HM Land Registry mistake

Jac1963

I purchased a property on a large plot to renovate last year. This was freehold & with no covenants etc. I had all the searches carried out which revealed nothing. However after purchasing it, the immediate neighbour informed me that they had rights over my land. Proof was given to me via a schedule on their title & a burden of rights. After some months of pursuing by my solicitor HMLR have confirmed that the schedule is correct & they had omitted to add this to my title & i have this admission to their mistake in writing. This is heartbreaking as I bought the property as a forever home, not to have someone else traipse over it & would never have purchased had I known.
However I'm at a loss as how to proceed. I contacted HMLR direct & they are less than helpful. There is a 'practice guide' online on HMLR website but it's not in plain english.
My solicitor has never come across this before & I'm hoping that someone out there may be able to point me in the right direction or like me has found themselves in this position. I'm spending all my funding on the works & don't want to incur extortionate legal charges
Thanks

mije1983

What are the exact rights your neighbour has?

moneyistooshorttomention

What a "couldnt organise a 'drink' in a brewery" scenario by your solicitors.

Am guessing that maybe the best way forward now is to get your neighbour to buy this "right you didnt know they had" off you and then figure out how to get those solicitors/whoever else is responsible for this to pay you compensation to cover the cost of "buying what you thought you already had"????

HampshireH

How is it the solicitors fault if the Land Registry have confirmed that they forgot to include it at somestage and therefore it was invisible to any one looking?

Do solicitors generally look at neighbouring titles?

shortcrust

What are the practical implications? Various neighbours of mine have right of access etc over my land (for very sensible reasons) but it’s not caused me any problems.

da_rule

If the Land Registry rectify your title to include this and this causes you a loss you may be able to claim for this under their indemnity policy.

HMLR Practice Guide 39:

4.1.1 Mistakes
A right to claim indemnity will arise if:

1) there is a mistake in the register, and
2) the correction of that mistake would prejudicially affect the title of the registered proprietor of the land in question or a charge over that land, or has already done so.

Do you have a mortgage, and if so, have you informed them yet as if it causes a decrease in value to the property (and therefore diminishes their security) they may also want to claim?

Obviously it may be that, depending on what these rights are, they don't devalue the land or cause you any loss (other than the fact you don't like it).

maisie_cat

HampshireH wrote: »

How is it the solicitors fault if the Land Registry have confirmed that they forgot to include it at somestage and therefore it was invisible to any one looking?

Do solicitors generally look at neighbouring titles?

Our solicitor did, and spotted that the boundaries differed slightly where our seller had sold a strip in 1968 and it hadn't been recorded on next door's title.

Clutterfree

shortcrust wrote: »

What are the practical implications? Various neighbours of mine have right of access etc over my land (for very sensible reasons) but it’s not caused me any problems.

Same here, 3 neighbours have pedestrian right of way from their back gate down our drive to the footpath - no problems.

What does the right of way entail?

Davesnave

Jac1963 wrote: »

This is heartbreaking as I bought the property as a forever home, not to have someone else traipse over it & would never have purchased had I known.

And this is vague!

While your neighbour may have a right of way, it is likely that the route is prescribed. It might be used only infrequently.


Our neighbour has their access across our front garden, but the garden's large, so we've given them their own track, seperate from ours. They cannot park on it or see inside our house from there, therefore the bald fact of neighbour access doesn't give a very full picture at all.

So what inconvenience does this cause you?

Thrugelmir

Jac1963 wrote: »

However after purchasing it, the immediate neighbour informed me that they had rights over my land. Proof was given to me via a schedule on their title & a burden of rights.

Seems they knew that you didn't. Why was that?

G_M

mije1983 wrote: »

What are the exact rights your neighbour has?

Pointless speculating till this is clarified.