First time buyers question - help

venture211

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but we are first time buyers and have just got the land registry title map showing the property.

House is semi-detached and is showing in the map at an angle to the road boundary and this property is angled towards the road.So,the boundary between this and the adjacent property(which is linked to it) is angled, resulting in a smaller garden area for this property as compared to the next one to which it is linked.

All the other houses on the street are parallel to the road.

LINK to Title PLAN image below

tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2mzclqx&s=5

Checked with the surveyor(who had actually missed this) and he advises us that this will not affect the house value.

Can somebody advise if this is something we should worry about?

joujou

Incompetent surveyor.

It is not for them to say whether this affects the value of the house - they are trying to cover their !!!.

I would be seriously mad them and would consider all of my options.


(and honestly speaking - looks like a 3 year old drew the plots on that row of houses).

venture211

Thanks.

Would it be reasonable to expect this to have come up in the home buyers report?

We got this title plan from our solicitor along with the contract documents.

Land_Registry

I am not able to view the link provided but may be able to help with some understanding around what the title plan is used for.

The title plan is drawn (mapped) at the time that the property is registered - if it is an 'old' plan then there should be a ring stamp with initials and a date showing the month/year). The base map used to create the title plan would have been an Ordnance Survey detail from the time.

The red edging is added by Land Registry to denote the general boundaries of the property/title. Over time the buildings within that red edging may change size/shape, especially where buildings are extended BUT such changes will not mean that the title plan has to be re-mapped as it's purpose is to denote the general boundaries and not the shape/size of buildings within those boundaries.

The title plan should therefore be used to confirm the general boundaries of the property which you then match with the reality on the ground - as you will appreciate the vast majority of properties will have a physical boundary, namely fence, wall, hedge, ditch and so on so matching the plan to the reality is normally straightforward.

IF you are suggesting that the extent being sold differs from the general boundaries as edged red on the title plan then you should query this with your solicitor and then the Seller's solicitor as appropriate.

Our Public Guide 19 provides additional information around title plans and boundaries.

venture211

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry again for what maybe a dumb question, but taking a look at the complete boundary for two semi-detached houses, it looks like a perfect rectangle to me.

Would you know why the division between the two houses has been created unequally and only these two houses created at an angle to the road boundary, leading to an unequal share of the garden for the houses?

The houses are not on a bend as such, so just a bit curious as to why all others(nearly 10 in that row) on the street are neatly lined and parallel to the road and this one at an angle?

There is a ring stamp on the map that has 10/78 on it.

Link:
tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2mzclqx&s=5

PS:Add http:// to the link to open it.Not able to add images to the thread.

Land_Registry

It is not a dumb question but likely to only be one that the original builder can answer. Any suggestions would be complete guesswork on my part.

Once the devlopment was in progress or completed OS would have surveyed the are to update their OS detail. They would have mapped the physical features and as such it seems safe to assume that the 'angle' has always been there and presumably the semis are out of line with the others.

I would also imagine that the plot Transfers (the first sale of each property/title) would also show the same extents and the title(s) would have been mapped based on both pieces of information matching.

As the date stamp is for Oct 1978 the odds are it was built by a developer/builder who perhaps no longer exists so any chance of discovering the answer may be very remote - neighbours who have been there since the houses were first built may also be able to shed some light of course but again we are 30 years on.

Smith_007

venture211 wrote: »

House is semi-detached and is showing in the map at an angle to the road boundary

Is it just showing on the map, or is the property actually (in real life!) at an angle?
If it is just a map error, I don't think I would worry too much as long as you flag it with your solicitor.

venture211

Smith_007 wrote: »

Is it just showing on the map, or is the property actually (in real life!) at an angle?
If it is just a map error, I don't think I would worry too much as long as you flag it with your solicitor.

Thanks.

If there is an angle to the house/garden in reality, is this something I should worry about?Should I get the property re-valuated?The angle is not obvious when you are in the garden(because garden boundary is almost aligned with the house angle) or outside the house itself.It shows on google map and the title map.We have not got the garden dimensions from the estate agent, as they are saying they do not measure gardens!

I am a bit worried that:
a) the 'angle' was not found out by the surveyor,so definitely it has not been taken into account during valuation - it is on the title map.
b)Would this angle affect the property value in any way?

What should we do now?

We like the property, but we are not able to decide whether or not we are paying the right price for it now that the angle issue has come up and was not on the home buyer's report?The only bit remaining for us now is the searches.