House buying - access problem

mootee

Hi,
I'm trying to buy a house which (it turns out) has an access problem and I'm unsure whether to proceed or what might be involved (down the line) if I do.

The house is about 5 years old, the drive of the property opens out onto a farmers lane, catching the end of it as the lane tapers out.

The vendors have acknowledged that the land outside the drive has not been adopted so it doesn't have official access to the highway.

The vendor has offered to provide indemnity insurance but I'm unsure how much security this provides me with. I don't want to be having to deal with legal problems in years to come over property access because that land owner has changed.

Has anyone had any experience of this? Should I just play it safe and leave it? I'm meeting my solicitor tomorrow but was hoping to get the advice from people who have had to deal with a situation like this.

Thanks
Trist

Geenie

My advice would be to leave it. I live out in the country, and have seen many problems over the years when access to a property involves a 2nd person who owns access. It can be fine, but there is also a risk of being charged further down the line to make use of this facility. It would also be something that could lower the value of a property if disputes were to come about.

If you are happy to have a lane covered in mud / cow !!!!!, and not kept up to public road standards, then go ahead. But I have seen people complain when a farmer uses his lane for farming activities, that don't fit in with others who have to use it, but knew when buying that this would be so.

Weigh everything up carefully.

huntersc

Personally I'd leave it too. It's hassle you don't need. Re. the indemnity, speak to your solicitor, it might be all that's needed.

mootee

Thanks for your thoughts. My gut feeling is to leave it, which would be a great shame.

Solicitor tomorrow will no doubt fill in the gaps in what I know but I'm not too positive right now.

Debt_Free_Chick

mootee wrote: »

Hi,
I'm trying to buy a house which (it turns out) has an access problem and I'm unsure whether to proceed or what might be involved (down the line) if I do.

The house is about 5 years old, the drive of the property opens out onto a farmers lane, catching the end of it as the lane tapers out.

The vendors have acknowledged that the land outside the drive has not been adopted so it doesn't have official access to the highway.

I don't understand this comment. If the land has not been adopted, that simply means it's owned privately and not by the local authority (Highways). So the LA is under no obligation to maintain the drive .... but someone owns it. If the land does not belong to the property, then the deeds to the property should contain an easement giving the owner of the house the right to pass over the land in order to get to and from their property.

Is this the issue? No easement in the deeds? If so, I'd simply insist that - as a condition of the sale - that the current owners get the easement agreed with the landowner and get it in the deeds. Once it's in the deeds, then it's legally binding and the landowner cannot deny the access.

david29dpo

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

I don't understand this comment. If the land has not been adopted, that simply means it's owned privately and not by the local authority (Highways). So the LA is under no obligation to maintain the drive .... but someone owns it. If the land does not belong to the property, then the deeds to the property should contain an easement giving the owner of the house the right to pass over the land in order to get to and from their property.

Is this the issue? No easement in the deeds? If so, I'd simply insist that - as a condition of the sale - that the current owners get the easement agreed with the landowner and get it in the deeds. Once it's in the deeds, then it's legally binding and the landowner cannot deny the access.

Correct. I have this on my deeds. Not a problem.

mootee

@Debt_Free_Chick

It's not in the deeds, there is no right of access. Thank you for your comment though, I will bring this up with the solicitor today.

Air-Wolf_2

Hi,

As others have said you need to make sure you have three things covered in the land transfer (purchase) if you go forward with the purchase:-

1. The owner of the access road gives you access rights to the proposed property;
2. The private access road has proper consent to access the adopted highway (but if it's a farm track then there should be no issues - it would only be an issue if the access way had been made to get access to the new dwelling; and
3. You have some suitable agreement for the upkeep of the private access way.

You solicitor should be able to make sure those things are covered - and if the other party agrees.

mootee

Been to see solicitor...
Turns out the land outside the property isn't registered to anyone (that's not to say no-one owns it) which kind of puts a different perspective on this I'd have thought. Nobody has come forward in the 5 years since the property was built and they have been using it without any trouble ever since.

What this means is I can't have access added to my deeds because there is no registered owner, there has been no claim to it in the last 5 years. If I stay there for around 15 years (which I plan to) I can apply to have access added to my deeds.

poppysarah

So the guy who sells your new house to you could put a claim in that it's his?

mootee

poppysarah wrote: »

So the guy who sells your new house to you could put a claim in that it's his?

As I understand it, nobody can claim the land because there is no record of it belonging to anyone. It could be that it's land that been (accidentally) left over when the land was originally carved up, or it could be that the land owner is unaware of this land belongs to them.

All that can happen is that after a period of time the properties around it can have access right added to their deeds.

That's how I understand it - please correct me if I'm wrong.

EDIT: When I asked my solicitor if the farmer could claim it, he said no because the original owners are unknown. A quick look on the internet reveals ways to claim unregistered land. Might need some clarification on what this exactly means.