New home access dilemma

janz70

Hi all, we are looking at buying 1 part of a barn conversion that was purchased by a group of friends some years ago and who converted these barns into their homes.

On inspecting a copy of the title plan I was given by the seller (outlining the boundaries of each property and associated paddocks), a number of potential access problem have came to light.

A new access road has been laid in a loop around the site and passes though the other barn owners lands to drive ways in front of each conversion.
The septic tank for all of the properties is on land owned by only 1 barn as is a good part of the new road
A ground source heating coil is buried partially under the sellers land and their neighbour.
And finally the seller and their neighbour own part of each other driveways which could prevent access

Due to the lack of any written legal documents it appears it has the potential to be a legal nightmare if the present or future owners were difficult

My question is what do I need to legally guarantee right of access to my drive, my under soil heating pipe and septic tank as there have been no legal agreements made (they were all friends so not problem at the time for them)

What a mess or am I over reacting :eek:

I would love to post a pic but I only have a PDF

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/customer/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]

Scully38

janz70 wrote: »

Hi all, we are looking at buying 1 part of a barn conversion that was purchased by a group of friends some years ago and who converted these barns into their homes.

On inspecting a copy of the title plan I was given by the seller (outlining the boundaries of each property and associated paddocks), a number of potential access problem have came to light.

A new access road has been laid in a loop around the site and passes though the other barn owners lands to drive ways in front of each conversion.
The septic tank for all of the properties is on land owned by only 1 barn as is a good part of the new road
A ground source heating coil is buried partially under the sellers land and their neighbour.
And finally the seller and their neighbour own part of each other driveways which could prevent access

Due to the lack of any written legal documents it appears it has the potential to be a legal nightmare if the present or future owners were difficult

My question is what do I need to legally guarantee right of access to my drive, my under soil heating pipe and septic tank as there have been no legal agreements made (they were all friends so not problem at the time for them)

What a mess or am I over reacting :eek:

I would love to post a pic but I only have a PDF

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/customer/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]

Your solicitor should deal with all of that to be honest, and no you're not over reacting, there are a lot of issues there, that need to be addressed certainly prior to any contracts are exchanged. Unless somecthing can be agreed with all parties prior to exchanging then I wouldn't buy.

theartfullodger

If it were me I'd walk away: shared septic tank? Nah, ...

sooz

Can you imagine the tank emptying discussions? I bet someone pipes up with, but I only go at work....

shegar

theartfullodger wrote: »

If it were me I'd walk away: shared septic tank? Nah, ...

Id walk away too, shared septic tank will cause a lot of Sh.t :eek::D

G_M

What rubbish! There is nothing wrong with this set up provided the various rights and obligations are put in place.

I share a sceptic tank with my neighbour (in my case it's in his garden). I have a drainage right onto his land. Once a year he empties it, shows me the bill, and I pay half.

Same with access - many properties share a communal access road, or have access rights across someone else's private road.

Same with utilities - many properties need the gas/electricity to cross someone else's land to reach them.

It can all be put into legal covenants obliging one land owner to let the road, cable, drain cross their land, and giving another owner the right of access for gas, vehicles etc across a neighbours land.

Just make sure your solicitor checks it all, and gets new agreements in place if required.

janz70

I will mention it to the solicitor but will this be dealt as part of the conveyancing or will there be an additional cost as it seems like a lot of extra work.

tyllwyd

janz70 wrote: »

I will mention it to the solicitor but will this be dealt as part of the conveyancing or will there be an additional cost as it seems like a lot of extra work.

I agree, it sounds like something the vendor should have sorted out before putting the house on the market. I don't see why your conveyancer should be involved beyond checking that they are happy with the documents provided by the vendor. Also, I imagine that there is potential for delay if there is any problem drawing up the agreements, and that the owners of the various other houses need their own solicitors to check the agreements. Are you in a hurry, or would it be OK to wait a few months if needs be?

Davesnave

Be cautious. Next to me are 14 barn conversions, and it's obvious, even to an outsider, that aspects of rights, responsibilities and ownership were not made fully clear when the development was first set up. Presumably, solicitors were involved then, and in every sale since, but that has not ensured an entirely harmonious life for the residents. Only yesterday I learned that a wall, assumed by most folk to belong to the complex, doesn't.

I would say that these mini communities sometimes work OK, but when they don't, it's probably because they're too large and communication/involvement is poor. Then, there may be detailed rules drafted in an attempt to head problems off, but this can lead to extreme petty mindedness on the part of some residents. The resultant bickering is a joy to behold.....from a safe distance! :rotfl:

On the subject of septic tanks and solicitors, the deeds for our house stated that it was on our land in one para, then on the neighbour's land in another, and back to ours in a third! Again, no one seemed to have challenged this in 20 years and three or four sales. We got the solicitor to rectify this, and several other 'anomalies,' before exchange, but it was us who had to find all the nonsensical and dodgy bits.

puddy

if you have property on another's land i always thought that was a flying freehold, which i understand is difficult to mortgage in the current climate?

G_M

puddy wrote: »

if you have property on another's land i always thought that was a flying freehold, which i understand is difficult to mortgage in the current climate?

A flying freehold is where, for example, your 1st floor extends over their ground floor. Both properties are freehold. It's not that common, and yes, can be hard to mortgage because of the difficulties resolving disputes about who is responsible for maintaining what.

If you had

property on another's land

that is the set-up in millions of flats all over the country. You own the lease to the flat, which sits on a bit of land owned by the freeholder. The lease that you own (for 99 years or however many) defines who maintains it.