Access Road to Garage been Sold!

Glover1862

My Father has just been informed that the very small access road directly next to his house has come up for sale on Rightmove, they want £12500 for it. It's the only access to his garage and provides rear access to about 10 other houses and access to a school field.

Apparently, the council sold the land to a private individual who is now reselling it. We always though it would be shared or possibly owned by the school, I wouldn't think the council would sell, but clearly they have. Apart from making an offer is there anything we can do, I'm waiting for a call back from he council, dad is in panic!

molerat

The only thing you can do is find out what rights you have to pass over that land. Who owns it will have no effect on those rights. Are there any plans for the school field, this may be a very shrewd move by someone to make a lot of money.

lincroft1710

Check what rights (if any) he has over the access road. These should be on his house deeds. Buying the road might be a good idea or could be a very bad idea if he has to maintain it and there is no liability for other users to contribute.

Glover1862

I'm calling the solicitors now, but difficult to know who owns it now and who previously owned it. The house was build 1905 and he's been there since 1960, not sure how good the record keeping was then or anyone had rights to it al all.

davidmcn

Why the panic? Either he has access rights or he doesn't, it doesn't make much difference who the current owner of the land is. If he's been there since 1960 then he's probably deemed to have such rights by now anyway.

Glover1862

davidmcn wrote: »

Why the panic? Either he has access rights or he doesn't, it doesn't make much difference who the current owner of the land is. If he's been there since 1960 then he's probably deemed to have such rights by now anyway.

I've told him not to worry about it and I'll deal with it, he's still very worried that one of the other neighbours may buy it and cut off the access, or the current put up a gate. He actually wants to offer £10k for it but I've told him not so fast!

AdrianC

If it's already been sold in the last decade or two, then have a look on the Land Registry site. For a handful of pound coins, you'll get to see what rights of access are documented, and you can then compare them with your father's deeds.

If your father's deeds differ in his favour, then this might be a good excuse to register his place. With all due respect, if he's been there for nearly 60 years, you're likely to be doing it sooner or later anyway.

moneyistooshorttomention

davidmcn wrote: »

Why the panic? Either he has access rights or he doesn't, it doesn't make much difference who the current owner of the land is. If he's been there since 1960 then he's probably deemed to have such rights by now anyway.

If he's been there since 1960 - yep...agreed.

But that makes him probably "getting on a bit" age-wise and it would be as well for him to write out an official letter now - confirming that he's been there that long/his property has always had use of it and certainly for more than 20 years/etc/etc. The phrase I'm thinking of is "prescriptive rights".

Worst case analysis = all the properties (including the school) buy the road (ie about £1,000 each). The downside of that being = what happens re maintenance of said road?

...and..yep...agreed that I would pay the Land Registry £3 (online)/£7 if not bought on online and get the Title Plan of this lane. Don't forget to also shell out £3 (or £7) for the Register entry as well. Then you know what basis you're working on to start with - worth it for £14 maximum to know what the paperwork says to start with - and then you can figure out whether all properties buy it jointly between them or "What the heck - it doesnt matter anyway?".

Glover1862

AdrianC wrote: »

If it's already been sold in the last decade or two, then have a look on the Land Registry site. For a handful of pound coins, you'll get to see what rights of access are documented, and you can then compare them with your father's deeds.

If your father's deeds differ in his favour, then this might be a good excuse to register his place. With all due respect, if he's been there for nearly 60 years, you're likely to be doing it sooner or later anyway.

Thanks, I've managed to get a title plan of my fathers house but difficult to find this strip of road as it has no postcode, I've managed to find a "unique asset identity number" from the council. This Road is not included on the title plan which was expected.

AdrianC

LR do a map search.

moneyistooshorttomention

Another thing I'd be interested in is as to whether the school is a State or private one.

That being - if it's State = cash-strapped. If it's private = maybe that's why this "person" bought it and it's the School they've got in their sights....:cool: