Selling a property

alan27051953

hi I am looking for advice  we are in the process of selling a 70 year old  ex council property , the original owners have passed away they moved into it when it was brand new in approx 1952 and rented it from the council until 1982 when they bought it from the council . They passed away last year leaving the house to their children who are trying to sell it one sale has fallen through due to there being a footpath being shown going through the living room although no footpath exists or has existed for over 70 years  and on some maps this footpath is shown to end across the road from the house, and also this was never an issue when the house was bought from the Council in 1982

davidmcn

What sort of "footpath"? A public right of way? A neighbouring property's right of access? What advice is the solicitor giving?

alan27051953

Hi thanks for your interest it is a public right of way straight through the living rooms of 2 houses that have been there for 70 years . The solicitor is going to contact the local council apparently it appears on some searches but not on the local ones.

alan27051953

Apparently this was not a problem before 2016 when the procedure for searches changed

macman

So are you 'their children'?
Not quite sure what your question is? Since the right of way has now been revealed, no one is going to purchase the property until it is either rescinded or diverted. Your solicitor is contacting the LA, nothing more can be done until this is resolved.
If you are hoping that the LA will accept fault for selling it in 1982 without revealing the ROW, then good luck with that. It's the buyer's responsibility to check good title, not the seller's.

davidmcn

alan27051953 said:

The solicitor is going to contact the local council apparently it appears on some searches but not on the local ones.

If the solicitor is sorting it out, what advice are you looking for?

AdrianC

The solicitor is not saying "You must not buy it" - he's just bringing it to your attention. It's only a problem if either you or your lender want it to be a problem. If you're happy it's not an issue, and you're a cash buyer or your lender are happy too, then go ahead and buy.

I suspect the issue is that the lender (who the solicitor also acts for) objects. In which case, you can still buy - just not with their money. Other lenders may not object.

davidmcn

AdrianC said:

The solicitor is not saying "You must not buy it" - he's just bringing it to your attention. It's only a problem if either you or your lender want it to be a problem. If you're happy it's not an issue, and you're a cash buyer or your lender are happy too, then go ahead and buy.

Although the OP is confusingly switching between first and third persons, so I'm not entirely sure what role they have, I think they're asking from the seller's point of view.

alan27051953

I am looking for advice for the decendents of the original owners as they have requested me to. The footpath is shown as a red dotted line on the definitive map and is given a reference number eg 12-3-FP200 so am not sure whether this is a right of way or not. Surely if a footpath did exist it should have been diverted and signposted in recent times, or the original developers have not bothered to close and remove the footpath, please forgive my ignorance in these matters.