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Buying property, land boundary issue advice needed
timporteruk
Posts: 1 Newbie
Howdy all, first time posting here as I'm officially at my whits end.
Myself and my wife are in the process of buying a semi detached house (No 79) about 10 mins away from where we currently live. Everything in the chain is in place, we have a buyer and the people we are buying from have found a new house, we should be at the stage of completion / exchange.
Unfortunately everything is in limbo and it's all down to land boundary lines of the property we want to purchase being incorrect. There's a very small sliver of land on the drive way which is apparently owned by the next door neighbours (No 81). We are in direct contact with the sellers and they have spoken to the neighbours who have stated they do not want to use this small area of land as it would not benefit them in anyway. They have also said they would be happy to sign something stating this.
From the perspective of myself and my wife this should be problem solved. But our solicitor has said that the land boundary must be amended for legal reasons as otherwise our mortgage lender will not lend to us.
The sellers solicitors seem certain that nothing needs to be done as the current land deed states that No 81 must grant unrestricted access to No 79, so although Number 81 does own that small section of land over 79’s driveway, it won’t cause any issues moving forward.
Again, from the perspective of myself and my wife, we’d be very happy for things to proceed based on this reply… But our solicitor will not accept this response and will only be happy until the land boundary has been amended as the land being sold is not accurate to the land registry plans.
The Land Registry shows this small sliver of land as just a hatched marking, a no mans land if you will even though it has been stated that it is owned by 81.
As it stands, everything is in limbo with our solicitors not willing to move things forward until this problem is rectified, and the sellers solicitors deeming it as a non issue.
All everyone wants is for this issue to be resolved so it baffles me that things have just stalled. I’m in direct contact with the sellers and they are equally frustrated that things can’t move forward.
Has anyone else had a similar problem like this? Can anyone give some advice as to how this situation could be solved. My knowledge of amending land boundaries is limited and I have no idea of the cost. Whenever I ask my solicitor for information I get very generic answers, basically stating that it’s not something I need to tackle personally.
It’s been 8 months of trying to move house and we are so close to completion, yet it feels like things have stalled with no way of moving forward due to disagreements with solicitors.
Any help or information would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Tim
Myself and my wife are in the process of buying a semi detached house (No 79) about 10 mins away from where we currently live. Everything in the chain is in place, we have a buyer and the people we are buying from have found a new house, we should be at the stage of completion / exchange.
Unfortunately everything is in limbo and it's all down to land boundary lines of the property we want to purchase being incorrect. There's a very small sliver of land on the drive way which is apparently owned by the next door neighbours (No 81). We are in direct contact with the sellers and they have spoken to the neighbours who have stated they do not want to use this small area of land as it would not benefit them in anyway. They have also said they would be happy to sign something stating this.
From the perspective of myself and my wife this should be problem solved. But our solicitor has said that the land boundary must be amended for legal reasons as otherwise our mortgage lender will not lend to us.
The sellers solicitors seem certain that nothing needs to be done as the current land deed states that No 81 must grant unrestricted access to No 79, so although Number 81 does own that small section of land over 79’s driveway, it won’t cause any issues moving forward.
Again, from the perspective of myself and my wife, we’d be very happy for things to proceed based on this reply… But our solicitor will not accept this response and will only be happy until the land boundary has been amended as the land being sold is not accurate to the land registry plans.
The Land Registry shows this small sliver of land as just a hatched marking, a no mans land if you will even though it has been stated that it is owned by 81.
As it stands, everything is in limbo with our solicitors not willing to move things forward until this problem is rectified, and the sellers solicitors deeming it as a non issue.
All everyone wants is for this issue to be resolved so it baffles me that things have just stalled. I’m in direct contact with the sellers and they are equally frustrated that things can’t move forward.
Has anyone else had a similar problem like this? Can anyone give some advice as to how this situation could be solved. My knowledge of amending land boundaries is limited and I have no idea of the cost. Whenever I ask my solicitor for information I get very generic answers, basically stating that it’s not something I need to tackle personally.
It’s been 8 months of trying to move house and we are so close to completion, yet it feels like things have stalled with no way of moving forward due to disagreements with solicitors.
Any help or information would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Tim
0
Comments
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The sellers must have known about this issue so they or their solicitor should have sorted it out before they put the house on the market. If the seller's solicitor is saying it is a non issue it won't take them long to sort it out then?0
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I'd be inclined to agree with the seller's solicitor.
If it is in the deeds that you have unrestricted access then that should be fine. It shouldn't bother your mortgage company unless that piece of land would significantly alter the value of the house and affect LTV.
The entire front portion of our drive isn't owned by us but we have a right of way in the deeds. The house is 1938, the right of way only legally established in 1978. Our mortgage flew through with no issues.
I'd be inclined to escalate this into a complaint if your solicitor can't reasonably explain why deeds clearly allowing you unrestricted access isn't enough. Are they local?Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
0 -
Your solicitor is also representing your mortgage lender. If he were not, you could simply instruct him to ignore this issue and proceed to Exchanging Contracts.timporteruk wrote: »
.......our solicitor has said that the land boundary must be amended for legal reasons as otherwise our mortgage lender will not lend to us.
The sellers solicitors seem certain that nothing needs to be done as the current land deed states that No 81 must grant unrestricted access to No 79, so although Number 81 does own that small section of land over 79’s driveway, it won’t cause any issues moving forward.........
Indeed, if you now decided to withdraw your mortgage application and pay cash - no problem!
Whilst personally I also agree (from what you've said and without seeing the paperwork....!) that the seller's solicitor is right, you are going to have to either
* convince your soicitor of this, or
* convince your mortgage lender (who will simply take the advice of 'their' solicitor!)
* pay cash instead
* withdraw from the urchase, or
* get the seller to amend the Title to include this slither or
* get the seller and neighbour to draw up a more formal agreement that will satisfy your solicitor0
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