Land not transferred when I bought my house

steve_ed

Hi, I'm in a bit of a pickle and looking for advice. I bought my house in 2009, I'm selling and have accepted an offer. But in 2006 the person who I bought it off bought some land of a farmer to be used as a garden. When I completed in 2009 my solicitor only registered the house in me and not the land.  I've contacted the solicitor I used in 2009 and she says the records have been destroyed as it was over 10 years ago. I have the original house brochure where its states the land 3 times. We do not know where the previous owner is.  I'm awaiting the solicitor to get back to me (she was meant to today).  I've seen I may be able to apply to the land registry for swatters rights to transfer the land to me, but this will take 60 days. Which would probably cause the sale to fall through. We were just about to put an offer in on a house when the matter came up sayings us £7000 on stamp duty.
So has anyone any advise about the getting the land transferred to us?
Many thanks
Steve

AdrianC

Did you never go over the map with the solicitor?
Remember, they never visit the property.

They were likely sent one title from the vendor's solicitor, so never knew there was meant to be more.

steve_ed

Hi , They were sent 3 ( theres a tiny rockery that has its own registry) and only transferred 2.  

davidmcn

steve_ed said:

and should/could I take action against the estate agents who made the mistake as it may end up costing me thousands?

What did the estate agents do wrong? It sounds like your previous solicitors made the mistake. In which case, you would be entitled to have it rectified at their expense.

In any event, your current solicitors should be advising you about what course of action to take.

steve_ed

Yes, sorry my current estate agents/solicitors haven't done anything wrong, they have just said contact the solicitor from 2009. Apart from that I have had no advise from them.

tacpot12

So I had exactly this situation with a garden that was not part of the title of the house I was selling this year. 
I completed a statement of truth to allow the new owners to take over the  task of making an application for adverse possession after the sale went through, and paid for an indemnity policy to cover them in case it didn't go through easily. The indemnity policy was about £100 and the extra legal fees on my side was about £250. 

I think this worked because an application for adverse possession was possible. You have to have had control over the land for 12 years. You appear to be slightly shy of this, but if your solicitor will confirm if a claim for adverse possession is possible. You should reference the brochure in any statement of truth, and confirm that you have occupied that land as your own because you believed it to have been transferred to you as part of the sale. I had also kept receipts for landscaping done by others, fences that I had erected myself and repairs to an outhouse that stood in the garden. All these, but especially the enclosure of the land with receipts for materials, made this a very good case for adverse possession to be granted. 

greatcrested

Either

* wait for the original title to be transferred from the last owner to you, and then sell both titles. Likely to take some time and will depend if previous owner can be found, and is willing to cooperate,plus ofcourse Land Registry lead times.

* claim adverse possession based on 12 years use. I doubt the 60 day estimate though.......

* pursuade your buyer to buy without the extra land but with a Statement Of Truth, sothat they can claim Adverse Possession.

steve_ed

Thanks Tacpot, very useful information there. I will bring these points up with my solicitor. Cheers

steve_ed

And thanks greatcrested 

Land_Registry

greatcrested said:

Either

* wait for the original title to be transferred from the last owner to you, and then sell both titles. Likely to take some time and will depend if previous owner can be found, and is willing to cooperate,plus ofcourse Land Registry lead times.

* claim adverse possession based on 12 years use. I doubt the 60 day estimate though.......

* pursuade your buyer to buy without the extra land but with a Statement Of Truth, sothat they can claim Adverse Possession.

The 60 day timescale referenced is I suspect 65 days misquoted. Where land is claimed in this way we contact the registered owner and they have 65 business days to respond. 

As for Land Registry lead times if there’s a linked transaction such as onward sale then the usual lengthy wait time can be shortened through requesting expedition. However you are still looking at 2/3 weeks wait plus same for a survey and then the 65 days on top. Expedition won’t shorten the notice period. 

The buyer’s lender (if one) will be key as to whether they will agree to option 3 and if so option 2 seems the most viable if you can’t find the original owner quickly