Mortgage Issue with no right of way to the side alley way - really!?

ding_dong

Hello All,:j:j:j

I am looking to buy a property in Auction next week and did ask a local solicitor to check the documents and he pointed out that there is a potential issue with the property's title deed paper work.

This is a corner house situated between London Road and Park Road. The main entrance of the house is on London Road which is also the longer side of the house so the garden is also on the same side as the main entrance (side garden) with a garden entrance. However, there is an alley way running along the shorter side of the garden which gives access to the back gardens of a few houses on the Park road. So you can imagine this alley way is perpendicular to the London road and parallel to the Park Road.

Now, my conveyancing solicitor is suggesting that the title of this auction property doesn't mention a right of way to this garden/alley way which is a big issue and it'll be really difficult to mortgage this house (if needed in future or while selling, because I am a cash buyer). Worth mentioning - there is no door/access of this auction property on that alleyway. I've looked the titles of the house on the other side of the alleyway on London Road and there is no mention of this in their title - neither they've any access/door to this alleyway. I also looked at the deeds of the 2 out of 4 Park Road houses which share this alley way and they indeed mention the right of way into the alleyway along with a shared expenses responsibility to maintain that.

My solicitor is also saying that you can probably get an indemnity insurance but for that one of the four Park Road neighbours accessing this alleyway and who also must have lived their long enough (10-15 years) has to give a declaration that this is a safe alley way etc. and then that will cover any potential future problems and will make the house mortgageable.

Now you can imagine, this is confused the hell out of me now and really started to wonder whether the solicitor is really making any sense or not -

i. Why would I need access to something which I don't need!? If I at all end up getting it then I'll have to share it's maintenance cost too - so I'll run away as far from it as possible is what I am thinking.
ii. Would this problem really make this hard to mortgage for the lenders!? Worth mentioning that the house on the other side of the alley way (with no mention in their title of this either) is on mortgage. And this auction property is also a mortgage repossession sale.
iii. If at all I need an Indemnity insurance (hypothetically) then why would I really need a declaration from a neighbour and why will they give it unnecessarily to me either - it's nothing to do with this property!

I am loosing my mind a bit - can someone more knowledgable and experienced than me please guide me and convince me whether my solicitor is right or am I right?

Thanks.

G_M

Maybe I'm being slow today, but I cannot visualise the layout at all.

I'm also not clear whether the alley is included in the property's Title (ie you'll own it) or not. Though the fact that the "title of this auction property doesn't mention a right of way to this garden/alley way" implies you won't own it.

In which case, why do you care, given that "there is no door/access of this auction property on that alleyway."

And why would any future buyer, or their mortgage lender, care?

There is more to this than I am understanding.

ding_dong

G_M wrote: »

Maybe I'm being slow today, but I cannot visualise the layout at all.

I'm also not clear whether the alley is included in the property's Title (ie you'll own it) or not. Though the fact that the "title of this auction property doesn't mention a right of way to this garden/alley way" implies you won't own it.

In which case, why do you care, given that "there is no door/access of this auction property on that alleyway."

And why would any future buyer, or their mortgage lender, care?

There is more to this than I am understanding.

It is really difficult to explain this without a picture - obviously I've not done a good job!

No, the alley way is not in the title and I don't even want it in there but not sure sure why my solicitor thinks that you/anyone can not get a mortgage on it! This is exactly what doesn't make sense to me!

Thanks.

stator

I think I understand what you are saying and I agree with you, it doesn't sound like you need the alleyway or care about it. I can't see why the mortgage company would care either. Perhaps your solicitor is getting confused. Have you pointed out to him that the house is a corner plot and has access to two roads, so no need for rear access?

ding_dong

stator wrote: »

I think I understand what you are saying and I agree with you, it doesn't sound like you need the alleyway or care about it. I can't see why the mortgage company would care either. Perhaps your solicitor is getting confused. Have you pointed out to him that the house is a corner plot and has access to two roads, so no need for rear access?

Yes, I've shown it to him on Google Maps Street View!

bouicca21

Why not ask the solicitor just what the problem is?

G_M

bouicca21 wrote: »

Why not ask the solicitor just what the problem is?

Now why didn't I think of that.... :think:

Argghhh

maybe you own the alleyway since you wouldnt need right of way to something that is yours but the others would if u get me

ding_dong

bouicca21 wrote: »

Why not ask the solicitor just what the problem is?

Problem, according to the solicitor is that if there is an alleyway next to a property then no matter what mortgage lenders would want to see right of way mentioned in the title deeds otherwise they wouldn't mortgage it because it is a potential security risk or something - makes sense? Doesn't to me.

I am going to discuss this to her on Monday in more detail but on Friday, she seemed quite confident that it is a problem and shouldn't go ahead with it because of this issue. But in the meantime I am trying to find if anyone else knows more about it/has experienced it so that I can discuss it with her accordingly.

Thanks.

bouicca21

That makes no sense. If it is a security issue, why would having a ROW make it any safer?

stator

This is bizzarre. ARe you too far along to find a new solicitor?