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

No they haven’t said what the worst case is. Presumably once they send whatever they need to the land registry may turn round and stop us using it?

the plan was to lean on the agent more with their relationship, which we’ve done, and had to due to lack of speed and comms. They tend to update each other more often than us

Just found there’s an Absence of Easement Insurance policy in place for this. Guess it didn’t really help

Simply put; the solicitor could be sued if you make an expensive mistake.

Regardless as to who recommended them, they're regulated by the Law Society.

Take the advice of your solicitor not a public forum with little or no legal knowledge.

She is taking advice from her solicitor, she’s also discussing it here. If she was asking whether she should buy against the advice of her solicitor, you might have a point.

I would ask them to confirm in writing what the worst case scenario is, and then decide if that’s a reasonable risk for you.

If there is an absence of easement policy then you may not want to file the land registry application as that may invalidate it if it’s bringing it to everyone’s attention. You need better advice from your solicitor.

There’s also contaminated land for which they’ve decided upon legal cover

Are any of you solicitors?

You need to ask your questions to your solicitor because a lot of the responses here are coming from people who have no real understanding of the property law position here. No one here can give you legal advice you can (or should) rely on. The long use of someone else’s land for access can give rise to a prescriptive easement which would bind the landowner even though no one currently knows who the landowner is. It’s not that unusual to see statements of long use to support prescriptive easements in this kind of situation, together with insurance policies in case the landowner pops up and wants a fight about it. But whether or not thats suitable for this situation, only your solicitor can really advise.

If you don’t understand what your solicitor is telling you, call them or ask them questions and to explain it to you.

If anyone on this site were a solicitor, they would do well not to advertise the fact, and would certainly not be able to give you legal advice on an internet chat forum. Hopefully the replies have raised some useful points for you to discuss with your own solicitor.

That is the indemnity policy which, if you read it, should cover things like the cost of fighting a claim by someone trying to prevent you using the unregistered land for access, or reduction in value of the property. This situation is actually very common. Lots of roads and verges are not registered because they are owned by councils so don't get bought and sold, so the requirement to register is not triggered.
As a PP has pointed out, ideally the sellers would have put in a claim for adverse possession by now and got the land registered in their name. They can still do so, but it will take a few weeks to be concluded.

Here’s the latest from the senior solicitor.

Emma has correctly set out the position. There is an area of land between the adopted highway and the property which unregistered and over which the property does not have a formally registered right of way.

As Emma has explained, the first option is to proceed by way of the statements of truth provided by the sellers setting out the position in relation to their undisputed use of the area for access over their 20 years of ownership. The seller’s solicitor will put in the place the draft indemnity insurance policies on completion and ask the Land Registry to note the claimed right on the title (although as mentioned we cannot confirm if the Land Registry will be willing to do this).

The second option is that we ask the sellers to apply to the Land Registry now to see if they would be willing to make reference to the claimed right at this time or not. As explained, this would delay matters due to the correct time scales for processing applications at the Land Registry, but you would be able to make a decision on whether to proceed with full possession of the facts.

Please could you confirm if you would like us to proceed by way of option one or two.

so it’s looking like option 2, which will delay the purchase at best and enable us to withdraw and worst..?

Ask the sellers solicitors to expedite the LR application. Their expedite request will be granted given there is a sale proceeding and if granted will be looked at within 10 working days. Dont be fobbed off by talk of delays. I absolutely would not buy the house until this is sorted as you would not have a legal right of access.

Perfect thank you. How does one prioritise it at least request the action in that way? They’ve not mentioned the 10 days

I would tell your solicitor that you want the sellers solicitors to submit the Land Registry application and that they submit an expedite request. Theres no additional cost for the expedite, all you have to demonstrate is that delay to process the application would cause hardship (which of course it would if the sale fell through).

That's the first thing to be very wary of...

They're known a 'Ransom Strips' for that very reason ...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransom_strip

I wouldn't buy it until it was resolved..

Not necessarily, it is quite common for small bits of land to be unregistered and remain so for many years so that they themselves become property of the crown, and after that property of nobody. Land registry will be able to expedite things if there is proof of hardship, (which there clearly is), and it sounds like you could also get indemnity insurance fairly easily as well. So sounds like you hav3 plenty of options. The situation is far from being unusual.

Have requested my solicitor get the vendors solicitor to resolve the land.

That is ridiculous of the solicitor. I have experience of similar where a family member bought a property where there is a common access to their private driveway and for some strange reason there was a random strip of ground that practically could not be used for anything other than to drive across it to access the house. The owner of that strip could not reasonably use it for anything and actually had no interest in it. The solicitor would not proceed with the sale until this strip was removed from the deeds. It’s was all sorted and sale completed.

I had an error on my lease which the solicitor corrected prior to sale - it was expedited and done within a week. So glad you’ve chosen the safer option. Hope your timeline is short too.

Your solicitor can only advise you OP, they aren’t there to make decisions for you, if you don’t think it’s an acceptable risk then withdraw.

Agree with this.

Is it an older/rural property? I’ve had a couple of properties with random small slivers of land around the edges and never had a problem before- I think much older versions of deeds are a bit like court artist sketches sometimes!

I do totally see why it’s spooked you and you’re right to want it sorted- I’d personally be happy with a statement from the sellers proving access over however many years, the submission to the LR, and an indemnity policy though.

Land does not become bona vacantia just because the owner is unknown.
www.gov.uk/guidance/refer-bona-vacantia-land-or-buildings-bvc2

But you’re right its not uncommon for small parcels of land to be and remained unregistered, especially when estates are divided up. It probably belongs to whoever developed the property initially. Being unregistered just means it’s not been sold (or had a disposition triggering first registration) since it became compulsory in 1990.

Indemnity insurance isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, it’s for the benefit of the lender rather than the owner - it wont help OP if she encounters any practical difficulties in using or accessing the land.

It sounds like your solicitor is dealing with it anyway OP.

So the LR has updated their side and has confirmed the following:

(04.04.2025) The registered proprietor claims that the land has the
benefit of a right of way with or without vehicles over the land tinted
brown on the title plan. The right claimed is not included in this
registration. The claim is supported by a statutory declaration made on
3 April 2025 by name

Their plan has been updated with the highlighted area I made of green to brown.

i cant seem to paste here..

After querying the change or lack thereof, the LR has claimed the land, and the indemnity policy and statement (which I believe the LR has already used) will be submitted.

Can I question why and instruct them to engage with the LR more to get the land transferred to the vendor or...?

Any suggestions here?