Land Registry - Boundary question....

Addz

Hi, we have just received the Land Registry info for the house I am trying to buy, and on the map showing the red boundary line, it appears the boundary line surrounds the house and gardens, but also the pavement outside the front as well as the road infront of the property.

The boundary finishes half way in the road, and so covers the entire pavement and road surface infront of the house.

Is this normal? Would I have any entitlement to the land directly infront of the house? (parking etc).

Or is this a normal occurance?

Any assistance with this would be most appriciated! (i'm a FTB by the way!)

filbert_2

That does sound very strange. I would insist on having that clarified by the vendor.
Coincidentally I've just downloaded the plan for the house we're thinking of buying and the boundary definitely stops at the pavement.

The only thing I do know about the boundary line on the plans is that they cannot be relied upon to within more than a few feet. This is literally due to the thickness of the line drawn - if you were to extrapolate the thickness of that line to its relative thickness on the ground it could be a metre or so wide. We found this out to our cost during a boundary dispute a few years back. It ended up us having to have a surveyor do a GPS boundary survey - ££££s !

Addz

Our solicitors have provided us with a map with the boundary on from 1958, and we also have downloaded the land registry map off the land registry website, and this map is dated 1973 and it also has the red boundary line going over the pavement and stopping half the width into the road, and extending down the road with the width of the house.

Would this be the case with a private road? (not that the road is a private road as far as im aware).

flossy_splodge

filbert wrote: »

That does sound very strange. I would insist on having that clarified by the vendor.
Coincidentally I've just downloaded the plan for the house we're thinking of buying and the boundary definitely stops at the pavement.

The only thing I do know about the boundary line on the plans is that they cannot be relied upon to within more than a few feet. This is literally due to the thickness of the line drawn - if you were to extrapolate the thickness of that line to its relative thickness on the ground it could be a metre or so wide. We found this out to our cost during a boundary dispute a few years back. It ended up us having to have a surveyor do a GPS boundary survey - ££££s !

This is a really important point.
I would suggest you take close up photos, add measurements from fixed structures such as walls and get them included in the sales pack.
We only discovered that very very few Land Registry entries show details of plot measurements AFTER there was a problem.
Another time I would always get the fine detail clarified - would suggest everyone did this.:o

Richard_Webster

If the land was first sold unregistered and the road was not adopted at that time the builder may have given ownership of part of the road to each of the frontagers. He might have given rights of access over it to neighbours pending adoption of the road as a highway.

Insofar as it is highway now, you can't do anything with it, so the ownership is largely theoretical, as the public highway rights take precedence over any rights as registered proprietor, but if the road ever ceases to be a highway then the ownership would revert to OP. Important therefore to check with the highway authoirty precisely where it thinks the highway boundary is.

Premier_2

Has the road (and pavement) been adopted?

If not, then its a private road and its upkeep could prove very expensive.

Surely if the road has been adopted you are no longer the legal owner of the part identified and this should be brought to the attention of the conveyancer as the seller can't sell something he doesn't own.

MenstrieBen

quite often the roads authority does not own the land under the adopted road. sounds like your plans are showing a case like this. doesn't give you any more rights over the land than any other member of the public while it is an adopted road

if a road is stopped up and taken off the list of public roads the land under teh solum reverts to the previous owners which can take a lot of work to find especially where it has been a road for a long time!

Addz

Just had a look on Google Maps, and the road does appear to be of different colour than to the surrounding roads. The road leading up to the Cul-de-sac is a dark tarmac colour, and as soon as the cul-de-sac starts it changes distinctly (a sharp line as a demarcation) to a much lighter concrete looking substance.

Would it not say in the land registry title if it was a private road? Should I be asking my solicitor for clarification?

poppysarah

yes ask solicitor to explain. Have you seen the HIP with the title documents in? Is therno blah blah bit other than the maps?

Geenie

OP, you are paying a solicitor very good wages I assume, so get them to do their job. You shouldn't have to be downloading maps and doing searches yourself, else what is the point of paying out all that money to them?!!

Get better solicitors would be my advice, as all of this sounds like basics which should be done by them when working on behalf of a client.

hostman

We bought our house this November and it has a similar marking as you refer to. The mortgage company would only lend on the property if the seller clarified the boundary details. It shows the house, garden and a parking space a few feet from the house, it is ours, although residents / reserved parking is not marked outside, I treat it as my driveway and become very territorial if someone else parks in it