Rear garden not showing on Land registry

Ransoman

Hi,

I am in the process of buying a house, it is a 1 bed maisonette which includes a front garden, a small rear garden behind an exclusive garage and a shared path to the rear gardens.

I have just recieved the land registry documents for the plot and it shows the house, the garden, the garage, a shared turning area and the shared path each as their own coloured zones but the rear garden is not coloured and not mentioned in any way in the document.

The rear garden was pictured on the schedule and i was assured it was included in the deeds.

I have asked my soliciter to have a look at this but so far i have heard nothing back as it appears he is not hearing back from who-ever he is making his queries to.

Does this point to a potential problem and should i be worried about this?

For info, The property is in Scotland.

Thanks,

DVardysShadow

Let the agent know about the problem. It is a quicker way of getting the owner involved and is arguably the right thing to do, because there is an apparent discrepancy between the selling details and the actual property being sold.

Prepare to discover that the garden is not the vendor's to sell or even that there is no right to use it.

Ransoman

Thanks for the reply DVardysShadow

Is the agent the sellers agent? (first time buyer still trying to learn what everything means).

I am hoping that what you say wont be the case as the rear garden was a selling point to me and I paid more than I had originally planned to pay to get this place. Would I be within my rights to renegotiate the price down if this did happen?

DVardysShadow

The agent is the seller's agent - not a middleman either. If the garden was a selling point and later you found it was not included, then you could choose to withdraw from the purchase or reduce your offer. I am giving England and Wales answers, but they would apply even in Scotland, I think.

RenovationMan

The garden could be listed on a separate land registry document that was not included with your house details. As the other poster has mentioned, contact the AE and discuss.

david29dpo

It is quite common for a seller to "think" they own a piece of land (especially with flats)
The Agent only has the seller word, so market as such, they are under no obligation to check, thats your solicitor job.
As said above, it "may" be under a separate title number with the Land Reg. (unlikely i think)

Ransoman

I have just had a call from my soliciter and he believes that the garages where swapped in the mid 90's (i know this to be true) and the re-registration missed the garden.

The deeds tally up so aslong as the land registry accepts the mistake and puts it right then it should be ok?

Thanks for the replies.

sgun

As was said previously check the garden isn't registered seperately, this is quite common especially with colliery terraces or land that was owned by the Coal Board as the gardens were originally communal allotments.

Ransoman

An update on the final outcome. The land registy agreed that it was a mistake and has put everything right.

I am surprised the previous owner never put it right when she bought it before??

Now very happy in my new house