Boundary though driveway.

PixelPound

I am buying a 1930's ex-council semi that has a garage and driveway, but the boundary of the property is likely to be partially along the drive, so wondering what options I have for the future though as it stands it isn't a problem.

The estate was built by the council in 1930's and the boundary between each is straight down the middle between each block. At some point the council has built garage between each property, but only such that it belongs to one neighbour, on their land, and the non-adjoining neighbour has no garage. The space between the houses has been turned into a driveway, for the neighbour with the garage, and a path, for the neighbour without. This seems to be replicated along the street on all similar semi's.

Now, whilst this situation is fine when all are council owned, some have been bought (RTB), the one we are buying was in 1991, and is now selling after probate. Next door's is still council owned, with a lovely old man in. The fence between the path /driveway has mostly been removed (I guess mostly fell down as what is up is old). Looking at the title plan for the property it shows the boundary as a straight line between the end of the garage and the front of the property, which means about a quarter of the drive belongs to the neighbour (the council).

This isn't a problem, and tbh we don't aim to sell, haven't paid a premium for dedicated drive, and if it means narrowing it that's fine. However how would we go about having all the drive.

The reason is that whilst we are happy with the status, at some point the old man will no longer be our neighbour, and we could get a young family with kids who would play in the drive (we have dogs) or someone with a car who thinks its shared and want to park on it. So at some point a fence will go up, just easier to place it where the old fence was even though its technically not our land.

AnnieO1234

Just because the other property doesn't have a garage does not mean it's not a shared drive hon. Speak with your solicitor.

G_M

nic_c wrote: »

I am buying a 1930's ex-council semi that has a garage and driveway, but the boundary of the property is likely to be partially along the drive, so wondering what options I have for the future though as it stands it isn't a problem.
.

So you are just guessing?

So there is no point us replying!

Look at the Title Deed, and the Title Plan. Check where the boundary actually is.
Check what rights of access each party has, and what responsibilities (eg for maintenance).

THEN ask questions!

Rambosmum

We nearly bought a house like this and the contract of both properties (both ex-council, both privately owned) was very clear that both parties could use the driveway to access the back/ side of their properties but neither could obstruct the driveway/ path with anything without written permission from the other (e.g. to allow you to put a skip on it for a few days). It meant that we could drive the car to the and from the garage but not park a car on the drive itself as this would be an obstruction. Similarly they could not put a fence up on their path bit as this would not allow us full access to the garage.

The bit of contract on this but was water tight (said our solicitor). The sale fell through for other reasons.

PixelPound

I have looked at both the title of my property and that of the council one next door. Neither mention shared drive nor any access rights. So it isn't shared, but as the title plan has a straight line then the driveway hasn't been factored in.

mrschaucer

So you only "own" and have rights over what's on your deeds. Can you drive to the garage on your bit of the so-called drive? If so and you're worried about kids next door, you can legitimately fence it off. Are you concerned next door might object? If you can't access your own garage by car on your own property, then you might want to explore legal routes to give you access rights over your neighbour's land, but there's no guarantee he would agree and it would certainly cost.

Davesnave

Sometimes the title plan is wrong, but an extra bit has been drafted to take care of changes since the original construction. Mine is like that: altered separately 35 years on, because I wouldn't buy without the changes being reflected in the paperwork.

Are you sure you have had access to all the documentation?

PixelPound

The neighbours land is council owned, so I assume it's not up to the neighbour?

PixelPound

Davesnave wrote: »

Sometimes the title plan is wrong, but an extra bit has been drafted to take care of changes since the original construction. Mine is like that: altered separately 35 years on, because I wouldn't buy without the changes being reflected in the paperwork.

Are you sure you have had access to all the documentation?

No, I don't - the online version from the land registry makes reference to some condition that isn't there, so I assume I need a different version.

It's not a deal breaker, but wanting to know options. Maybe my solicitor could clarify regarding the deeds just don't want to delay purchase as we will never use garage to drive into (probably could access anyway, just be tight with big car :-) )

DTDfanBoy

nic_c wrote: »

The neighbours land is council owned, so I assume it's not up to the neighbour?

Well the council has currently leased the land to your neighbour so they will undoubtedly play a role in things, especially if they have a secure tenancy.

PixelPound

G_M wrote: »

So you are just guessing?

So there is no point us replying!

Look at the Title Deed, and the Title Plan. Check where the boundary actually is.
Check what rights of access each party has, and what responsibilities (eg for maintenance).

THEN ask questions!

The online title deed doesn't say and the title deed for next door, council, is for the next 2 properties one of which has garage/drive doesn't say for either.
So my assumptions were because the deeds (at least electronic ones) don't say.
As far as boundaries the title deed simply says as indicated on the plan.