splitting a property and boundary issues

F_Bear

need some help regarding the splitting of a property which basically made the workshop and house 2 different property's, a and b. A been the house and B the shop.

a contract was written up with shop plus 1 metre of land around said shop. land register drawing only shows 1 meter around back of shop, not the side :-/

new owner moves into house and says we have no right to use the 1 meter along the side as its not on the land register map.

where do we stand?

G_M

So you own the shop yes?

Who owned the property before it was split?
When it was split, who took ownership of A and who took ownership of B?
Who was 'the contract' between? were you one of the parties?

Presumably when the split happened a TP1 was submitted (by someone????) to the Land Registry, along with the appropriate Plans.
Who submitted them and who saw and aproved them?

Where do you feature in all this?

F_Bear

thanks for the reply.

yes, i own the shop. the previous owner of the house owned both and i rented - then when he sold up he split into 2 lots. i took over the shop and new owner the house.

the contract was between the old owner and us - i assumed this would become the deeds for our plot?

our solicitor handled all the split but he has now retired

G_M

Well your solicitor would have sent you a copy for approval of the Plan that was to accompany the TP1 that he would have submitted to the LR on your behalf when you Comleted the purchase.

So either

1) that Plan omitted the 1 meter plot in question, and you did not notice and approved it like that, or

2) that Plan included the 1 meter plot in question, and the Land Registry recorded it wrongly when they created the new Title for your shop

I cannot say which. You could investigate, and then take it up with whoever was at fault (yourself or the LR).

F_Bear

thanks again,

it would probably have been 1 as i read the contract saying the 1 meter and it was hard to see on the map due to scale. i was probably abit naive too as i thought the solicitor would know what hes doing :-/

if it was 1 and i didnt notice would the contract hold water if it went as far as court or would the land register plan be the deciding factor?

thanks again

G_M

Hmmm. I'm not a solicitor, and I've no direct personal experience of TP1s, but

* yes, LR Plan scales are not really sufficient for precise boundary disputes. Is there no physical indication of the location of the boundary?

* I'd have expected the Plan submitted with the TP1 would have been simply a copy of the Plan in the contract. Though perhaps LR require a specific format which would have required re-creating based on the contract Plan?

* And if the Plan submitted by your solicitor to the LR did not reflect the Plan agreed in the contract, there might be a case to be made against either
a) your (retired) solicitor or his firm, for negligence. Though as I said earlier, he'd have submitted it to you for approval surely? Or
b) against the former owner with whom you had a contract, for failing to provide you with all the land specified in that contract. Though it would have been you/your solicitor who submitted the LR TP1 defining the area of land to be registered

* I don't see how the new owner can be held at fault, so doubt any claim against him could succeed.

You need to dig out, or request from your solicitor's firm (or the firm that took over), or request from the LR, the TP1 applcation & Plan to take a look.

If the LR Rep is still awake (!!) he might read this and comment - they usually knock off for the weekend at 5ish on Fridays....