solicitors that an application is made in relation to the above and that you require the outcome of the same to determine you proceeding? Please note the Land Registry have huge backlogs and even if the Sellers agree to the request and their Solicitors ask for the application to be expediated, there is no guarantee when the Land Registry will respond nor the outcome of the same.

I’m astonished by your solicitor’s nonchalence! Is this a well-regarded local firm? Can you ask for a second opinion from a senior partner?

“Normally suffice” is not good enough when this is regarding your only means of access and unfortunately you don’t have the added protection of knowing whether a mortgage lender would be happy to proceed on the basis suggested by your solicitor. You need to have a discussion about all possible outcomes if a right of way is not granted.

It might also be worth speaking with the neighbouring properties to gather their understanding of the situation as it looks like they are also affected.

OP - if I were you I would not proceed until the problem had been addressed. They say the land is unregistered - and that’s fair but if the current sellers have been using it they can apply for adverse possession (they need to meet a certain criteria and one of them is they have used the gap for 10 years). If you go ahead now the 10 years restart and you have no guarantee the right of way will be noted

My grandmother had a similar situation where she had access to the rear of her house across a piece of land which led to a side road. She saw a solicitor who took something like an affidavit to confirm that she had used the access for 30+ years. Solicitor went ahead and added her to the land registry (and linked the plot to the house registration).
I would say that the vendor needs to sort it out with the land registry, unless you’re happy that you will continue to have unfettered access across the land and are prepared to take that risk.

It is, it’s one that was recommended by the estate agent.
i think they are one of the larger ones in that area.

They have lived there since 2004.

The whole process has been slow and painful. Vendors and estate agent very one sided, making it difficult to get access and surveyor on site along with builders opinions.
In pretty sure the £400 fee I paid to the solicitor to act, was in part to get searches done. This was paid the first week of Jan. Amazed it’s taken this long and how it’s panned out. We were supposed to complete end of March

I have to say I wouldn’t be comfortable with going ahead with this either. Also, even if it doesn’t cause you an issue while living there, you may have issues in trying to sell when the time comes. Have you asked the solicitor to spell out what the worst case scenario outcome is here? Given he’s advising you to go ahead?

Also, “recommended by solicitor“ usually means the estate agent is benefiting from the referral rather than it being an endorsement of their abilities.