Worrying historic ownership

treecol

Thank you for so many good replies. I've emailed the "Highways searches" dept at the county council asking for their info as to who owns the roads etc. There was nothing in our deeds when we purchased it to say the house in question was responsible for the upkeep & neither were we. My neighbour is the local historian & he says the council adopted all the local roads pre 1960.....he says the land registry information needs to be corrected.
So I'm thinking we could use this to bargain with? The question is, how much does it devalue the property by (presuming I can ascertain that the council will confirm house owner has no liability).
I will post the exact wording of the document when I get them for clarity. I haven't instructed our solicitor to look into it yet as it seemed a waste of money at this stage if we too would not proceed with the purchase.

iammumtoone

Are you sure this is the reason for the previous buyers pulling out?

It seems odd that the owners of the house (who you would assume know the reasons) would not dispute this and get the information on the road ownership themselves to help with their sale.

Doozergirl

treecol wrote: »

Thank you for so many good replies. I've emailed the "Highways searches" dept at the county council asking for their info as to who owns the roads etc. There was nothing in our deeds when we purchased it to say the house in question was responsible for the upkeep & neither were we. My neighbour is the local historian & he says the council adopted all the local roads pre 1960.....he says the land registry information needs to be corrected.
So I'm thinking we could use this to bargain with? The question is, how much does it devalue the property by (presuming I can ascertain that the council will confirm house owner has no liability).
I will post the exact wording of the document when I get them for clarity. I haven't instructed our solicitor to look into it yet as it seemed a waste of money at this stage if we too would not proceed with the purchase.

Not a bargaining tool.

Their solicitor sorts it with the land registry, it goes away.

shortcrust

Doozergirl wrote: »

Not a bargaining tool.

Their solicitor sorts it with the land registry, it goes away.

My thoughts exactly.

treecol

Got the deed today. There is nothing out of the ordinary in the wording. The title plan says "The freehold land shown edged in red on the plan of the above title filed at the Registry and being (address)".
The property itself is edged in red & so, strangely, is the road I live in (which is behind the said property). The outline on my road includes pavements & grass verges. The highways search today emailed back to say that the maintenance of the road is funded by public monies.
The only reason I know about people pulling out for that reason is the previous buyer stopped to talk to my husband outside here one day while they were looking at the road - they had the same plan I've just obtained. They told DH they were pulling out the following day because of it - they told him others had done the same. The estate agent claims they are unaware of it, but after my initial enquiry spoke to the vendor's solicitor who informed them that any owner of the property also owns local roads etc.
So it all seems very odd. Deeds say the road is owned by that house, highways say the road is adopted by the local authority, vendor's solicitor says house owns the road. I will see our solicitor in January to see what she makes of it.

G_M

treecol wrote: »

So it all seems very odd.
Deeds say the road is owned by that house,
highways say the road is adopted by the local authority,
vendor's solicitor says house owns the road.

There is nothing odd or unusual.

Ownership is one matter.

Adoption (and therefore maintenance) by LA is an entirely separate matter.

You can simply be pleased that someone else (the local authority) will have the obligation and expense of maintaining your road!

treecol

G_M wrote: »

There is nothing odd or unusual.

Ownership is one matter.

Adoption (and therefore maintenance) by LA is an entirely separate matter.

You can simply be pleased that someone else (the local authority) will have the obligation and expense of maintaining your road!

So would you have any concerns about purchasing the property ( I realise you only have the limited information I've given you) based on that?

Doozergirl

treecol wrote: »

So would you have any concerns about purchasing the property ( I realise you only have the limited information I've given you) based on that?

GM is correct and I would have no concerns. People are funny things. Instead of getting educated, they walk away from perfectly decent property thinking there's something wrong with it.

Roads are adopted, you have written confirmation, therefore it's not a problem to you.

iammumtoone

Still doesn't seem right to me. 5 solicitors (4 buyers and one for the seller) have missed the fact you just need to check who is responsible for the maintenance :eek:

There was a maintenance issue regarding a flat I was looking to buy, previous buyer had pulled out beforehand for the same reason. I pulled out as well but not before my solicitor had investigated fully. At the same time seller and their solicitor were actively trying to resolve (working with the Freeholder) I am sure by the time the third buyer came along it was probably sorted but I wasn't prepared to wait.

ProDave

Have you actually asked the vendor if they will split the title, sell you the house, and keep "ownership" (and whatever obligations go with it) of the roads themselves.