Land registry location plan is incorrect

2013yearofthehouse

I noticed the location plan was wrong on my Mum's neighbours planning application (was just looking out of curiosity) so I had a look at the location plan that my Mum got from the Land Registry website a while ago and found that's where they'd copied it from. The road/pavement has been drawn in the wrong place - it is drawn as curving to the side of the house, but it actually curves in front of it (sorry difficult to explain, it's a cul-de-sac, so basically they've drawn the "turning section" of the road as larger than it is). A whole area of lawn at the front of my Mum's house is missing (making it about half the size and a completely different shape) and has been drawn as road/pavement instead. This also makes hers and her neighbours (different neighbour, not the planning app side) plots completely the wrong shape.

The land registry photocopy of the original plans that came with the deeds of the house when my mum bought it, is correct, so I'm not sure why the newer version is different - has it just been copied wrongly?

Could this cause a problem at some point? Should my Mum write to the land registry office and ask them to correct it? Would they?

KennyH1

You could do but would it make any difference to the planning application of your neighbours or to your mum?

The location plan is just a general plan showing the location of the proposed and existing structures and are generally never fully accurate. They can be out by up to 1-2m is some cases.

In regards to the PA, there should be accurate plans of the proposal showing it in relation to neighbouring properties etc so check this if you have any concerns.

If they've produced 'accurate' plans off the OS/location plan then query it with the planners and check to see if dimensions have been added to the drawings.

zzzLazyDaisy

In the event of a dispute the law is that the land registry documents are the final legal position.

As the original land registry title plan given to your mum on purchase of the house was correct, it is difficult to know how this could have changed, but it should be easy for the LR to check their records.

Hopefully the very helpful MSE Land Registry Representative will be along soon to point you in the right direction.

2013yearofthehouse

Thanks for the replies.

It doesn't affect my Mum so she's not concerned, I just wondered if there's a chance it might cause a problem in the future really.

The area missing is about 2m x 5m and perpendicular to the rest of the rectangular plot, so I'm not sure how it could have been changed so much if copied from the originals.

Ah well, I'll wait and see if the LR representitive comes along, thanks

zzzLazyDaisy

It will affect your mum if/when she (or her beneficiaries under her will) sell the house. When the buyer gets a copy of the plan and realises that part of the garden is not recorded on the landregistry deeds as belonging to the property, they will almost certainly raise the matter with their solicitor. At that point the solicitor will either stop the sale and insist on recitification of title or the buyer will pull out, or seek a reduction in the price.

There is also the problem that the plan now shows the house to be landlocked. In other words there is a strip of land that the plan shows as belonging to A.N.Other (presumably the local authority). The fact that they did not in fact build the road as suggested on the plan, does not change the fact that according to the plan, that bit of land does not belong to your mum. So she has no legal right to pass over that bit of land to get to her house. You may think this is far fetched - do a google search for landlocked property.

You are right, none of this affects your mum at this moment, but these are issues which would (or at least should) be raised by a buyer's solicitor in the future.

It isn't rocket science to get it sorted out now.

2013yearofthehouse

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

It will affect your mum if/when she (or her beneficiaries under her will) sell the house. When the buyer gets a copy of the plan and realises that part of the garden is not recorded on the landregistry deeds as belonging to the property, they will almost certainly raise the matter with their solicitor. At that point the solicitor will either stop the sale and insist on recitification of title or the buyer will pull out, or seek a reduction in the price.

There is also the problem that the plan now shows the house to be landlocked. In other words there is a strip of land that the plan shows as belonging to A.N.Other (presumably the local authority). The fact that they did not in fact build the road as suggested on the plan, does not change the fact that according to the plan, that bit of land does not belong to your mum. So she has no legal right to pass over that bit of land to get to her house. You may think this is far fetched - do a google search for landlocked property.

You are right, none of this affects your mum at this moment, but these are issues which would (or at least should) be raised by a buyer's solicitor in the future.

It isn't rocket science to get it sorted out now.

Thanks, I'll tell her it's best to sort it out sooner rather than later.

The house isn't actually landlocked though fortunately. Sorry, hard to explain (and i'm not doing a very good job!), but the land is on the corner just slightly overlapping both her and her neighbours front gardens, so 1/3 is hers and 2/3 her neighbours. It only makes up about a 1/4 of her whole front lawn and the drive/path are on the opposite side, so there would be no problem with access if she didn't own the land. In fact, she doesn't ever set foot on the land, except to mow the lawn. The only person who walks across it is the postman who is too lazy to walk on the pavement round it!

Furts

For a planning application it is normal for the location plan to be obtained from Ordnance Survey. This is a surveyed accurate drawing - within the constraints of printing and scaling accuracy. There is a fee for this.

A possible scenario could be the location plan is deliberately misleading to encourage a favourable outcome with regard to proximity to boundaries, scale of development etc.

If it is believed there is an error an objection should be raised to the Planning Authority. I suggest one should not turn a blind eye.

Planning Applications are open data available for inspection - any errors would remain on file for ever more.

2013yearofthehouse

Furts wrote: »

For a planning application it is normal for the location plan to be obtained from Ordnance Survey. This is a surveyed accurate drawing - within the constraints of printing and scaling accuracy. There is a fee for this.

A possible scenario could be the location plan is deliberately misleading to encourage a favourable outcome with regard to proximity to boundaries, scale of development etc.

If it is believed there is an error an objection should be raised to the Planning Authority. I suggest one should not turn a blind eye.

Planning Applications are open data available for inspection - any errors would remain on file for ever more.

Sorry my posts must be misleading. I only mentioned the planning application as that's what led me to finding out the location plan was wrong, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it at all (it's actually for an extension that's already built). The planning application is for a plot unaffected by the mistake, it just happens that they drew the whole cul-de-sac on the location plan. The neighbour who Mum shares the extra bit of land with is not the one with the planning application.