Public Right of Way Issue

teachfast

ciderboy2009 said:

teachfast said:

I'd have thought this counts as 'material change before completion'?

Would it though?  The PROW would have been there before exchange. 

It's something I would have expected the solicitor to have picked up on though.

But now they have they will be obliged to inform the lender, on who's behalf they are legally also acting. 

London68164

AdrianC said:

teachfast said:

AdrianC said:

London68164 said:

teachfast said:

Have you exchanged contracts yet? If not you can walk away, just losing your deposit (usually £500 or so). Or you can sit it out until the situation is resolved. I doubt they can sell to anyone just now with the PROW in place so I doubt they will withdraw from the sale. 

If you've exchanged contracts it's a lot harder to deal with. You will need to speak to your broker/lender first thing tomorrow and try to sort it depending on what they say. 

Your conveyancer definitely should have spotted this and alerted you explicitly.  You may have recourse against them if you end up out of pocket.  

Yes exchanged few weeks back so deposit paid unfortunately 

Then it's pretty much academic, and you're buying...

OP was concerned about the lender's position in this, so not as simple as "you're buying".

The lender won't pull out between exchange and completion. They wouldn't have allowed exchange if they were concerned.

Although the PROW is in the search, it would appear that the solicitor have only been made aware of this fact by the developer at the same time as us last week because they seem fairly clueless about it all. I don’t think the lender has been made aware of this PROW at any point.

UnderOffer

Have you definitely exchanged, or did your solicitor just say please send deposit as we want to exchange? Did they ring you back and confirm exchange had happened and the completion date for you to get keys and move in? 

London68164

UnderOffer said:

Have you definitely exchanged, or did your solicitor just say please send deposit as we want to exchange? Did they ring you back and confirm exchange had happened and the completion date for you to get keys and move in? 

Have definitely exchanged. Completion noticed served 2 days ago so deadline for completion window 10 working days from then 

daveyjp

The PROW should have been picked up during the planning process,  check the original application and see what the proposed solution is.

Usually a diversionary route is agreed, but may not be put in place until the final stages of the development.

greatcrested

Your solicitor should have picked this up and hoghligted it to both you and his other client - your lender.

I hope you are not using the developer's "recommended solicitor"?

There is a small risk the solicitor now advises his other client not to lend - though this seems unlikely.

What has he said when you asked him?

princeofpounds

I doubt the lender will be a problem. They PROW was on the search, it seems. In itself, it does not devalue the property as long as you can effectively fence it off. Plenty of people own sections of public footpath that run alongside their private garden. Your solicitor will effectively be the one advising the mortgage company, so it would be odd to advise one client something different to the other, and immediately create questions about the advice they have already given. So I strongly suspect they will usher it through.

As for the PROW itself - I'm struggling to understand how this was missed if it was in the search and in the plans you were shown. I don't think you can easily blame the solicitor for this if it is clear in documentation you received, although arguably they should have emphasised it as something unusual. But they probably told you to review the information.

greatcrested

My neighbour down the road has a PROW that crosses the middle of one of their lawns from the road and into the adjoining field. It's not much used and I admit to feeling slightly awkward on the occassions when I use it but I don't think they worry too much.

Davesnave

My evil friend does geocaching and hides whatever it is they hide in the hedge just beyond the  RoW that passes through a very expensive house's garden. The owners of the house have purchased two fields since moving here, presumably as some sort of buffer zone, because they're mown, not farmed, but the RoW still passes for 1/4 mile along the drive and down the right side of the garden.

Even Madonna ran into problems with a RoW:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jun/19/ruralaffairs.arts

As the judge might have said, "The fact that you don't like public access is immaterial, girl."

JGB1955

Davesnave said:

My evil friend does geocaching and hides whatever it is they hide in the hedge just beyond the  RoW that passes through a very expensive house's garden. The owners of the house have purchased two fields since moving here, presumably as some sort of buffer zone, because they're mown, not farmed, but the RoW still passes for 1/4 mile along the drive and down the right side of the garden.

Even Madonna ran into problems with a RoW:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jun/19/ruralaffairs.arts

As the judge might have said, "The fact that you don't like public access is immaterial, girl."

As a geocacher I love that!  I've often strolled, purposefully, past some very impressive properties.  Back in the day (1970's) you could walk across the grounds in front of Chequers and Cliveden.  I'm not a fan of the National Trust, so love walking across the grounds at Croome and Saltram .... just because I can!