Advice - rights of way/indemnity insurance

smcqis

Hi,

Buying house, the deeds are very unclear with respect of rights of way. Indemnity insurance for life has been provided to cover this, would you be happy to proceed on this

fiveacre

That's not enough detail for anyone to offer an opinion, what is unclear, what do they say, what does the indemnity insurance cover?

fiveacre

Who owns the verge, and are you saying you have to cross that to access the property? 

Is there a dropped kerb? Is the road unadopted?

AdrianC

Why do you assume the error is with LR, not simply on the part of whoever registered the property?

Section62

smcqis said:

Unlikely to be any as hasn’t been any last ten years since built

Does this mean the property is only 10 years old?

If so, I'd be walking away.

With very old properties you expect there to be problems and inconsistencies with details about access and drainage.

But 10 years ago any competent solicitor would know the importance of these details and get it right.

That you aren't able to understand or explain the situation clearly would imply there is enormous scope for serious errors in the transfer of land to the first owner of this property - either some kind of DIY transfer, or a professional who didn't know about (or didn't appreciate the significance of) absolutely fundamental issues for ownership of this property.

Indemnity insurance can only go so far in protecting you against the effects of that.

It's unlikely you'll be able to get much more help here without posting extracts of the plans and deeds.

fiveacre

It's quite hard to work out what the situation is from the information provided - it's not very clear and you probably want it to be very clear before proceeding.

It sounds like there is some land between the public road and the property, but presumably it's not just the footpath. And nobody knows who that land belongs to. Are you saying you have to drive over a grass verge to access the property?

A picture might help, or the plans as someone has suggested. 

AdrianC

fiveacre said:

It's quite hard to work out what the situation is from the information provided - it's not very clear and you probably want it to be very clear before proceeding.

It sounds like there is some land between the public road and the property, but presumably it's not just the footpath. And nobody knows who that land belongs to. Are you saying you have to drive over a grass verge to access the property?

A picture might help, or the plans as someone has suggested. 

Sounds like a fairly typical rural access track. Nobody knows who owns it, it just... is.

Septic tank emptying access is on the edge of the track, outside the property's boundary. Bit naughty, but no great surprise.

I very much doubt anybody will ever complain. If they do, then I'd assume the manhole for emptying isn't directly above the tank, which is surely within the boundary...? So a little light groundwork to move the manhole.

user1977

smcqis said:

Buying house, the deeds are very unclear with respect of rights of access for sewage disposal and access over strip of land. Indemnity insurance for life has been provided to cover this, would you be happy to proceed on this?

What's your solicitor advising?

They will at least have seen the title deeds and the draft indemnity policy, whereas we're a bit in the dark from your description. 

Section62

fiveacre said:

A picture might help, or the plans as someone has suggested. 

Both really - if the plans don't match what is on the ground then its a case of working out how that happened.

AdrianC said:

Sounds like a fairly typical rural access track. Nobody knows who owns it, it just... is.

Septic tank emptying access is on the edge of the track, outside the property's boundary. Bit naughty, but no great surprise.

I very much doubt anybody will ever complain. If they do, then I'd assume the manhole for emptying isn't directly above the tank, which is surely within the boundary...? So a little light groundwork to move the manhole.

If it is just a track of unknown ownership then my main concern would be continued emptying of the septic tank (if that's what it is) if the tanker companies (and/or insurers) decide they aren't allowed to do that anymore.  Is the distance from the nearest public road short enough that extension hoses would reach if the tanker can't get to the manhole?

Also, unless a tank has been fitted with built-in suction pipework, the manhole has got to be directly above the tank so the suction hose can be dropped straight-in.  It is unlikely the tank would have effective built-in suction pipework, but I guess there's still a possibility of that....  or the worrying conclusion could be the tank was constructed in land the OP wouldn't own.

smcqis

Grass verge, technically not in ownership. Manhole within the verge that serves pipe from site from treatment tank overspill and storm water. So technically access required over it and to manhole. Indemnity insurance has been put forward to deal with right of way for access and for right of way to manhole. The deeds refer to manhole but doesn’t refer to its location on map

user1977

Any clues from the titles about who might own the verge?