Pavement included in deeds?

Will_of_the_forest

The title deeds show that the pavement is included in the boundary line. Does that mean that if anyone were to trip or fall that we would be responsible? Also if a water pipe burst under the pavement would we be responsible for that as well?

EachPenny

Will_of_the_forest wrote: »

The title deeds show that the pavement is included in the boundary line. Does that mean that if anyone were to trip or fall that we would be responsible? Also if a water pipe burst under the pavement would we be responsible for that as well?

Is the property on a new development, or is it on an old (i.e. historic) road?

Liabilty depends on whether the road (and footway) are adopted and/or are highways maintainable at public expense.

Many people 'own' the land up to the centre of the carriageway, but rights relating to the surface and some sub-soil of the area taken up by the road and/or verge/footway are vested in the relevant Highway Authority.

Generally speaking, roads which have been constructed by highway authorities will be on land they own. Roads which existed as paths and tracks before being surfaced with tarmac will have more complex land ownership.

elmer

my deeds go to the centre of the road, but our road and pavement are maintained by the council

elmer

Margot123

This often happens where a parcel of land is sold many years ago from the property you own in order to establish a public highway or footpath. Your solicitor should be able to source the title transfer from your deeds to the highway's responsibility. Sometimes the transfers go missing if there are several transactions over several years.

Will_of_the_forest

Thank you all for your help. I should have said in my post that the house is over 40 years old and is ex-council. Is there any cost/drawbacks involved in transfering pavement to the council/highways?

davidmcn

Will_of_the_forest wrote: »

Thank you all for your help. I should have said in my post that the house is over 40 years old and is ex-council. Is there any cost/drawbacks involved in transfering pavement to the council/highways?

It would help if you told us why you're asking! Are you buying the house? Do you already own it? Or do you have some other interest?

G_M

Will_of_the_forest wrote: »

... Is there any cost/drawbacks involved in transfering pavement to the council/highways?

Yes there would be a cost - transferring any land involves a cost.

But the biggest hurdle is surely persuading the council to take ownership. Seems unlikely they would agree.

Will_of_the_forest

In the process of buying the property and have only recently seen the title deeds

davidmcn

Will_of_the_forest wrote: »

In the process of buying the property and have only recently seen the title deeds

And have you yet found out (or do you have a reasonable guess) whether or not it's adopted for maintenance by the highways authority? As stated in the first reply, if it's a public road/pavement then liability for maintenance falls to the council. Underlying land ownership is pretty irrelevant.

Assuming you've got a solicitor acting for you, they'll (hopefully) explain all this once they've got all the searches in.

As for pipes - not much to do with land ownership. If it's your pipe (e.g. for a water pipe, the stretch between the water company's valve and your house) then it's your liability.

EachPenny

davidmcn wrote: »

...As stated in the first reply, if it's a public road/pavement then liability for maintenance falls to the council. Underlying land ownership is pretty irrelevant.
...
As for pipes - not much to do with land ownership. If it's your pipe (e.g. for a water pipe, the stretch between the water company's valve and your house) then it's your liability.

This is potentially a case where land ownership is important and might explain what the OP has discovered in the deeds. Most local authorities differentiate between areas of land used for different purposes and internally is 'owned' by different departments. This often crops up in council housing developments where some roads and footways are public highway 'owned' by the highways department, whilst other roads and footways could be 'estate roads/paths' which are 'owned' by the housing department.

It is plausible that the road carriageway may be adopted as public highway and be 'highway land' but the footway (and verges) may be 'housing land' instead. The significance of this is that when council houses are sold, the solicitors and property services team will also (obviously) sell the land associated with this house. It would be a relatively simple error to sell the 'housing owned' land the footway is constructed on, rather than retaining it as part of housing ownership.

Also, unfortunately the footway is usually home to phone, cable TV and electricity supply cables. So the OP could find this piece of land contains more than just the connections to the house.

Will_of_the_forest wrote: »

Thank you all for your help. I should have said in my post that the house is over 40 years old and is ex-council. Is there any cost/drawbacks involved in transfering pavement to the council/highways?

As G_M says there will be a cost, and you may have trouble persuading the council to buy back the land. But I do think it would be worth asking them, if nothing else to clarify the land ownership and maintenance obligations.