Garden issue- Land registry question

pickles13

We are currently in the process of buying our first home, which includes a large rear garden. The solicitor sent us the Land Registry form which showed that the very rear part of the garden was not included. Every house on our side of the street has the same size garden but our one is the only one with the boundary line approx 4m from the rear garden gate. We queried it and the solicitor has said that the vendor has used that part of the garden for over 20 years without any issues. The solicitor has requested the vendor to make an application to the Land Registry to seek adverse possession of the land. My questions are;

Is this a complicated process?
Will this make much of a delay to exchange date?
Is this application something we can do if the vendor refuses? (If it would be just as easy for us to do rather than increase the time to exchange than we may consider that).

Thanks

camptownraces

The vendor has to apply for adverse possession, as he is the one who has been in occupation (has to be for 10+ years I think).

If you bought as is, you'd have to occupy the land adversely for 10 years before you could apply.

Your solicitor should be explaining all this to you, and also how long the process might reasonably be expected to take. It depends somewhat on how long HMLR are taking to process applications at the moment.

G_M

No. The seller could make a declaration that he has occupied the land, and the buyer could rely on that.

However, if the land is important to you I would not rely on this - get the ownership sorted before you buy.

Have you done a map search of the Land Registry to see if that bit of land is registered, and if so who owns it?

See also:

Adverse possession of registered land (PG4)



Pre 2003 right to adverse possession (registered & unregistered)

pickles13

G_M wrote: »

No. The seller could make a declaration that he has occupied the land, and the buyer could rely on that.

However, if the land is important to you I would not rely on this - get the ownership sorted before you buy.

Have you done a map search of the Land Registry to see if that bit of land is registered, and if so who owns it?

See also:

Adverse possession of registered land (PG4)



Pre 2003 right to adverse possession (registered & unregistered)

Thank you GM. I have had a look at the land registry site but am finding it difficult to understand. I have no idea how I would go about finding out who owns the land.

My solicitor hasn't spoken to me about this yet.... she just sent me the report after I had raised the query.

G_M

pickles13 wrote: »

Thank you GM. I have had a look at the land registry site but am finding it difficult to understand. I have no idea how I would go about finding out who owns the land.

My solicitor hasn't spoken to me about this yet.... she just sent me the report after I had raised the query.

do a map search and identify any titles which may cover the land in question.

The scale of the map makes it hard to be sure - the only way to check is to buy the Title Plans (£3 each) for any registered Titles which may be relevant.

The look carefully at each Plan. If it covers the garden, then buy the Title itself (£3) and check the registered owner.

Land_Registry

It's the Map Enquiry service you would use but if unable to identify the land/details online then a search of the index map (form SIM) should be used. Our online guidance explains the options

The Seller's solicitor will I suspect have already completed their own search so worth asking for confirmation of the details revealed.

As G_M posts it is often best to sort such things out before exchanging etc but it all depends on the supporting evidence the seller provides and your legal advice. The PG4 you were linked to explains some of the complexities involved and every application is treated on merit - such things are not that unusual and can often be resolved but they will potentially add to timescales if all the pieces do not fall into place