Buying a house - extension over right of way

Vazz_2

We are planning to buy an ex-local authority end of terrace house. The neighbour on the left (who is still a council tenant) has a right of way over the back garden of this property. Having built an extension over ROW, the current owners laid a concrete path, effectively moving the original right of way by 3 meters. It seems that this was agreed verbally with a neighbouring tenant at the time but was not reflected in the deeds or house plans.
We are not that exited by having ROW in our garden in the first place, but should we buy the house, can we find any problems with the above issue (thinking of reselling it after)?


If this is something to worry about, how can we get things right? Our vendors are lovely old couple who only became aware of this issue after we told them.

Many thanks for your expert views!

xylophone

What does your own solicitor say about this situation?

Vazz_2

So far our conveyancer is playing "hard to get"

xylophone wrote: »

What does your own solicitor say about this situation?

Riggster

Vazz wrote: »

So far our conveyancer is playing "hard to get"

Your conveyancer solicitor is being paid by you. Tell them to shape up or ship out!

ValHaller

This needs regularising with the owner - not the tenant - of the property with the ROW. Vendor and their solicitor should do this for you, but you need to make it clear through your own solicitor that this is required.

If you buy without having this sorted out, you may well find that when you come to sell, you are forced to regularise this yourself. Obviously, it is less hassle and risk if you get the vendors to sort it while you have the chance to walk away.

If they start appearing reluctant, then walk away - it is probably a sign that the council are not minded to accept the change of the ROW.

zzzLazyDaisy

Good advice.

There is no way that I would buy a property that was in any way affected by a 'ROW' that is not properly registered at the land registry. Not a chance.

When I bought my current house, access was via ROW along a track over my neighbours land - but had not been regularised. I dug my heels in and insisted they sort it out before we exchanged contracts. Cue much huffing and puffing and threatening to put the house back on the market, but eventually they sorted it out. Had they been unable to resolve the issue, I would have walked away.

I know that in my case I was the person with benefit of the ROW, but the principle is the same. It is not a valid ROW unless it is registered.

Vazz_2

Thanks a lot for your responses!

Has anyone had any luck of buying the ROW back from the council?

zzzLazyDaisy

Vazz wrote: »

Thanks a lot for your responses!

Has anyone had any luck of buying the ROW back from the council?

What do you mean?

The right of way doesn't belong to the council, as such - it is literally a legal right, granted to other people (in your case presumably to the owners/occupiers of neighbouring properties?) to pass over your property along a restricted and defined path.

Ivana_Tinkle

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

What do you mean?

The right of way doesn't belong to the council, as such - it is literally a legal right, granted to other people (in your case presumably to the owners/occupiers of neighbouring properties?) to pass over your property along a restricted and defined path.

The OP says the house next door is owned by the council.

Davesnave

While the council are most unlikely to remove the rights their tenants enjoy, there is no reason why the ROW cannot be moved with their agreement, so long as it still gives appropriate access.

When I bought my present property, I noted that the ROW for the neighbour had been moved from it's place on the title plan. It gave them access by vehicle, but they no longer had any hope of getting a car into their garage!

As the ROW was in a much better place from our point of view, I asked the vendor to have the title docs amended (with the neighbour's agreement) to reflect the new situation on the ground.

To my amazement, this happened.

Vazz_2

Oh, our conveyancer claims that vendors will not agree with getting the ROW moved before completion as this will take a long time.
Conveyancer instead suggest to get a indemnity insurance instead. What would you do?