Seller sold outbuilding...

Jessica29

My partner and I are in the process of purchasing our first house together, and at the end of last week received the search results and contract from our solicitor.

The house we are buying came with an 8ft by 8ft outbuilding that was at located in our neighbours garden. Our property came with a right of way across our neighbours garden to access the outbuilding. It wasn't noted in the estate agents particulars (but to be fair they were completely useless) but we found out it belonged to the property when we downloaded the title register and deeds from Land Registry. We had our offer accepted, mortgage approved etc etc.

Anyway, the documents came through from our solicitor saying the seller had actually sold off the outbuilding to the neighbour about 4 months ago. Land Registry hadn't yet updated the deeds, and the only reason we found out was because our solicitor also worked for our neighbour when purchasing the outbuilding. In the seller's questionnaire he submitted to his solicitor, he was specifically asked he if had sold off any part of the property, to which he answered no. I'm glad we found out before moving in otherwise it would have been fairly embarrassing to try to put stuff in the outbuilding to find out that it wasn't ours!!

We are thinking about going back to the seller and reducing our offer to compensate for the fact we will now have to buy and build something similar at the end of our garden. My only hesitation is that we are quite far along, we will have to get the mortgage and contracts changed or worst case scenario is the seller pulls out. Any helpful advice or opinions please

somethingcorporate

Did you know about the outbuilding prior to making the offer? It's not clear at what stage you downloaded the title deeds.

If you made the offer on the premise that it included the outbuilding then damned right I'd be reducing my offer.

Had it been something you discovered in the searches post-offer then your offer would not have included any consideration of this being part of the property so would probably not be too worried about it.

It's a small building but what's it made out of? if you want to get an 8ft by 8ft shed you'll be talking a good few hundred and then installation, building a base etc so easily £1k could be a reasonable cost. Then again, would you want to lose the house over such a small sum?

DRP

Jessica29 wrote: »

the only reason we found out was because our solicitor also worked for our neighbour when purchasing the outbuilding. In the seller's questionnaire he submitted to his solicitor, he was specifically asked he if had sold off any part of the property, to which he answered no.

If your vendor has effectively lied on his property information form then i would be wondering what else he is telling porky pies about.

Firstly, if you are really concerned about this outbuilding then I would be suggesting a substantial reduction in price.

Secondly, regardless of whether you are bothered by the loss of the outbuilding, I would get the solicitor to send some stern warning and also a brand new P.I.F. for the vendor to fill out, in case any other details had slipped their mind whilst they completed the original...

JQ.

DRP wrote: »

If your vendor has effectively lied on his property information form then i would be wondering what else he is telling porky pies about.

Firstly, if you are really concerned about this outbuilding then I would be suggesting a substantial reduction in price.

Secondly, regardless of whether you are bothered by the loss of the outbuilding, I would get the solicitor to send some stern warning and also a brand new P.I.F. for the vendor to fill out, in case any other details had slipped their mind whilst they completed the original...

Lied about what, from the OP it sounds like the outbuilding was never included in the sale?

So there was no mention of the outbuilding in the particulars. Were you shown round the outbuilding during your viewing? Did the vendor or Estate Agent ever say it was included?

Just because it's in the current title plan is no indicator it's included in the sale, it seems to me you just assumed it was included in the sale. Did anyone actually state it was?

TrickyDicky101

It sounds to me from your description (and maybe I am wrong) that neither the seller nor the EA had included this outbuilding in any of the particulars - it was you who had assumed it would be included based on what you had downloaded from the Land Registry.

Did you actually confirm with the seller that the outbuilding was included before you made your offer?

EDIT: I hadn't seen JQ's post otherwise could have saved the effort of typing!

DaftyDuck

I'm not sure you are on firm ground here, OP. I've previously split a property and built a house in the garden... the agent prepared the details accordingly, but I've honestly no idea exactly how far my solicitor had progressed with title deeds and the like; what was "on offer" was exactly what the estate agent offered.... I wasn't doing a "buy one, get one free" on houses!

Having said that, if you made your offer under the impression that the outbuilding was included, I can see how you might wish to lower your offer. However, the vendor can quite rightly point out it was your mistake to assume more was on offer than actually was. Equally (really on the fence here, ain't I? ) he should have stated more clearly that he had sold off some of the property at some point.

I'd try to find out how much the sale of the outbuilding was made for, before reducing my offer accordingly. But, I think I'd expect a reduction to be refused on these grounds alone.

DRP

JQ. wrote: »

Lied about what, from the OP it sounds like the outbuilding was never included in the sale?

So there was no mention of the outbuilding in the particulars. Were you shown round the outbuilding during your viewing? Did the vendor or Estate Agent ever say it was included?

Just because it's in the current title plan is no indicator it's included in the sale, it seems to me you just assumed it was included in the sale. Did anyone actually state it was?

Contrary to to his answer on the PIF, it sounds like the vendor had sold part of his property.

There is confusion in that the OP said that the LR hadn't yet updated the deeds ... which deeds is OP referring to?

Jessica29

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Did you know about the outbuilding prior to making the offer? It's not clear at what stage you downloaded the title deeds.

If you made the offer on the premise that it included the outbuilding then damned right I'd be reducing my offer.

Had it been something you discovered in the searches post-offer then your offer would not have included any consideration of this being part of the property so would probably not be too worried about it.

It's a small building but what's it made out of? if you want to get an 8ft by 8ft shed you'll be talking a good few hundred and then installation, building a base etc so easily £1k could be a reasonable cost. Then again, would you want to lose the house over such a small sum?

Thanks for your response! We found the title deeds after viewing but before offer. It has no other outside storage space so it was a bonus to see it was included on the deeds! This is why we're a bit annoyed to find out that it's been sold...:(

It's bricks and mortar with a slate roof, but I imagine we'll just put a big shed down the end of the garden.

The thought of losing the house just makes me want to ignore it and move on, but I feel like that we should have been told by the vendor..

JQ.

DRP wrote: »

Contrary to to his answer on the PIF, it sounds like the vendor had sold part of his property.

There is confusion in that the OP said that the LR hadn't yet updated the deeds ... which deeds is OP referring to?

If the property being sold does not include the outbuilding then the PIF is correct and no lie has taken place. We already know the outbuilding was not included in the sales particulars, so unless the OP was expressly informed by the EA or Vendor that it was included, then they have jumped to a conclusion that was not correct.

What is on the the Land Registry title plans is very often not included in a sale as plans are split at the point of sale.

Jessica29

DRP wrote: »

If your vendor has effectively lied on his property information form then i would be wondering what else he is telling porky pies about.

Firstly, if you are really concerned about this outbuilding then I would be suggesting a substantial reduction in price.

Secondly, regardless of whether you are bothered by the loss of the outbuilding, I would get the solicitor to send some stern warning and also a brand new P.I.F. for the vendor to fill out, in case any other details had slipped their mind whilst they completed the original...

This did cross my mind. He is a bit of a slippery character and has most definitely lied/stretched the truth about when the boiler was put in. He says 2 months ago, but it looks about 10 years old!

JQ.

Jessica29 wrote: »

Thanks for your response! We found the title deeds after viewing but before offer. It has no other outside storage space so it was a bonus to see it was included on the deeds! This is why we're a bit annoyed to find out that it's been sold...:(

It's bricks and mortar with a slate roof, but I imagine we'll just put a big shed down the end of the garden.

The thought of losing the house just makes me want to ignore it and move on, but I feel like that we should have been told by the vendor..

But did anyone actually tell you it was included? When you found it on the title plans did you seek clarification before making the offer?