Help with Land Registry!

GavManB

Hi, I hope someone here can help as this is driving my partner and I insane!

We bought our house in 2007 and have just had an offer on it. All good so far. Then there is a discrepancy with our garden, the top part of our garden (the house end) is shared but both us and our neighbour keep to our sides. There's no fence separating these two parts but according to land registry we don't own the land outside of our own back door, the neighbour does.

Our buyer won't continue unless we attain this piece of land but I can't believe we don't own it and it's written in a lot of places that land reg isn't gospel but that's all we have to go on.

I have some pictures but this site won't let me post any links yet!

We have spoken to our neighbour who has had a surveyor out and claims the surveyor says it's worth £3000! I think that's a ridiculous amount of money!

If someone could shed some light on what to do that would be great as we have had an offer accepted on our dream house and don't want to lose it!

Thanks,

Gav.

Surrey_EA

What does your solicitor say? They really should be your first port of call with something like this.

Are you using the same solicitors who acted when you bought the property?

GavManB

We spoke to our solicitor initially (not the same as the original one), and they suggested a right of way contract but the buyers weren't happy about this, which I can understand. They haven't been much help really. All that seemed to remain was to buy the strip of land which I would guess from what the surveyor hinted to us, to be about £500, the neighbour says £3000.

Surrey_EA

Very tricky to value a piece of land with such a limited market, and a lot will depend on how accommodating your neighbours wish to be. Hopefully they will be reasonable and you can come to a sensible arrangement with them, but they could very easily take advantage of the situation if they realise they have the ability to jeopardise your sale.

moneyistooshorttomention

How big is the strip of land concerned? (ie width in feet/length in feet).

What sort of part of the country are you in? (well....without giving clues...perhaps a comment giving an indication of what price would be charged on average for a starter 2 bedroom Victorian terrace). This - so we can work out whether its a dear/middling or cheaper part of the country and have an idea of land price accordingly.

GavManB

Well, I think that's exactly what they're doing. The land is literally so small, you couldn't possibly do anything with it. 5.6m long by 1.6m tapering down to 0.6m!

I know someone who bought a piece of land at the bottom of their garden for £2000 and it was 93ft x 9ft!

GavManB

I live in Lowestoft in Suffolk, old house, worth around £100,000, three bedroom (converted attic).

Mojisola

GavManB wrote: »

There's no fence separating these two parts but according to land registry we don't own the land outside of our own back door, the neighbour does.

Our buyer won't continue unless we attain this piece of land but I can't believe we don't own it and it's written in a lot of places that land reg isn't gospel but that's all we have to go on.

We have spoken to our neighbour who has had a surveyor out and claims the surveyor says it's worth £3000! I think that's a ridiculous amount of money!

It's worth whatever they can get you to pay! Without changing the ownership, you won't be able to sell the house.

I'd be complaining loudly to the solicitor you employed when you bought the house - they should have picked this up.

Post a couple more posts and you'll be able to put up some pictures.

GavManB

Is it worth my time and effort complaining to my original solicitor? Is it likely to get me anywhere?

Surrey_EA

It's not really the size that determines the value in this case, but the importance of that particular piece of land.

I'm surprised that your solicitor didn't pick this up when you bought the property, particularly if there was a mortgage involved.

If you want to get things resolved quickly your only real option is to negotiate with your neighbour and see how far you can get them to move from £3000. If you're willing to invest some more time then you may want to take this up with the solicitors who acted on your behalf 8 years ago.

moneyistooshorttomention

GavManB wrote: »

Well, I think that's exactly what they're doing. The land is literally so small, you couldn't possibly do anything with it. 5.6m long by 1.6m tapering down to 0.6m!

I know someone who bought a piece of land at the bottom of their garden for £2000 and it was 93ft x 9ft!

As I understand it - its the norm for purchaser of a bit of land to pay the legal fees involved in doing so. Personally, put like that, I definitely wouldn't be expecting to pay more than £1,000 including those legal fees then (so maybe £500, excluding the fees, would be appropriate).

Sounds like the neighbour is trying to "milk it" to be after £3k for it then.

Is there any chance you could say to the neighbour "Hmm....I'd need £3,000 more from my buyer to cover the £3k you want for this strip of land" and then go on to say that you have a choice of two potential buyers. Tell neighbour that one buyer seems like a decent sort of person/you'd prefer to sell your house to them on the one hand. The other buyer would be prepared to pay an extra £3k to cover the cost of this strip of land, but they "Look like trouble to me...turned up in a souped-up car/dressed like a chav/etc. But needs must....and I'll have to sell to the noisy chav for that £3k extra to find the £3k you want if it comes to it............".

Leave the neighbour to it to work out whether you are bluffing or no and how much they WOULDNT like to have a noisy chav for a neighbour;)

I don't believe in going in for unethical conduct basically but, when someone else starts it, then I will finish it.....hence my suggestion.