Manorial rights

ceh209

We've arrived home from holiday to find letters from the land registry telling us some crazy guy (obviously they don't say that!) is claiming manorial rights over the land our new house has been built on :eek:

We vaguely knew about this - in the 'disputes' section of the info the developer sent to the solicitor it mentioned it, but said it had previously gone to court and he's admitted he didn't have any rights, or at least didn't have proof of anything. But I know it's going to be a hassle to sort out.

I don't know if this thread is going to be for questions or more of a diary for anyone else who comes across this (there's an important deadline for registering these rights in October 2013, like a chancel repair liability, so I suspect it will be slightly more common atm).

However, I guess my first question is, do we try and deal with this alone, or do we contact the conveyancing solicitors we used for the house purchase (and will they charge us?)?

P.S. I expect everyone on the development has had the same letter, but I haven't spoken to anyone yet.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'd be out checking with my neighbours first. Strength in numbers and all that...and with any luck you might find one of them is a solicitor or "knows someone who knows someone" with useful info.

dotdash79

Is the development completed yet?

If not the people currently living there should get together and push the developer to handle this. You could make any further sales very hard to make.

ceh209

And a quick google tells me it's not just the new development but 7,000 properties in the local area! :eek:

ceh209

dotdash79 wrote: »

Is the development completed yet?

If not the people currently living there should get together and push the developer to handle this. You could make any further sales very hard to make.

Not by a long way, they'll be there another 10 years they reckon, it's going to be huge. I'll pop into the sales office tonight but I reckon it's going to be crowded!

dotdash79

They should pick this up then as, if you kick up a fuss and get it in the paper etc it will dog the site for years.

also signed and posters in you windows and lawns show a powerful message.

ceh209

I think I'm about to cry. According to news articles it took the previous owners of the land 16 years to make him go away last time... _pale_

xylophone

We vaguely knew about this - in the 'disputes' section of the info the developer sent to the solicitor it mentioned it, but said it had previously gone to court and he's admitted he didn't have any rights, or at least didn't have proof of anything. But I know it's going to be a hassle to sort out.

And what advice did your solicitor give you in this respect?

ceh209

xylophone wrote: »

And what advice did your solicitor give you in this respect?

I think there was a question from us which said 'Is this anything to worry about?', solicitor said no, but I don't know if that was in writing or verbally (I'll look back now)

ETA: In writing (email), yay! that helps at least...

xylophone

I think there was a question from us which said 'Is this anything to worry about?', solicitor said no, but I don't know if that was in writing or verbally (I'll look back now)

A good idea! You have seen this no doubt? http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides/practice-guide-22

ceh209

xylophone wrote: »

A good idea! You have seen this no doubt? http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides/practice-guide-22

Yes but not read in detail yet - we only received this letter yesterday. Reading up and doing more research tonight, thanks for the link.