Difference in property type in Land Registry and valuation

johnrrr

Hi,

Not sure if the following has been discussed on this forum or not. But thought to put it here to get some views.

I am an FTB looking to buy a Linked Detached property, where the property am interested in is attached to the neighbors by a car port at the ground floor and a bedroom on the 1st floor.

Recently the lender did a valuation and has marked the property as detached. I checked the land registry for the same property and it is registered as Semi-detached.

Is this normal? I assume this might create a problem when I insure the property. I will take this with my solicitor, but thought to get some views and guidance on how to proceed in this matter.

Thanks,

G_M

I don't believe there us a legal definition of 'link detached'. The best definiion I've seen was "Link-detached: adjacent detached properties that do not have a party wall, but which are linked by their garages."

Though even that is dubious since clearly the wall between the two garages (or garage and neighbour's house) is a 'party wall'.

I've also seen houses which touch at a corner only described as link detached.

So it is not surprising that descriptions vary.

In your own case, and given that your 1st floor bedroom has a party wall with the neighbour (as I understand your post) I would call that semi-detached. But that is my subjective view.

Insurance? Either
1) be conservative in your description and describe it as whichever description is most expensive. (I'm not sure if detached, with additional walls, is more expensive to rebuild, or semi detached with complication of party wall!)

2) Ring insurer, describe house, and ask. Better still, do it by email so you can keep the reply.

johnrrr

Thanks for the reply. Is there any legal document which actually specifies the property type. There should be a document right !!

I have asked the surveyor and they mention that the property is link-detached. Since there was no option of link-detached in the form, they put it as Detached.

So where do I stand? I will ring the insurer tomorrow to get this sorted.

G_M

johnrrr wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. Is there any legal document which actually specifies the property type. There should be a document right !!
No. And yes!

I have asked the surveyor and they mention that the property is link-detached. Since there was no option of link-detached in the form, they put it as Detached.
Mad. It is clearly not detached.

So where do I stand? I will ring the insurer tomorrow to get this sorted.

Yup. Ring insurers.

johnrrr

insurer will class it as a semi.

But is there a legal document which specify the property type. How does the Land Registry know the property is semi or detached?

G_M

johnrrr wrote: »

insurer will class it as a semi.

But is there a legal document which specify the property type. How does the Land Registry know the property is semi or detached?

See my answer above.

AdrianC

It doesn't really matter to the LR or the valuer quite which box gets ticked. The valuer should be valueing on much more than just that, and LR just record the info anyway. It may make a difference to insurers, though - I'd get quotes based on semi, and speak to them in person before buying a policy.