Missold flat with garden

babyblade41

jesseironman said:

The deeds have a picture of the garden and the boundaries stating the other flat in the property owns the garden of which was advertised to be sold with my flat i am buying

When you noticed this then what did the estate agent say when you bought it up to them and your solicitor .as this would affect the offer .

If you didn't then I'm afraid there isn't anything you can do 

leonj

I don't think it's the estate agent but rather the seller that you have to go after, put your solicitor on the case!

Grumpy_chap

I assume this is not a new-build.
In which case, the following is entirely confusing:

jesseironman said:

I brought the flat some months ago and after getting the contract and deeds through my email i noticed the deeds show that the other flat in the building actually owns the garden.

Did you read the contract and deeds before signing and exchange?

I struggle to understand how you could get to some months following completion and only then realise there is a query over the boundary / ownership extents.

When did you complete and gain access to the flat (and garden)?

Either way, I don't see that you have any claim against anyone as it is really all caveat-emptor.  The person who is gave you advice on this is your Conveyancing Solicitor, but they do so remotely and will not have visited the property so if the deeds do not match what you saw when visiting, the Conveyancing Solicitor will expect you to bring the discrepancy to their attention for resolution.

When did you receive the contract and deeds?

TBG01

jesseironman said:

The deeds have a picture of the garden and the boundaries stating the other flat in the property owns the garden of which was advertised to be sold with my flat i am buying

Picture or a plan? Title deeds don't contain photos. 

Tiglet2

EAs are not legal experts, so you should not rely on anything they say.  There will be a caveat in their terms and conditions. That's why you instruct a solicitor to act for you in the transfer of legal title to you.  They look at the paperwork and will make enquiries.  However you need to do your due diligence too.  The solicitor would have sent you a Title Plan and asked you to confirm that the title plan matched what you could see on the ground (i.e. when you viewed).  Did you not notice that they differed?  The solicitor does not visit the property, so unless you tell him that the garden did not match that shown on the title plan they wouldn't know that what you're buying isn't what you thought you were buying.

When you say "deeds have a picture of the garden and boundaries", are you referring to the Title Plan or something else?

user1977

jesseironman said:

The deeds have a picture of the garden and the boundaries stating the other flat in the property owns the garden of which was advertised to be sold with my flat i am buying

In your OP you said you had "brought" (sic) the flat months ago, now it sounds like you haven't bought it? What stage are you actually at?

gingercordial

So there are at least two flats, and a garden divided into left and right sections.

You thought you were buying all of the left hand section, but it turns out you have bought (only part of) the right?

Had the previous owners of the flats come to some informal arrangement that they swapped sides at some point?  It's possible they both preferred it this way round but never had the deeds changed.

Have you spoken to the owners of the other flat?  Are they saying that they want the left hand garden back, or are they happy to continue with what you are each using?  If so perhaps you could sort this out amicably with them - and do the paperwork if possible to avoid future confusion.

Of course that may not be attractive to them as a straight swap if all you can offer is half of the right hand garden.  Who owns the other half of the right hand section?

As for who is at fault - not your solicitor as they would have seen you were buying the right hand side but would not have known you expected it to be the left.  Not the EA as they're likely to have been working on what the seller told them, and adverts always have caveats saying they might not be accurate and you need to check.  Maybe the seller, but they may genuinely have forgotten an agreement to swap sides wasn't formalised.  The only person who saw the property, and also saw the information on what they were legally buying, is you I'm afraid.

jesseironman

I had my offer accepted in December, I received the title plan in February and questioned the garden position then, my solicitor said they will look into it. Since then there has been issue after issue with the lease it had to be forfeited and surrendered etc which is why the process has taken about 6 months so far. My question was being looked into back then but because they was drawing up a new lease I thought it would be corrected on the paperwork. I have now got the contract through with the title deed again and noticed the garden issue is still a thing. I was always under the impression that it come with this garden but its now not the case so I have lost 6 months of time because they have told me I would be getting a garden with this flat.

GDB2222

jesseironman said:

Hi,

I hope someone can give some advise. I brought a flat that was advertised with a garden and i went to the viewing and was shown around the garden.

I brought the flat some months ago and after getting the contract and deeds through my email i noticed the deeds show that the other flat in the building actually owns the garden.

My question is does the estate agent have a legal requirement to actually make sure that the seller owns what they are selling?

who can i make a complaint to or get compensation or something?

Thanks

When you say you bought this, do you mean that you made an offer and you are still going through the buying process?

If so, and you now pull out because the property was mis-described, presumably your question is whether the estate agent ought to pay your legal and other fees?  Certainly worth a try. First complain to the EA, then take it to the Ombudsman.

If you buy it, knowing that the garden is smaller than you wanted, you have no chance of compensation IMHO.

elsien

So you haven't been mis-sold a flat without a garden because you haven't bought it yet?
You may want to amend the thread title to be a little less misleading. 

Your solicitor has been following up on your concerns (albeit slowly) and you have been made aware that the garden you thought was included does not appear to be so you have been saved from making an expensive mistake. 

Why are you blaming the estate agent and not the vendor they got their information from? Seems to me that the whole point of the surveys etc is to show that you getting what you think you are getting and to give you the chance to pull out if this is not the case. Which is where you stand right now.
Yes it's annoying but a lot cheaper than if things had gone ahead without all the checks being carried out.