Title plan - not reflective of back garden boundary? Can I extend?

bannanna

Hello all

Wondering if anyone could share any views or experience on a Title plan query that I have. I have tried to illustrate with pictures but they have come out all varying sizes so apologies for that!!

I am purchasing a freehold terraced house. The garden backs on to a ginnel (an alleyway to all you Southerners!! ) and on the other side of the ginnel is the back gardens from the next street over. The back boundaries of the gardens from the next street are all right up to the ginnel (shaded in blue below), and all gardens on the street I'm buying on run up to the ginnel too (I've outlined a handful of these in yellow), apart from the garden in the house I'm buying (outlined in red) and the neighbour's garden (outlined in green). These two gardens end about 2-3m away from the ginnel, creating a space when the two houses store their bins. This screenshot is a very rough drawing to help illustrate my point only, and obviously the boundaries are likely to be slightly off...but you get the gist.



I was waiting to receive the Title Plan from the Land Registry in order to make an assessment of where the back boundary of the garden in the house I'm buying lies. It arrived in the post this weekend, and does suggest that the garden is quite actually short. So I purchased the Title plans for the neighbour and next-but-one neighbour just to see how they compared. There was also a rentcharge(?) title plan on the Land Registry website for the property I'm buying, even though it is freehold, so I bought that too. I have done some reading (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/land-registry-plans-boundaries/land-registry-plans-boundaries-practice-guide-40-supplement-3) and understand that Title plans are not always accurate - just to caveat what follows.

Here is the title plan for the property I'm buying:


Here is the rentcharge title plan:


Here is the title plan for the neighbour's property, plus a new-ish map for the end of their garden:



And finally here is the title plan for the next but one neighbour:


All the old looking maps are from 1985 and the new looking map for the garden of the neighbouring house is from 2015.
I assume all the houses on the street used to be leasehold but that an old owner bought the freehold for the property I am buying in the time since 1985.

I have interpreted the map from 2015 to mean that the next-door neighbour has bought the freehold for the space at the end of their garden a few years ago. The next-but-one neighbour does not have this new map but their garden (and indeed every other garden apart from the one I'm buying and the other next-door neighbour) does extend back the full length. I haven't bought the title plans for all the other houses as I have now given the Land Registry enough of my money, but I am assuming that some of these gardens will have been extended without formal permission, and 10(?) years has passed - it now becomes their land?

I suppose my question is, would I be able to extend the back boundary of the garden in the house I'm buying so that it matches all the other gardens on that street? Would I need to find who the freeholder is for that pink space and then negotiate with them, as I am assuming the next-door neighbours have done? Should I do that in the house purchasing process, or once I own the house I'm buying? 

Any thoughts or comments or experience that anyone can offer would be gratefully received. Apologies again for the really large maps!!!

davidmcn

Have you checked whether there's a (separate) registered title for the bit missing from "your" garden?

bannanna

Thanks Davidmcn, sorry I should have included in my opening post. There are only two Title plan documents available for the property I'm buying - the old 1985 coloured Rentcharge map I've pasted above and the old 1985 Freehold map with the short garden. No newer map available, unlike the next-door neighbour.

davidmcn

bannanna said:

Thanks Davidmcn, sorry I should have included in my opening post. There are only two Title plan documents available for the property I'm buying - the old 1985 coloured Rentcharge map I've pasted above and the old 1985 Freehold map with the short garden. No newer map available, unlike the next-door neighbour.

How have you searched though? Have you done a map search or only by postal address? The latter doesn't necessarily work for odd bits of land.

bannanna

Thanks, I just used the Property search function on the Land registry website, and searched by postal address. How do I look for odd bits of land? 

daveyjp

davidmcn said:

bannanna said:

Thanks Davidmcn, sorry I should have included in my opening post. There are only two Title plan documents available for the property I'm buying - the old 1985 coloured Rentcharge map I've pasted above and the old 1985 Freehold map with the short garden. No newer map available, unlike the next-door neighbour.

How have you searched though? Have you done a map search or only by postal address? The latter doesn't necessarily work for odd bits of land.

Agreed.  First search should be the Index Map.  This will give the info on every title in the location and more importantly highlight unregistered land.

You can then get the titles for the areas you are interested in.

greatcrested

Use the LR 'map enqiry' function to see if that extra land is registered, and if so who owns it. It's a bit fiddly but once you zoom in you can see any registered titles.

If you use the land as your own (eg fence it in and maintain it) for 12 years, you can claim 'adverse possession'. If the previous owners have been using it as their own for, say, 5 years, get a Statement of Truth from them and you just need the outstanding 7 years.

bannanna

That is super helpful, thanks. This forum really is brilliant. 

Looks like it is registered land - the Title Register says the owner is the local council. The bit of land that the next-door neighbour has bought is outlined in green.


I've had a look at the council website, they do not have any land listed for sale or for rental at the moment. I'm assuming I will need to make a direct enquiry re buying the bit of land at the end of the garden I'm buying? Should I wait until the house is actually mine (eg in case house sale falls through), or should I ask the solicitor who is dealing with the house purchase to look into the land purchase too?

greatcrested

I can't imagine the council really wants this piece of land for any purpose so they might well sell it.

But be aware it will take time and involve bureaucracy and possibly several different council departments .....

Not to mention whatever impact COVID is having on their resorces.

How essential is the land to your decision to buy? My advice would be to wait till you own before doing anything, but only if you are willing to accept that there's a chance you may get turned down.

bannanna

Thanks Greatcrested. I will still be proceeding with the house purchase regardless of the land situation, but would be great to have that extra bit of outside space for a veg plot! Just wondering whether, if I bundled it all into one process, it would impact the likelihood of success with buying the land from the council. They won't be able to develop there, it is a matter of a few square metres, and in terms of right of way I would only want to buy up to the ginnel, not the land crossing the ginnel. They appear to have sold to the next-door neighbour a few years ago, so a precedent has already been set, and I imagine they are even more in need of cash now than they were back then. I have worked in local authorities previously and am all too familiar with the slow bureaucracy..!

Invaluable advice from forumites as always. Many thanks.

theoretica

Might be worth asking the next door neighbour who also doesn't own their land if they would like to team up - I imagine council expenses for selling two bits of adjacent land might be less than twice that of selling one piece.