Buying a house and the boundary is wrong!

charlotte_armstrong97

We are currently in the process of buying a house and when we received the land registry map that outlined the boundary, it was a lot smaller than the fences surrounding the gardens property. 

The seller has confirmed that the boundary has been this way for the past 40 years, and her solicitor is going to sort it out. 

My question is how long might this take? Are we talking weeks/months? 

We are really desperate to be in the house as our current house has sold and our buyer would like to move in ASAP. 

user1977

Depends how they are proposing to "sort it out".

charlotte_armstrong97

The seller has confirmed that the boundary has been this way for the past 40 years, and her solicitor is going to sort it out. 

Sorry just to be clear, the seller confirmed that the boundary where the fences are (the larger boundary) has been this way for 40 years. 

Slithery

That all depends on whether or not the land actually belongs to them. Just because the boundary has been in place for 40 years doesn't mean it's theirs. It could be a simple case of the extra land being on a different title which they do own, in which case they simply transfer the title to you alongside the title for the property. Or it could be that they don't own the land at all meaning they may never be able to sell it to you.

Have you done a LR map search to see if the additional land is registered to anyone?

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/MapEnquiryInit.do

lookstraightahead

When I recently bought my house, half the garden belonged to someone else, the vendors didn't even know.

Do you know who does own the land? The deeds are probably right and the fences etc are wrong. 

The solicitor can't just sort it out - the land will belong to 'someone' 

Ramouth

This is something you really need to discuss with your solicitor.  If they own the land, or know who does it is relatively straight forward to sort out.  

If not, you will be looking at an adverse possession claim.  You may be able to carry on with the purchase and do this after completion with a document from the seller stating how long they have been using and enclosing the land.

After the initial process you wil be given ‘possessory title’ for this section of land.  It can still be disputed by the original owner at this point.  Once you have had possessory title for 12 years you can apply to have it made absolute at which point it is indisputably yours.

You can get possessory title indemnity insurance in place to protect you should anyone with a better claim to the land turn up in the next 12 years.  You will also need to run it past your mortgage company - we were unable to get a mortgage for the property we were purchasing as the land in question included the front porch.

Sorry - this is a rather long post but a very short explanation - I would recommend googling adverse possession and having a good read.

lookstraightahead

Ramouth is correct - I would just add personally that not to touch it unless straightforward.

wend33

There can be a number of reasons why the Land Registry title differs from the situation on the ground. If it results in a claim for adverse possession this would involve an inspection of the land in question and consideration by a senior officer at LR. It may also involve service of notices to other parties and therefore it's impossible to give a timeframe.  That said it might be as simple as a bit of the title is in the ownership of the vendor but hasn't been registered.