Boundary not advertised correctly and vendor not playing ball....

davidmcn

boromanc89 said:

davidmcn said:

boromanc89 said:

getmore4less said:

the council bit,  what rights of access do they have in the lease

Is there any other access to it like the other boundaries are to other council owned property with road access.

or maybe totally enclosed by private property.

probably the biggest risk is they don't renew then  change it to a building plot if there is access but that would be 27/50 down the road.

It also says "the term hereby created may be determined at any time by either party giving to the other three months notice" - does this mean the council can shorten the lease term if they give 3 months notice? I really need my solicitor to explain this legalese to me

Yes, it's a three month rolling break - either party can terminate. So it's not even a certain 27 year term.

Why is the vendor refusing to make the sale conditional on the council land being purchased (no matter who is paying for it)? While it will complicate matters, it's unlikely to take any longer than her readvertising and starting from scratch with another buyer (who is likely to have similar concerns).

The easiest thing would be for her to buy the land, even if we pay for it but then I don't know how legally the timing works to ensure we don't lose our money if the sale falls through before completion.

She (or you) agrees a sale with the council which is conditional on completion of the sale of the rest of the property. It ought to be relatively straightforward, I would expect the main issue being how slowly the council might operate as it's hardly going to be an urgent or valuable matter for them to deal with.

cooltt

AdrianC said:

But don't forget to thank your solicitor for doing his job properly, in determining the reality of the situation.

Personally, I think you're being harsh on the vendor in seeing this as some kind of deliberate bait and switch. The property isn't registered - so they've not moved there recently, and are probably aged? They probably simply regard that as "their land", and haven't realised or have forgotten the precise legal detail. You only mention one person - perhaps her now-deceased husband dealt with all that, and she didn't know the reality?

This in a nutshell.

Bottom line is you can moan all you,like, you (and the vendor) know you are not going to walk away from this deal for the sake of 4k. What possible incentive is there for the vendor to buy this land for you? There was a bidding war for the property do you really think the vendor cares whether you walk away or not? The property will be sold regardless to you or someone else, you really don't hold any of the cards here. 

Proceed with the purchase then buy the land from the council, 4k for 175sqm is a bargain.

Jumblebumble

AdrianC said:

They have every right to say "Nope, we're not going to do anything about this."
You cannot force them to do anything, except by threatening to pull out of the purchase.

You need to decide if this is a showstopper for you or not. Do you REALLY want to walk away from the house over this? If so, just do it. If not, get on with the purchase.

I would add
 it would do no harm to ask the council if they will honour the 4 K price if you do buy
If The OP went 17K over asking then the house is likely to be desirable to others and the Vendor will simply ask the underbidder to buy who may not care as much as you do
If they are less than 4K below the OP  then the vendor can accept their offer and not be out of pocket and not have the delay in purchasing land

trex227

Are you buying with a mortgage? If so, does the valuation agree with the price you are paying? If the valuation was done on the basis of all the land being owned outright, maybe you could get the valuation redone. If this comes back at a lower value might give you a better negotiating position. I assume if it was done on the basis of all the land being included your solicitor will have to report the lease to your lender anyway.

Falafels

If you loved this property after a year long search, enough to go £17k over the asking price, it would be a shame to walk away from it now. If I were in your shoes, which I'm obviously not, I'd carry on with the purchase and deal with the council at my leisure once I'd moved in. Sure, the council has the right to construct mains pipes etc - but it doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon. You're intending to stay for ten years, but there are 27 years remaining on the lease.

I don't see why you should have any problems with future purchasers. Worst case scenario is that you just tell them that there is a rear garden of XXX size with an uninterrupted view of an area of mature trees, shrubs and flower beds - and that's only if you've got nowhere with the council.

getmore4less

you could try the other tactic.

If they won't buy the land you don't want the lease just the house.

Falafels

getmore4less said:

you could try the other tactic.

If they won't buy the land you don't want the lease just the house.

Though lifting a lease from a freehold title takes a little while these covid days, and I doubt the vendor would agree to it, if she's not prepared to buy the land. The vendor is already aware that there were people scrambling to buy her property.

boromanc89

Falafels said:

If you loved this property after a year long search, enough to go £17k over the asking price, it would be a shame to walk away from it now. If I were in your shoes, which I'm obviously not, I'd carry on with the purchase and deal with the council at my leisure once I'd moved in. Sure, the council has the right to construct mains pipes etc - but it doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon. You're intending to stay for ten years, but there are 27 years remaining on the lease.

I don't see why you should have any problems with future purchasers. Worst case scenario is that you just tell them that there is a rear garden of XXX size with an uninterrupted view of an area of mature trees, shrubs and flower beds - and that's only if you've got nowhere with the council.

But the lease has a clause which means the council can terminate it with 3 months notice.  Alright, unlikely to happen, but where is the protection for us here?
This isn't a stepped down, tucked out of the way bit of land, it is a continuation of the lawn and for all intents and purposes has been visibly incorporated into the existing garden. 

MalMonroe

I'd walk away. There ARE more properties out there, and it's a buyer's market now. Why bother with this stubborn vendor? House buying has been made more difficult by coronavirus but I'm sure you'll end up kicking yourselves later when you realise you have spent far more than you ever needed to on a property that isn't even registered!  (What's that about?)

Marvel1

I'm not buying the whole forgot/didn't know the land was leased.