Right of way issue, victorian terrace

skyela

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could help me please?

We put in an offer on a property we are buying back in February, and it has still not gone through.

The main issue now that is holding it up is a right of way issue, and I just wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar?

The house is a Victorian terrace house. We are mid terrace.. in-between our house and our neighbours there is a small alleyway. Also there is a right of way going through everyone's gardens at the back of the house, to use this alleyway - this is all fine. The right of way is the land between our house & the actual garden.
However the issue is, we can't find out who owns the actual right of way. We would of thought we would of owned the land and then give a right of way through it, but apparently this is not the case, and no one can work out who owns it.

We have done a land registry search etc. & had no luck.

Our solicitor seems to be going round & round in circles, and not getting anywhere, and the Estate agent is saying to proceed and ignore this issue. He says that it's not really important anyway, as long as we have a right of way through it.

Would there be any issues with us going ahead any way?
We presume it has always been this way (Since Victorian times?) but we are worried that we might have problems when it comes to selling, or the owner of the land turning up and being difficult at a later date.

Sorry for the long post & thanks for any help!

Johnhowell

You could post on Gardenlaw.co.uk as well, as there are specific forums on this very subject.

Good luck,
John

G_M

skyela wrote: »

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could help me please?

We put in an offer on a property we are buying back in February, and it has still not gone through.

The main issue now that is holding it up is a right of way issue, and I just wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar?

The house is a Victorian terrace house. We are mid terrace.. in-between our house and our neighbours there is a small alleyway. Also there is a right of way going through everyone's gardens at the back of the house, to use this alleyway - this is all fine. The right of way is the land between our house & the actual garden.
However the issue is, we can't find out who owns the actual right of way. We would of thought we would of owned the land and then give a right of way through it, but apparently this is not the case, and no one can work out who owns it.

We have done a land registry search etc. & had no luck.

Our solicitor seems to be going round & round in circles, and not getting anywhere, and the Estate agent is saying to proceed and ignore this issue. He says that it's not really important anyway, as long as we have a right of way through it.

Would there be any issues with us going ahead any way?
We presume it has always been this way (Since Victorian times?) but we are worried that we might have problems when it comes to selling, or the owner of the land turning up and being difficult at a later date.

Sorry for the long post & thanks for any help!

Ignore the EA. His only concern is to see the sale completed and his commission paid. Any problem you have thereafter will not affect him. Plus of course he works for the seller, not you. YOUR solicitor (if you have one) works for YOU.

Having said that, he may be right.......
What do the Land Registry Plans show for the Title of the property you are buying? 2 plots separated by the ROW? I assume so. Also assume the Land Registry has no record of ownership for that ROW in between?

Or is the property not registered at all?

My main concern would actually be to ensure that you have right of way. What you do NOT want is some owner popping up in the future and denying you access down the alley, or across the ROW to your garden beyond!

Provided
a) YOU have ROW and
b) you do not object to other owners walking up and down the ROW
then I don't see what harm can come.

skyela

G_M wrote: »

Ignore the EA. His only concern is to see the sale completed and his commission paid. Any problem you have thereafter will not affect him.

Having said that, he may be right.......
What do the Land Registry Plans show for the Title of the property you are buying? 2 plots separated by the ROW? I assume so. Also assume the Land Registry has no record of ownership for that ROW in between?

Or is the property not registered at all?

My main concern would actually be to ensure that you have right of way. What you do NOT want is some owner pooping up in the future and denying you access down the alley, or across the ROW to your garden beyond!

Provided
a) YOU have ROW and
b) you do not object to other owners walking up and down the ROW
then I don't see what harm can come.

Hi there!

Yeah you are right, on the title deeds the bits we own in red are the house, and the garden, with the right of way between them as you said. In the title deeds, it says we have ROW.
Is this enough? Will we always be granted a ROW becuase it is on the title deeds?
Sorry if I sound stupid, but I just want to be sure before I tell the solicitor I am happy to go ahead.

Thanks for your help.

skyela

Johnhowell wrote: »

You could post on Gardenlaw.co.uk as well, as there are specific forums on this very subject.

Good luck,
John

Thanks John. I'll do that now.

Doozergirl

I don't really see any issue if you clearly have ROW yourself in the deeds and are fine with others in the terrace continuing to take advantage.

Ask your solicitor about the vendors buying an indemnity policy against the owner of the ROW appearing, although I can't see what they can possibly do. I expect it's probably a defect in the deeds and that it is your land, marked with a ROW. Otherwise, it's going to belong to another house in the terrace (I doubt) or it essentially still belongs to the original developer because of this defect.

An indemnity policy would see you straight if there were ever an issue. I'd go ahead as long as a policy was in place. Your solicitor wants a kick up the behind. These issues don't sort themselves out; it's ridiculous that the options have to be discussed on an internet forum and not within an intelligent conversation instigated by your solicitor. Don't bother using them again!

Richard_Webster

on the title deeds the bits we own in red are the house, and the garden, with the right of way between them as you said. In the title deeds, it says we have ROW.
Is this enough?

Yes it is.

docij

We had exactly this problem and our solicitor sorted out an indemnity policy - just in case the original Victorian owner rose from the dead and demanded the pathway back! Ridiculous I know, but we really wanted the house so we had no option.

Richard_Webster

I don't really see why an indemnity policy would be needed.

Likely scenario is this:

At one time many yaers ago all the houses were built by a builder and rented out on short term tenancies. That went on perhaps for a long time up to say 1950s/60s when houses were sold off because Rent Acts then in force made the private rented sector unrewarding for landlords. Owner (descendent of builder?) sold off houses and gave a right of way. This would have happened before compulsory registration so his title was never registered.

When the houses were sold off nobody thought about allocating ownership of the right of way to anyone and so the builder's successor retained it. Over the yaers it has never been an issue and when the then owner died the family wouldn't have thought about the strip of land involved. Maybe somewhere in a solicitor's vault there are a set of deeds for it but how you could ever trace it goodness knows. Frankly, this will be very common whenever there is any kind of access way like this.

JonnyTwoToes

I'd give the solicitor a bit of a kick, or get another one.

Failing that, an indemnity is a good idea for peace of mind. It should only cost a few quid for a one off fee.

nomoneytoday

I paid £100 for an indemnity policy in a similar scenario. Put it down as another cost of selling..