Garage not on my title deeds

troontextiles

I bought a house (in scotland) last year with a detatched garage (within my boundary). Unfortunately my title deeds do not show my garage but i have been assured by my new neighbours it has been there for nearly 10 years. Where do i stand from a legal stand point as it is not registered. I am afraid to apply to add it in case they say no and i have to bring it down but if i can add it how much would it cost me??? any help or advice would be appreciated... Actually thought my solicitor would have picked up on it but hey ho..!

G_M

But the garage is on your land? So like the land, it belongs to you.

So does the garden shed which is also not shown on the Title plan. And the dog house. And the kids tree house. And the rabbit hutch.

Whether the garage has (or needs) Planning Permission is a different question and relates not to the Title (ownership) but to the council (permission to build)

googler

OK, so the garage was built after the house.

Who would think that you would need to get Title Deeds amended once you'd built a garage on your own land? It wouldn't be the first thing to cross my mind.

Planning consent? Yes.
Building Control? Maybe?
Registers of Scotland? Naaaahhhhh.

glasgowdan

It depends on the construction methods/material whether it needs planning or not. You'd be better just keeping quiet about the whole thing and don't worry as life tends to just roll on with some minor technicalities not completely checked off on the big internal checklist some people like to keep!

jennifernil

Your title is for the land, and anything on it. It doesn't need to state what is on it.

Houses can be extended, garages, sheds, greenhouses added, it makes no difference.

We bought our plot, then had a house built on it. The title is for the land, it has no specific details of what is built on it, as when we bought it, there was nothing built on it.

Stop worrying! (we are in Scotland)

planning_officer

glasgowdan wrote: »

It depends on the construction methods/material whether it needs planning or not.

Any requirement for planning permission has nothing to do with construction methods or materials. Whether it needs planning permission depends on its size and location.

In England, once 4 years has elapsed, the proposal would be immune from enforcement action (that's assuming it needed planning permission in the first place, which it may have not). Having just had a quick search via google, it appears that the same provision exists in Scotland, under different legislation. So, provided the land on which the garage stands is part of your residential curtilage, then the garage would have become immune from enforcement action after 4 years.

You could submit a formal application to your Council to determine whether it is lawful or not (a Lawful Development Certificate) - but it seems a bit over the top, unless you were to sell and the buyers solicitor insisted on some documentation about the garage.

ScotlandM

Hi, just want to check. The garage is in use and not hidden?

A farmer in England built an elaborate building on his land but hid it with hay bales. Then after the 4 years were up and the council couldn't force it to be taken down he removed the hay bales. The council requested it to be pulled down because removing the bales was counted as part of the construction phase. Unlucky for him

Just asking incase the garge is hidden in a wood or has no connection to the road. We're not really sure how big your plot of land is!

martinsurrey

ScotlandM wrote: »

Just asking incase the garge is hidden in a wood or has no connection to the road. We're not really sure how big your plot of land is!

its a good point, but both of your examples would not count, the wood is a natural feature, so would not stop the 4 year rule, the same as being far from a road.

The thing that did the farmer in was an unnatural structure disguising the building (a bit like scaffold), as long as you don’t try and conceal the development any natural cover you gain is okay.

but I doubt this matters with a garage, its more than likely permitted development and so no need for planning or building regs (size/location/material dependant). I would just ignore its absnece from the deeds

ScotlandM

its a good point, but both of your examples would not count, the wood is a natural feature, so would not stop the 4 year rule, the same as being far from a road.

Ok about the forest, didn't know.
I didn't mean the distance from the mainroad, but if there was no access to drive into the garage and a track was made/trees felled/tarmac laid or something if that counted as part of construction of the garage.
The function of a garage is to drive into it so might be

planning_officer

ScotlandM wrote: »

Ok about the forest, didn't know.
I didn't mean the distance from the mainroad, but if there was no access to drive into the garage and a track was made/trees felled/tarmac laid or something if that counted as part of construction of the garage.
The function of a garage is to drive into it so might be

No, an access track is a different operation to the garage. They're governed by different sections of the permitted development legislation.

Besides, if the garage is located well away from the dwelling and not within the curtilage of the dwelling, then that opens up a whole new can of worms, as to change the use of the land to residential would have required planning permission. Having said that, the Council cannot enforce against a change of use after 10 years (as long as you can show it's been there 10 years), so it should be ok provided it has been there for that length of time.