Partial Title Deed transfer when purchasing a property

irisv

Hi everyone,

Hoping someone can advice regarding the following:

I purchased a house ~6 months ago and I was sent the 2 parts of the title deeds by my solicitor: the one outlining the house and  another one for the extra bit of the garden that was purchased by the sellers separately. I found out from the neighbor that there was a garage that 'the seller kept for themselves' that I never knew about and was not made aware of by the solicitor. There is a separate row of garages at the end of the street. I requested a search from the Land Registers of Scotland and received a following reply:

"The previous proprietors had 3 separate titles in the sasine register, only two were transferred to yourself.
1 remains (a garage) in the sasine register in their name."

Now, the advert for the house never mentioned that there was a garage, so the entire fact of its existence was not shared with me at any point of the sale.

 I feel, however, that the solicitor has not done a thorough job because he had also failed to include the separate Land burdens title deed that has a number a restrictions that I was never made aware of nor was it discussed with me (such as only allowing to keep one dog OR a cat and I had (and still have) 2 dogs at the time of purchase. The same solicitor had also lost my personal documents that were sent to them for identity check ( such as driving license, bank statements etc.) and there was no resolution after 3 separate reminders from me to deal with this (it was a tracked package and I have a signature of their paralegal signing for it on record). So in all, they have been a nightmare to deal with.

So I guess the couple of questions I have are:

1. Can someone legally just keep part of the title deeds to themselves without making the purchaser aware of it?

2. Is there a case for legal action against the solicitor who failed to conduct a full title deed search and lost the originals of my documents and failed to resolve it?

Thanks in advance for any input!

silvercar

There were 3 titles. All paperwork mentioned only 2. You bought 2. Now you are upset that no one mentioned number 3. Would you have bought number 3 if was for sale? Could you have afforded it?

Unless there is a condition on the deeds of the garage that they can only be owned by someone who also owns a nearby house, I don't think you have a leg to stand on. That garage is as distinct from the house sale as a holiday home elsewhere would be. I don't see that you can expect the vendor to freely or for a negotiated price sell you the garage just because they own it. If it had been included in the deeds or in the estate agent details, you may have had a better argument.

AdrianC

irisv said:

Hoping someone can advice regarding the following:

I purchased a house ~6 months ago and I was sent the 2 parts of the title deeds by my solicitor: the one outlining the house and  another one for the extra bit of the garden that was purchased by the sellers separately. I found out from the neighbor that there was a garage that 'the seller kept for themselves' that I never knew about and was not made aware of by the solicitor. There is a separate row of garages at the end of the street. I requested a search from the Land Registers of Scotland and received a following reply:

"The previous proprietors had 3 separate titles in the sasine register, only two were transferred to yourself.
1 remains (a garage) in the sasine register in their name."

Now, the advert for the house never mentioned that there was a garage, so the entire fact of its existence was not shared with me at any point of the sale.

 I feel, however, that the solicitor has not done a thorough job because he had also failed to include the separate Land burdens title deed that has a number a restrictions that I was never made aware of nor was it discussed with me (such as only allowing to keep one dog OR a cat and I had (and still have) 2 dogs at the time of purchase. The same solicitor had also lost my personal documents that were sent to them for identity check ( such as driving license, bank statements etc.) and there was no resolution after 3 separate reminders from me to deal with this (it was a tracked package and I have a signature of their paralegal signing for it on record). So in all, they have been a nightmare to deal with.

So I guess the couple of questions I have are:

1. Can someone legally just keep part of the title deeds to themselves without making the purchaser aware of it?

Yes, of course they can.

They had three parcels of land. They sold you two of them.

If they'd owned two flats in the same block, or both halves of a semi-detached house, would you object to them only selling one of them to you?

2. Is there a case for legal action against the solicitor who failed to conduct a full title deed search and lost the originals of my documents and failed to resolve it?

They should recompense you for the cost of replacement.

irisv

silvercar said:

There were 3 titles. All paperwork mentioned only 2. You bought 2. Now you are upset that no one mentioned number 3. Would you have bought number 3 if was for sale? Could you have afforded it?

Unless there is a condition on the deeds of the garage that they can only be owned by someone who also owns a nearby house, I don't think you have a leg to stand on. That garage is as distinct from the house sale as a holiday home elsewhere would be. I don't see that you can expect the vendor to freely or for a negotiated price sell you the garage just because they own it. If it had been included in the deeds or in the estate agent details, you may have had a better argument.

I am not sure why you decided that I am 'upset' by it, it is purely the question whether I will have any issues later on if I decide to sell the house.

I am not trying to 'get the garage' but want to ensure that the solicitor who has failed on number of other things had not made a mistake that can lead to problems for me later on.

irisv

AdrianC said:

irisv said:

Hoping someone can advice regarding the following:

I purchased a house ~6 months ago and I was sent the 2 parts of the title deeds by my solicitor: the one outlining the house and  another one for the extra bit of the garden that was purchased by the sellers separately. I found out from the neighbor that there was a garage that 'the seller kept for themselves' that I never knew about and was not made aware of by the solicitor. There is a separate row of garages at the end of the street. I requested a search from the Land Registers of Scotland and received a following reply:

"The previous proprietors had 3 separate titles in the sasine register, only two were transferred to yourself.
1 remains (a garage) in the sasine register in their name."

Now, the advert for the house never mentioned that there was a garage, so the entire fact of its existence was not shared with me at any point of the sale.

 I feel, however, that the solicitor has not done a thorough job because he had also failed to include the separate Land burdens title deed that has a number a restrictions that I was never made aware of nor was it discussed with me (such as only allowing to keep one dog OR a cat and I had (and still have) 2 dogs at the time of purchase. The same solicitor had also lost my personal documents that were sent to them for identity check ( such as driving license, bank statements etc.) and there was no resolution after 3 separate reminders from me to deal with this (it was a tracked package and I have a signature of their paralegal signing for it on record). So in all, they have been a nightmare to deal with.

So I guess the couple of questions I have are:

1. Can someone legally just keep part of the title deeds to themselves without making the purchaser aware of it?

Yes, of course they can.

They had three parcels of land. They sold you two of them.

If they'd owned two flats in the same block, or both halves of a semi-detached house, would you object to them only selling one of them to you?

2. Is there a case for legal action against the solicitor who failed to conduct a full title deed search and lost the originals of my documents and failed to resolve it?

They should recompense you for the cost of replacement.

Thank you for your concise and clear answer, I appreciate it.

user1977

irisv said:

he had also failed to include the separate Land burdens title deed that has a number a restrictions that I was never made aware of nor was it discussed with me (such as only allowing to keep one dog OR a cat 

They should have told you about those, though it would probably have come with the advice that it's pretty difficult for anybody to enforce such conditions. Presumably none of your new neighbours have been round to complain about your pets?

As for the garage, I'm not sure what your point is. Do you think that if you had said "aha, I see you also own the garage over there" they would have thrown it in for free? There's no need for your solicitor to search for everything the seller owns (which could be a wild goose chase costing hundreds of pounds).

irisv

user1977 said:

irisv said:

he had also failed to include the separate Land burdens title deed that has a number a restrictions that I was never made aware of nor was it discussed with me (such as only allowing to keep one dog OR a cat 

They should have told you about those, though it would probably have come with the advice that it's pretty difficult for anybody to enforce such conditions. Presumably none of your new neighbours have been round to complain about your pets?

As for the garage, I'm not sure what your point is. Do you think that if you had said "aha, I see you also own the garage over there" they would have thrown it in for free? There's no need for your solicitor to search for everything the seller owns (which could be a wild goose chase costing hundreds of pounds).

Thank you for your answer.
No, nobody complained about my pets and people around seem to have multiple pets too, which is reassuring. There are other restrictions too such as you are not allowed to register or operate a business from this address or keep chickens etc. ( it is a rural property) that would have been nice to know about prior to the purchase.

I understand the point about the garage now and I just wanted to make sure there would be no legal issues in the future if I decide to sell. I am not sure why everyone here assumes that I want to grab the garage from the seller