Part of garden is registered to previous owner

xylophone

firstly the owner needs to be contacted

Since then we have done some digging and discovered that this piece of land has its own title deed and is still registered to the previous owner who died in the 90s.

Seance?:eek:

More seriously, (and if necessary) if this person left a will, it could be possible to get a copy of it and contact the executor?

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

Land_Registry

As already posted the legal ownership can either be transferred by the registered owner or their executor. Or the seller applies to claim the land through adverse possession over the past x number of years.

If we are so far on as suggested in my experience the seller is likely to go the second route as they are in essence dealing with themselves and the facts of their own claim. Trying to trace the legal owner/their executor and getting them involved may be problematic and time consuming.

aeg85

Land_Registry wrote: »

As already posted the legal ownership can either be transferred by the registered owner or their executor. Or the seller applies to claim the land through adverse possession over the past x number of years.

If we are so far on as suggested in my experience the seller is likely to go the second route as they are in essence dealing with themselves and the facts of their own claim. Trying to trace the legal owner/their executor and getting them involved may be problematic and time consuming.

As far as I'm aware the original owner died and the house was leasehold and transferred to a company upon his death. This company has managed the leasehold for the house ever since and the current owners have just purchased the freehold for the property for this sale. Now the garden I am on about is the path that runs down the side of the house and was purchased by the original owner (the guy who died) back in the 70s and I think it was forgotten about.

aeg85

babyblade41 wrote: »

I would have thought so, only this time they do know who owns it so they will have to trace this persons heirs to get the transfer done... this will be done by the seller before exchange .

The original owner may want financial recompense if they have any sense as well

I doubt this will be a quick fix

The original owner died years ago and I think the house was transferred to a leasehold company to manage. The garden is a freehold title and as far as I know there are no relatives.

babyblade41

aeg85 wrote: »

The original owner died years ago and I think the house was transferred to a leasehold company to manage. The garden is a freehold title and as far as I know there are no relatives.

I' expect this to be complex and pretty much out of your hands, it will be up to the vendor which way they want to proceed

Take the advice from your solicitor on how to proceed as this may take some time to sort out

aeg85

Land_Registry wrote: »

As already posted the legal ownership can either be transferred by the registered owner or their executor. Or the seller applies to claim the land through adverse possession over the past x number of years.

If we are so far on as suggested in my experience the seller is likely to go the second route as they are in essence dealing with themselves and the facts of their own claim. Trying to trace the legal owner/their executor and getting them involved may be problematic and time consuming.

If they opted to claim adverse possession, how long would that take to get sorted? They have lived there for over 20 years with this strip of land as part of their garden with no issues. We have 9 weeks left to port our mortgage over otherwise we lose a lump sum of money. Is this do-able? Thanks in advance.

babyblade41

aeg85 wrote: »

If they opted to claim adverse possession, how long would that take to get sorted? They have lived there for over 20 years with this strip of land as part of their garden with no issues. We have 9 weeks left to port our mortgage over otherwise we lose a lump sum of money. Is this do-able? Thanks in advance.

It is doable but that depends on whether all the historical information is at hand and LR can move forward...It depends how proactive the vendors are as it will cost them

Land_Registry

aeg85 wrote: »

If they opted to claim adverse possession, how long would that take to get sorted? They have lived there for over 20 years with this strip of land as part of their garden with no issues. We have 9 weeks left to port our mortgage over otherwise we lose a lump sum of money. Is this do-able? Thanks in advance.

9 weeks is very likely to be too short a timescale as with the vast majority if claims a site visit/survey is required and wider checks made. All of which would take a significant chunk of the 9 weeks to complete in most cases.

Only way to stand a chance I suspect is for the application to be expedited so that those two stages happen asap. Your conveyancer is though best placed to advise on timescales/risks and the seller's conveyancer should know when application made and how to request expedition.

davidmcn

aeg85 wrote: »

They have lived there for over 20 years with this strip of land as part of their garden with no issues.

The alternative is you just take a view on it. How important is this strip of land? ie what size is it, is necessary for access, are there any buildings on it?

aeg85

Land_Registry wrote: »

9 weeks is very likely to be too short a timescale as with the vast majority if claims a site visit/survey is required and wider checks made. All of which would take a significant chunk of the 9 weeks to complete in most cases.

Only way to stand a chance I suspect is for the application to be expedited so that those two stages happen asap. Your conveyancer is though best placed to advise on timescales/risks and the seller's conveyancer should know when application made and how to request expedition.

Is it possible for the sellers to start the process for this and we continue to purchase the house as intended and once they have completed this then transfer it over to us? If they claim for adverse possession? The house and garden is separate, it is just the garden path and a little bit more to the side of the house. We've already waited weeks for them to purchase the freehold for the property, we can't hold out much longer to be honest. We're living with relatives which isn't ideal. I'm trying to work out the best solution as our solicitor won't answer our calls as she has nothing to update us on but we just want advice.