Query for land registry rep or anyone who may know

Itismehonest

It is quite possible that the boundaries of your (& your neighbour's) deeds show up as being the present field boundaries.
Prior to the existence of the road &, therefore, the present hedges or fences your field boundaries could well have been where the road is situated. Alternatively, there may have been a footpath or something similar there.

How old are your neighbour's deeds?
I'd look at the Tithe Map & Apportionment for your parish (hopefully, they will still exist) & they will show the original field boundaries & what existed there at the time the maps were drawn. Our Tithe Maps are from about 1840. They should also tell you who (which property) had ownership.

If deeds now show ownership ends either side of the road then it is possible that the land on which the road runs has no known ownership or could be disputed. It may be a very old Right of Way.

If the land isn't registered & there is no known ownership you could be able to register the land as your own.

G_M

How sure areyou there is this right of way?

If there are no documents soecifying who owns, AND the road is unadopted, then where is this document granting ROW....?

dotdash79

Have you checked with the council highways department if they have adopted all the road?

First place I would check.

need_an_answer

G_M wrote: »

How sure areyou there is this right of way?

If there are no documents soecifying who owns, AND the road is unadopted, then where is this document granting ROW....?

my old title deeds are dated as far back as 1923 and show the proposed plan for 5 houses in the area...it specifically says that one half of the proposed road will me owned by my property and the others and also grants a right of way across said road to access future developments

My neighbours house who i would believe owns the other half of the road was built by a different developer probably in the early 1900's and his side boundry which is now the road is classed as fields...there has been no further update on the deeds since then!

the road in question forks at the top of a hill..to the left was adopted in the early 1970's to allow access to a new development of homes but the area to the right which includes our property and the other 3 was not adopted...highways have confirmed this is the case

I therefore need to know who we need to approach to get a more detailed scale plan from the land registry than the 1:1250 that I have been recentlty supplied with...and also clarification of who actually owns the road.

Thanks everyone for your input!

Land_Registry

Some good advice here and hopefully my post will add to the mix although I doubt if it will provide all the answers you need.

The adoption or not of roads is not something we are directly involved in and IF a road had been adopted then the Local Authority would be the place to check.

Historically the process behind road adoption or the transfer of legal ownership of the road has varied but nowadays it is normal for the developer to build their development, sell off the plots and then transfer the common parts/roads to the Local Authority so that the roads are in effect registered in the Council's legal ownership.

In the past this did not always happen and estate roads would remain in the developer's legal ownership but the Local Authority adopted them. Adopting them and legally owning them are two different things.

As far as your deeds are concerned I would make the following general observations
The key as far as your own legal ownership is concerned is the current register and title plan.

The registration of titles which adjoin a road can vary as different factors can come into play, for example
Where the original deeds include part of an adopted road the title plan will often exclude those parts on the basis that the local authority maintains the surface; and
There is such a thing as the ad medium filum presumption (adjoining landowners own to the mid-point of the road). But if others enjoy rights of way over the road then this presumption is less safe.
Understanding the consideration, processes and legal assumptions involved can be quite complex areas of the law and I would strongly recommend seeking legal advice for a better understanding of the possible issues involved here although you cna do much of the information gathering yourself of course.
If you require a plan at a ‘better scale’ then you would need to obtain this from Ordnance Survey. We map residential properties to a scale of 1:1250.
To establish the legal ownership of the land/roads my recommendation would be to complete a Search of the Index Map application (form SIM) to establish what is registered and what is not. The result should reveal the registered titles involved and you can then view/download the title plans (and registers) online or obtain them by post as explained in the FAQs and ultimately complete the jigsaw around the road(s) and adjoining properties as you wish.

need_an_answer

just a quick update...

I have reconfirmed that the area of road is indeed unadopted and also spoken with land registry who confirm the need to complete a SIM form to establish if there are any owners listed for the area of road...we will go from there and hope ownership can be clarified

thanks again all for your detailed responses,much appreciated!