Property boundary diagram wrong!!!

HariLoss

I am buying a repossessed property through an estate agent and my solicitor has just sent me a copy of the boundary plans. I am a bit alarmed that she has sent me this as they are totally wrong and do not match what the estate agent has put on their website and showed me during the viewings.

The house is a typical Victorian terrace with a small garden at the front, and a small courtyard at the back. Behind the house is an alley and on the other side of the alley is a garage and garden I was told belonged to the house.

The boundary plan I have been sent only outlines the house. It omits both the front garden and the back courtyard and omits the garage and garden on the other side of the alley.

Surely my solicitor is paid to protect me from any sharp practices or administrative mistakes so why am I in receipt of a boundary plan that is so inaccurate?

Because the house is repossessed it is being bought as seen but the boundary plan suggests to me that no proper title deeds have been presented. The property is unregistered.

Does anyone have any explanation as to how the boundary plan could be so wrong and what would be the best course of action from here?

Slithery

Your solicitor has been accurate, they've provided you with the official boundary plan that has been registered with the LR for the land that's being sold. If the seller is claiming to own more land then they actually do then that's for you to negotiate separately with the seller...

The EA only relies on the information given to them by the vendor, it doesn't have to be correct...

davidmcn

HariLoss wrote: »

what would be the best course of action from here?

Talk to your solicitor about it? They (I presume) didn't accompany you on the viewing, so they don't know exactly what you're expecting to buy.

G_M

HariLoss wrote: »

I am buying a repossessed property through an estate agent and my solicitor has just sent me a copy of the boundary plans. I am a bit alarmed that she has sent me this

Why? That is exactly what she is meant to do so that you can check it!

as they are totally wrong and do not match what the estate agent has put on their website and showed me during the viewings. Good for you for spotting it. So many buyers just rely on their solicutors!


The house is a typical Victorian terrace with a small garden at the front, and a small courtyard at the back. Behind the house is an alley and on the other side of the alley is a garage and garden I was told belonged to the house.
OK
The boundary plan I have been sent only outlines the house. It omits both the front garden and the back courtyard and omits the garage and garden on the other side of the alley. So you need to
*tell your solicutor
* decide if you still want to buy, and if so at the same price?


Surely my solicitor is paid to protect me from any sharp practices or administrative mistakes so why am I in receipt of a boundary plan that is so inaccurate? How could your solicitor know?She has never seen the property so has no way to tell if the plan reflects the physical set-up. That's why she sent it to you to check!

Because the house is repossessed it is being bought as seen but the boundary plan suggests to me that no proper title deeds have been presented. The property is unregistered.
Proper Title deeds have been presented. They just don't reflect what you expected.
As a repo, nothing is likely to change. Buy it without the gardens, or wak away.


Does anyone have any explanation as to how the boundary plan could be so wrong and what would be the best course of action from here?

Buy it without the gardens, or wak away.

princeofpounds

It’s quite possible that the house has always had use of the ‘missing’ areas despite the fact that they weren’t on the title plan. It’s also quite possible that if this adverse possession went on long enough, the owner of the house owned the missing areas but had never formalised the claim.

Or possibly (although less likely) the missing areas are on a separate title deed.

It’s also possible that those areas were never owned by the owner of the house and had some other legal status, such as being used under license, leased, or part of a wider freehold whilst the house is leasehold. The house is freehold right?

The problem is that this is all speculation - you have to clarify the situation and for now you can’t rely on anything except the existing title plan. So notify your solicitor, and take it from there.

Your solicitor, as has been pointed out, is doing everything correctly by asking you to review the boundaries. It’s not their fault the title shows something different. That’s the fault of the vendor.

HariLoss

Thanks G_M,

I am just suprised that my solicitor has sent this through without any comment as I assumed she would have read the estate agents spec and seen immediately that the gardens were not included.

peterbaker

Slithery wrote: »

Your solicitor has been accurate, they've provided you with the official boundary plan that has been registered with the LR for the land that's being sold.

Apparently not, if the property is one that has never been registered at the Land Registry. The OP did say it was unregistered - did we all miss that so far?

The EA only relies on the information given to them by the vendor, it doesn't have to be correct...

Sounds like a fledgling Estate Agents' assertion that! Had we all better take it as a further warning about dealings with Estate Agents?

An old favourite warning is never to use a solicitor recommended by a seller's estate agent. Hope the OP didn't fall into that one! I did once.

But back to the correct title and boundary, it can sometimes be easy enough to check online all surrounding titles for a small fee. That might give the OP something to investigate and then to explore with the vendor. Or another angle may simply be that the vendor is trying to split their title and profit further by selling the missing land separately.

Oh, and another one is that the Estate Agent and solicitor (if in league with the EA) are trying to put you off because they have another buyer on commission or favour at your offered price or less, and if that offer was accepted when you pull out, then the full plans might miraculously reappear. It is a dirty business this property lark.

I tried to buy a repossession once as a cash buyer and the EA worked their socks off to stop me offering on it because they had a preferred buyer in the wings. They actually persuaded me to offer on another flat sold via them at quite a discount. But my agreed purchase with vacant possession and no chain dragged on and on for no reason. To exchange on the purchase, I eventually had to threaten the EA and solicitor - with their regulator in the solicitor's case (solicitor on that one was indeed recommended by the EA!) as I thought I was beginning to see through their game. I never quite knew if something fishy had really been going on, but my threat unblocked the exchange and I still got the discount of £20K on a flat originally marketed at £135K.

HariLoss

Thanks Peter,



Unfortunately I did take the solicitor introduced by the estate agent, the vendor, a mortgage company, want completion in two weeks. I highlighted this to the solicitor when I engaged her on the 27th November, but today got an automated email reply telling me she is now out of the office till the 11th December!!!


What I find most baffling is that without access to the front garden or the rear courtyard there is not access to the front or rear door so how could anybody think this is a viable proposition worthy of my consideration? How can a solicitor, supposedly acting to protect my interests, send such a boundary plan through without comment or warning?


The mortgage company will not take the property off the market until contracts are exchanged so if there is another bidder they are quite free to make another offer without any subterfuge from the professionals involved.


I am pleased to read that consumer law enables me to take action against the estate agent for advertising features not included in the sale. Their property spec clearly states that the garage and garden are included in the sale so if the vendor cannot provide a title that includes the full property boundaries as shown to me by the estate agent I shall take action to recover from them any fees the solicitor may charge.

getmore4less

It won't be a definitive answer, that's what the deeds paperwork is for.


Check the local planning portal for a map view.

They often have the local area mapped out for each property.

Any planning application on the properties around will most likely have boundary maps with them.

you need to do this anyway to find out what has happened in the area and what might be happening with application already in.

You still have to go back to the deeds to find out what you are buying.

If there is a discrepancy then the vendors won't be selling any time soon.
Unless someone come up with a simple explanation(solicitor looking at the wrong pages) this won't happen till the new year.


The other obvious thing to do is go talk to the neighbours

HariLoss

I have instructed the solicitors not to take any further action or incur any further costs until the vendor can demonstrate to my satisfaction that they have title to the boundaries as shown to me by, and defined by, the estate agent.

AdrianC

HariLoss wrote: »

I have instructed the solicitors not to take any further action or incur any further costs until the vendor can demonstrate to my satisfaction that they have title to the boundaries as shown to me by, and defined by, the estate agent.

I thought you said this was a repo?

The vendor is a lender in possession. They are simply going to point you to the LR plans, because that's all they have and know.

The EA got it wrong. <shrug> It happens. Your sol has done their job properly and picked up on that while you still have the opportunity to walk away.