Failure to transfer 2nd deed to our name

Garth15

After owning this house for just over 3 years we had tried selling only to discover that the garage had a deed of its own.

Our conveyancing solicitor on buying the house and that of the seller had failed to recognise that it has a 2nd deed. Our original solicitor when buying the house claimed it was our fault and tried to charge us £600. We refused to pay and lost our buyers. Now 5 months later the solicitors have foregone the costs and stated they have sent the deed to the legal owner of the garage to sign it over to us. He is still not signing. Is there anything we can do or an organisation to go through to get this resolved as we want this sorted ASAP so we can sell the house. 

loubel

When your solicitor sent you the Title Plan showing just the house did you tell them that there was a separate garage? 

Did the contract include the garage or just the house?

Do you know where the seller lives now?

canaldumidi

How was the solicitor to know that a garage was included? Normally he'd look at the property address you provided, check the Title for that property, send it and the Plan to you to confirm, and then arrange your purchase. Unless you at some point said "but I'm also buying a garage? It does not seem to be on the Title Plan you sent me. Where is the garage on the Title?" or otherwise informed him a garage was to be included in the purchase, he'd have no way to know it was missing.

But that's water under the bridge now. To get the garage registered in your name so as to be able tosell it will involve getting your original sellers to sign aTR1, and register it with the LR. Either of those steps could take time.

Possibly you could pursuade your buyers to proceed without that happening, (maybe by offering some kind of indemnity insurance in case it failed to happen later?) on the understanding that you and your solicitor would faciltate it later, but I suspect your buyer's solicitor would advise them against this.

Garth15

canaldumidi said:

How was the solicitor to know that a garage was included? Normally he'd look at the property address you provided, check the Title for that property, send it and the Plan to you to confirm, and then arrange your purchase. Unless you at some point said "but I'm also buying a garage? It does not seem to be on the Title Plan you sent me. Where is the garage on the Title?" or otherwise informed him a garage was to be included in the purchase, he'd have no way to know it was missing.

But that's water under the bridge now. To get the garage registered in your name so as to be able tosell it will involve getting your original sellers to sign aTR1, and register it with the LR. Either of those steps could take time.

Possibly you could pursuade your buyers to proceed without that happening, (maybe by offering some kind of indemnity insurance in case it failed to happen later?) on the understanding that you and your solicitor would faciltate it later, but I suspect your buyer's solicitor would advise them against this.

The TR1 that we signed on purchase stated house and garage so we assumed it was under the one deed number but obviously that wasn't the case.
When pointing out to the solicitor regarding the TR1 had stated house and garage they still proceeded to state that it was our mistake and they had no information regarding the garage was part of the purchase.

user1977

Garth15 said:

canaldumidi said:

How was the solicitor to know that a garage was included? Normally he'd look at the property address you provided, check the Title for that property, send it and the Plan to you to confirm, and then arrange your purchase. Unless you at some point said "but I'm also buying a garage? It does not seem to be on the Title Plan you sent me. Where is the garage on the Title?" or otherwise informed him a garage was to be included in the purchase, he'd have no way to know it was missing.

But that's water under the bridge now. To get the garage registered in your name so as to be able tosell it will involve getting your original sellers to sign aTR1, and register it with the LR. Either of those steps could take time.

Possibly you could pursuade your buyers to proceed without that happening, (maybe by offering some kind of indemnity insurance in case it failed to happen later?) on the understanding that you and your solicitor would faciltate it later, but I suspect your buyer's solicitor would advise them against this.

The TR1 that we signed on purchase stated house and garage so we assumed it was under the one deed number but obviously that wasn't the case.
When pointing out to the solicitor regarding the TR1 had stated house and garage they still proceeded to state that it was our mistake and they had no information regarding the garage was part of the purchase.

Which might be fair comment by them, but it's difficult for us to advise further without seeing what you and they have seen.

Land registration is map-based - you are generally buying a plot of land outlined in red (or whatever). Describing it as being a house and/or garage doesn't really mean much, what you own is the land and whatever happens to be (or not be) on it.

Garth15

loubel said:

When your solicitor sent you the Title Plan showing just the house did you tell them that there was a separate garage? 

Did the contract include the garage or just the house?

Do you know where the seller lives now?

The TR1 stated house and garage when we signed it so we assumed it came under the deed. 
Neither our solicitor at the time or seller's solicitor have admitted to any mistake being made by their parts however a simple deed check done on the property shows 2 deeds to that address (we didn't know to do a deed check at the time or that we could).

The title plan did show a garage and we only have the name of the previous owner. According to his solicitor that we've told no longer to contact, has sent the paperwork to him ( this was 5 months ago. 

TheJP

 Now 5 months later the solicitors have foregone the costs and stated they have sent the deed to the legal owner of the garage to sign it over to us. He is still not signing. 

This would be a big concern for me, either the seller knew that the garage was on separate deeds and is waiting for this scenario so they can then sell it or they now see an opportunity to make some money by holding you to ransom. Anyone with morals would sign it over instantly if the mistake was highlighted. Them not signing is a major red flag in my opinion.