Garden access path is not included in the lease

dipesh010

Hello,
I think the property lease was issued in 1984 which was renewed in 2015 again. 
I have my own garden that can be reached via path located next to the neighbour house. The path is not owned by the council and there is no rights mentioned in lease or registered title to use. The seller who sold the flat in 2015 did provide statutory declaration and current seller is willing to provide same.
My solicitor said we will exchange the contract in few days but now they are saying we need to communicate this garden restrictions with your lender. 
Is this a big issue for the lenders?, I mean the property is built long a go and path is being used since 1984
Is there a way I can find out if that particular path is currently own by someone? technically speaking anyone have the right to claim the pathway (assuming they have the docs) if so what are my options as I'll need to use the path to access my garden. 
Is there a way I can add the path info into lease or registered title? 

princeofpounds

Google 'easement by prescription'. If the garden path has been used for long enough without an explicit license, it's quite likely you have perfectly good rights to use the path (hence the statutory declarations being important). It does not necessarily need to be in the lease, and you do not need to 'claim' the right if you already have it; just keep the evidence of it in case you need to defend that right in court. There are also other ways of gaining an easement (right of way) but this appears to be what is being relied on. Talk to your solicitor about it. I doubt it will be a problem for the lender. 

A land registry map search may reveal who owns the path. There's a good chance it is under the freehold title of your property or one adjacent. 

greatcrested

Do a LR Map Enquiry here to see if the path is registered and if so who owns it.

It's a bit fiddly - you need to zoom in sufficiently before the potential Titles appear.

dipesh010

The site only shows house information. It does not provide any info to who owns the path, so I'll take it as its currently not owned by anyone. Thats a good news. I just hope my lender now accept and allow us to progress. 

Slithery

dipesh010 said:

It does not provide any info to who owns the path, so I'll take it as its currently not owned by anyone.

No, it's definitely owned by someone. All land in the UK is.

All that the lack of information on the LR website means is that it hasn't changed ownership in the last 35 years since registration became compulsory.

greatcrested

dipesh010 said:

The site only shows house information. It does not provide any info to who owns the path, so I'll take it as its currently not owned by anyone. Thats a good news. I just hope my lender now accept and allow us to progress. 

All land is owned by someone. Even if that ownership pre-dates compulsory registration at the Land Registry.

But the first stepis to do the LR Map Enquiry. Done that yet?

Land_Registry

OP has been online it seems but references site only showing house info. The main option is to search by address but there are two other options available

One of those is the Map enquiry option where you can centre the map, zoom in close enough and then search again? 

If you did that and the result is ‘no information available’ then it’s probably unregistered but the only way to be certain is to complete a postal search of the index map 
Although always handy to check the lender is likely to be more concerned with whether the right of access is legally established and if not how might it impact on the value of the purchase and therefore their security if it weren't legally established 
Your solicitor and lender are best placed to advise on all this though so do rely on them here