Missing plan to a deed dating back to 1970 - advice?

covmike

Hi there everyone,

My solicitor has informed me that during his conveyancing it has become apparent the a plan to a Deed dating back to 1970 (which i believe is when the property was built) is missing at the land registry.

My solicitor does not seem to feel this is a massive issue and has said he has asked them to pay for some sort of insurance to cover something that he says is a quite a normal "fix" for this issue that apparently happens all too often.

I just wondered if anyone else had come across similar issues and whether there is anything else I need to be aware of. I will be discussing it in more detail with my solicitor but have not yet had chance. Wanted others views of past experiences to better inform myself.

Thanks.

Richard_Webster

Land Registry had all their copy deeds canned in a few years ago and in some cases the companies they employed lost documents or parts of them.

The LR file plan will show the extent of the property. The 1970 plan may simply show the boundaries edged red and nothing more or could have separate colourings for areas over which other have rights of access and parts of neighbours' land over which the owners of this property have rights. This will be apparent from t he wording of the 1970 deed. In a lot of cases it will be pretty obvious in practice what is intended even in these cases, but the insurance will pay out if loss is suffered because someone claimed against you for something you did that you wouldn't have done had you seen the plan.

Your solicitor should be able to tell you any areas uncertainty there might be here, but often it will be common sense and the insurance will protect against the remote possibility that the common sense approach is not the right one.

covmike

ah I see. Thank you for explaining that. So could this potentially lead to boundary disputes as they are not clearly defined? Or is that dealt with seperately?

Is there any way to actually resolve the issue, i.e. replace the missing document with a new one? Rather than just insure against it?

Thanks.

Richard_Webster

The Land Registry plan will show where the boundaries are.

As to whose responsibility it is to look after a particular fence it simply isn't worth the energy having arguments about that.

In former times the originals of old conveyances and transfers would have been kept with deeds packs by mortgage lenders. The Land Registry would have seen the original on first registration and would have been supplied with a copy of it at that stage which they kept and whose plan was later lost.

Somebody may still have the original 1970 transfer. It could be with previous owners or their solicitors. If it can be found then it can be produced to the Land Registry who will then be able to provide a better official copy with plan.

If the 1970 transfer only refers to the boundaries and doesn't have any other colouring to show included or excepted rights etc then there is little point bothering to do anything about it. If it does refer to such rights then in theory you could approach the neighbours concerned and get them to enter into a deed to confirm the position, but unless the situation is very complicated this would seem to be rather over the top.

covmike

It is just a standard semi detached house in the middle of a street. I don't believe there to be any specific excepted rights I could think of.

I am also not bothered about respnsibilities of looking after fences. I was more concerned with actual boundary disputes where someone takes a chunk of your land.

Is there somewhere else that the boundary definitions are kept? Or does the fact that this document is missing mean that there is no record of the specific boundaries to this property?

Richard_Webster

As the title is registered the Land Registry File Plan will show the boundaries. Your solicitor should have this.

propertyman

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Land Registry had all their copy deeds canned in a few years ago

At last, someone has come up with an explanation for the lost documents