Current Land Registry Plan And Original Title Plan Discrepancies.

luckypotato

Hi,

Would really appreciate any help on this please, so thank you in advance.

My partner and I are in the process of buying a house. We love it. It's a 1930s semi. We have received draft contracts, etc from our conveyancer. The current land registry plan, with boundaries highlighted in red, seems accurate and shows the plot and back garden area that we were expecting.

However, looking at the original title deed from the 1930s with attached plan, with the land highlighted in green shows a much smaller back garden area. It 'appears' as if the house we are looking to buy has somehow eaten into next door's back garden. Which plan is correct and should we be concerned?

Also, the conveyancer didn't pick this up. Should they have done before it was sent to us? I have other queries about the title plan... but that's for another time!

Any advice greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

PasturesNew

It is for you to check the plans and tell the solicitor that's correct/not. They have never been to the property, so the onus is always on the buyer to look at what's included/not and OK it.

At this stage, therefore, the onus is on you to make this an enquiry back to your solicitor, who will check it for you.

They have not visited the property. They can't visualise it. They don't know what's what. They send you the plans to ask "is this what you think you're buying?"

luckypotato

Thanks for the reply. Fair enough - this is the first house I've ever bought so had no clue! I suppose my major query is, if we purchase the house and then someone further down the line purchases next door, can they try and claim back the land that was obviously theirs in the original title plan from the 1930s, but isn't in the current land registry plan? Hope this makes sense.

davidmcn

The current Land Registry plan is the current plan.

The plan from the 1930s is showing a plot which was purchased in the 1930s.

The neighbour is not going to bundle you into a Tardis and make you live by the 1930s boundaries.

The chances are that at some point a further plot has been bought and amalgamated to make up the current title.

If in doubt, speak to your solicitor, as they've seen the titles and we haven't.

Davesnave

Plans change. There may be other documents showing the reason for the change, but what matters is that the document filed at the Land Registry now is accurate, which it seems to be.

It's fine to make additional enquiries with your conveyancer. Ideally, there should be a time when you sit down together and go through the paperwork, but if you are using an on-line one that may not be possible. It's the main reason why I don't go on-line, especially as my last set of title documents were a dog's dinner as regards accuracy.

strawberries1

Land Registry is required by Section 60 of the Land Registration Act, 2002 to show only the general position of a boundary.

Section 12 of the Ordnance Survey Act, 1841 decrees that Ordnance Survey maps "shall not extend, or be deemed or be construed to extend, to ascertain, define, alter, enlarge, increase or decrease, nor in any way to affect, any Boundary or Boundaries of .... any Land or Property".

These two pieces of legislation effectively mean that a title plan cannot show the exact line of a boundary.

G_M

The Land Registry Plan as explained above is not to a minute scale - it shows the general position of the boundary.

If the difference is a mater of a foot or two, I'd not be surprised.

Frome what you say there is a significant difference, which suggests that at some point in the last 90 years the boundary changed. What is surprising about that?

The important thing to check is that the Title you are buying (ie what will be registered as being owned by you after Completion) reflects what you think/expect to buy, based on what you have personally seen.

Does it?

If not, explain the discrepency to your conveyancer. But if the fenced boundary when you view broadly matches the LR Plan, you're fine.