Buying - ‘private garden’ turns out to be shared green

Lanaiya

I am due to complete on purchasing a one bedroom bungalow in 3 weeks time. - I am in Scotland. On viewing the title deeds, the garden that was advertised as belonging to the property is actually a ‘shared drying green’ that is shared with the neighbouring property - a council house with long term (elderly) tenants.
The area is fenced off as if belonging to the house and appears to have been fenced this way for some time due to mature shrubs on both sides. It looks as though the neighbours have split the area in half to give each a seperate garden, but this is not in the title deeds. I am concerned as the house is not as advertised, effectively there is now no garden with the house, plus neighbours could walk right on front of my lounge window to hang up their washing.

Has anyone been through this before? I have no idea what to do for the best....

ProDave

Find out how long for certain it has been fenced. If more than 12 years you might win a claim for adverse possession.

davidmcn

ProDave wrote: »

Find out how long for certain it has been fenced. If more than 12 years you might win a claim for adverse possession.

No they won't. They're in Scotland. No adverse possession here without first registering a title.

casper_g

You couldn't get adverse possession even in England, if the two sets of neighbours had mutually agreed to split the space into two. For adverse possession, you need to be using the land without permission, AIUI.

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I had the same situation on a flat in England.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I got a sworn statement from a neighbour (the vendor had only owned the flat for 2 yrs) that the garden had been fenced as it was for x years.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Nothing else was done and the flat was sold exactly as I bought it 4 yrs later.[/FONT]

Nebulous2

I've recently been in a similar position.

Bought a house with a small paved courtyard area. This was previously a right of way for access to houses behind. They didn't want people accessing the rear of their houses and fenced it off to prevent that around 20 years ago.

When I got the plan to check from my solicitor the title only covered the house. I complained that the house had been advertised with the courtyard. My solicitor chased it and the land which was unregistered has now been registered in my name as part of the sale.

I've no idea if that can still be challenged or not. My solicitor said. "They have transferred ownership to you as far as they were able to do so."

It wasn't a deal breaker for me, just an annoyance.

Lanaiya

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. Last night I discovered on google maps there used to be a gate seperate in the house from the drying green, so the seller must have put the fence up in the last few years. I feel led on that the seller did not tell me this on my 2 viewings

PasturesNew

While it is as it is, with the neighbours, it'll be fine.. but the week after you buy it they might move .... and be replaced by a family with roaming kids, who see the green as "great place for the kids to play" and arbitrarily remove the fence and toss their kids/cousins/grand-children, friends from school into that space with 3 footballs and 2 dogs and say "go outside and play, us adults want some peace and quiet".

So don't just talk yourself into believing "it'll be OK" - make SURE it'll be OK.

Norman_Castle

If the area is big enough to be split by the two properties its odd it wasn't originally done this way. The council and the neighbours may be happy with the split but as you will be taking ownership of the land the current owners may want paying for it although you are, in effect exchanging your rights over the whole area for exclusive use of half of it which could be seen as a fair exchange.

moneyistooshorttomention

Norman_Castle wrote: »

If the area is big enough to be split by the two properties its odd it wasn't originally done this way. .

Not necessarily odd - it seems that's just how it was with Council housing/still is with Council housing that is still in "public" hands.

I walk past public sector housing here (formerly Council housing) and I can see these "communal" looking grass front gardens in front of them and am there mentally thinking "Exactly where is the boundary? - as I can't see it and would just have to take an educated guess as to what was Mine and what wasn't Mine" - but it's not that relevant to think that way when one doesn't own one's front garden, because one doesn't own ones house either.

I'm guessing most people aren't so concerned to define what is "mine" and what isn't "mine" until it's somewhere they are paying for themselves. At that point = "It's MY house - as I've bought it. So which bit of outside land is MY garden then? and I will exclude all others from it".

pinklady21

What does your solicitor have to say about it?
Might it be possible to get the seller to formally purchase the piece of garden land from the Council? Will probably take a while, but they had no right to promise to sell you a piece of land they do not own!

I agree with others, while there may be no issue now with the current neighbours, who knows who might move in next.
Personally, having bought a flat in a Council block, where around half the properties are still council owned, I would not do it again. The turnover of tenants can be quite rapid, and there have been some real characters moved in above my flat who have caused no end of issues for my tenants below. Best of luck.