Garden not ours....

DreamyGirl

Hi,
Just looking for some advice. We bought our house in December 2006 and it was clearly sold with the garden (we have the original particulars that show the garden)

Late last year we discovered that the garden did not belong to us - a call to the Land Registry has determined that part is unregistered and part is registered to a neighbour.

We have written to our solicitor who advises that he feels there is no scope to pursue the previous owners - I requested this as I feel that we would not have paid the amount we did without the garden. He advises to claim the land as our own.

Just wanted anyone's thoughts on this as I feel that we have paid at least 5k too much for the house and as we are now wanting to move it is also going to affect the valuation we are given until we have claimed it.

Thanks for reading!

TrickyDicky101

Do the land registry plans clearly show the land to not be part of your property? Because when you bought the house your solicitor at the time should have asked you to confirm that they reflected what you thought you were buying

DreamyGirl

Hi,
Thanks for your reply!
The plans show the yard is ours but not the garden beyond it. He did write to us asking us to confirm that the outline on the plan was correct but unfortunately I was a naive 19 yr old first time buyer and didn't pick up on it.

I do accept that we have some of that responsibility for not picking up on it but I also think there should be some responsibility with them selling a garden that wasn't theirs to sell?

TrickyDicky101

But they haven't sold it though as you never actually bought it (as you couldn't - it wasn't part of the property you were buying). This needs a lawyer/someone familiar with legals to say whether or not they could suffer some sanction due to misrepresentation (if they did misrepresent).

I do have sympathy with you - in 2005 I bought my first house and a corner of the garden (enclosed by the fence) was actually council land. The seller never admitted to this until their solicitor made an oblique reference to it which set the warning lights flashing. In the end, we did buy the property still (with a small reduction). When we came to sell 6 years later, we made it clear in all our estate agency particulars that this piece of land still belonged to the council.

sirmosh

Your solicitor should have provided you with a copy of the title to check it matched what was there, either they didn't do their job or you failed to check yourself.

jayship

You may have legal cover with your home insurance. Talk to their experts for advice and see if they can help.

Taadaa

I'm not sure there is anything you can do. You were given the opportunity to view the deeds and did not notice anything amiss. Just because it was in the EA's particulars doesn't matter - this is why they have disclaimers on their ads. It's not up to them to check, it was up to you.

If it is partly unregistered land they do as suggested and try to claim it. You may be able to purchase the other part from your neighbour. Then get the plans changed to reflect it!

RAS

DreamyGirl wrote: »

Hi,
Thanks for your reply!
The plans show the yard is ours but not the garden beyond it. He did write to us asking us to confirm that the outline on the plan was correct but unfortunately I was a naive 19 yr old first time buyer and didn't pick up on it.

I do accept that we have some of that responsibility for not picking up on it but I also think there should be some responsibility with them selling a garden that wasn't theirs to sell?

So who owns the part that is unregistered?

Any chance you can find out by buying the deeds for the bit registered to your neighbour?

sirmosh

How long has the garden been fenced off and used by the owners of your house? Did the neighbours give permission for it to be used or was it just taken?

It's possible that the garden is yours now anyway by adverse possession. One of the best things you can do is head over to gardenlaw.co.uk and tell the entire situation, someone there will probably have very good advice.