Right of way

[ER7PH]

Hello,

I am seeking some advice regarding a situation with our property (sorry for length).

We purchased a Victorian house in London approximately three years ago. One of the key reasons for selecting this house was that it could only be accessed through the front door, which we viewed as a positive security feature.

Recently, our neighbour informed us that she is selling her house and inquired about the ownership of the fence between our properties. During our conversation, she mentioned that the previous owner of our house had removed the right of way at the back of our garden. This was news to us, as it was not mentioned by our solicitors during the purchase process. The previous owner of our house had extended the garden by removing the fence and planting trees, thereby obstructing the original right of way.

Upon further investigation, I reviewed all correspondence from our solicitors and found no mention of this issue. However, upon closely examining the title deeds, I noticed there are blue lines indicating a right of way (on our land), which required maximum zoom to identify.

I would like to seek advice on how to proceed. The right of way is currently inaccessible due to the trees planted by the previous owner, and other houses on the terrace have similarly overgrown their paths, making them impassable. Additionally, the entrance to the right of way at the end of the terrace is padlocked.

Should we remove the trees to restore the right of way, despite the significant cost involved? Alternatively, is there any form of insurance or legal protection we can obtain? I have contacted the solicitor who handled our initial purchase, but their response has been slow, and I am quite frustrated with their service for obvious reasons.

We do not plan to stay in this house long-term and would prefer to resolve this issue before selling to avoid potential complications if a diligent solicitor notices this during the sale process. Any guidance on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Sorry it’s a bit confusing but basically we all own the land at this side but at at very back of our gardens there is a blue boundary on the title map which has squiggle lines and from my googling this means right of way. I’m guessing it’s from the olden times but you can get into anyone’s gardens via the passage because you can’t really enter it due to all the vegetation and people don’t have an entry door to go to the garden.

yea they planted trees and claimed the boundary. They didn’t raise this on their documents to solicitor and our solicitor didn’t highlight this right of way.

We're going to need a diagram, OP....

We’re going to need a redacted copy of your title registers really.

As you can see majorly zoomed in red is all our land and blue is the boundary. This is back of our garden.

Yup, but what does the title say OP?

Ah okay - thanks for the plan!

Those hatched blue lines will be a subjective right of way for people in your row to pass (and probably repass) over to get to their own property.
You should have the same similar right (usually coloured brown) to pass and repass along the rest of the path which presumably leads up the side of the end house? I think the plan is missing some colouring (your beneficial ROW) or perhaps there is wording in your title of a beneficial right of way along the lane at the back?

You are within your rights to use it unless you have all agreed to a Deed of Rectification to remove the right?

Thank you, there doesn’t appear to be any wording with what the solicitor has provided. Problem is it is blocked up now as the previous owners got rid of the right of way by planting trees and I don’t want to cause a huge issue when we try to sell.

Also from the drawings we got sent from the solicitor there wasn’t any additional colors… ahh this is such a mess 🤯

Doesn’t list any right of way or details about what this means.

The plan is part of your actual Title register. There should be a document with a Title number consisting of 3 parts, A, B and C?

The blue hatched land will be mentioned in part C and anything beneficial in part A. Part B is the ownership register.
You can actually download it yourself for £7 via Land Registry.

If I was a purchaser I’d be looking at that path at the back (and so should any decent solicitor).
It can’t just exist on its own.

I’ve downloaded it tonight and nothing is written. Thanks though for your help!

im so annoyed we didn’t notice it, you do have to zoom in a lot when you see the document. We also appear to have had the worst solicitor who never flagged this- complaint has been raised to them and hopefully they pay to get this sorted.

It won't be a public right of way, it's just a right of way for other houses in the row in all probability.

Post this on the Garden Law website forum. They are experts there.

I had this situation as I had a right of way that wasn't uncovered during our purchase. The right of way still existed even though I didn't know about it. You can't indemnify a right of way. The only way is to buy it.

Does the register refer to any previous deeds? It may be that you need to see the root of title.

No - it’s not a public right of way as deduced from the plan OP has now uploaded.
It looks like an easement which runs along all the back gardens of each house and probably used to form a narrow pathway so each house could access their garden for maintenance.

Edited to say that OP already does own it. The easement is subjective which means her neighbours could insist on using it (and having to remove the trees).

I’m not convinced that the right of way still exists. I’m a residential property solicitor and I happen to own a Victorian house with a right of way over the neighbours’ back gardens. Victorian titles tend to have the right of way listed rather than in an old document that’s mentioned on the title. As I said upthread, the Land Registry doesn’t always tidy up plans when rights are removed.

See what your original solicitor has to say.

I think you misunderstood my point. I bought the easement, so my neighbour sold the right to use it. I owned the land. So I bought the right of way ( as I said) not the land.

Okay that’s fair enough.

Yes but surely this anomaly should have been looked into when the OP purchased the house?
The register should always match the title plan and if it doesn’t, a new plan prepared.
I worked at Land Registry for 15 years.

Then you’ll know that things are sometimes overlooked as to the plan @BurntBroccoli .

Errors do occur yes, but very rarely.
In this case, the solicitor should still have notified their client of the omission then queried it directly with the Land Registry.

It would be interesting to see if the neighbouring titles also have blue hatching, and whether there are entries mentioned in the registers.

“Very rarely” 😅

solicitors offered us £250.00 as an apology for not making us aware... it will cost thousands to restore right of way so have complained again and will go to ombudsman if needs be. Thanks all.