buying unregistered house, showing that the front garden is registered

roxhas123

Back again for some advice if anyone can help me again? My solictor dealing with my purchase has been called for Jury service - shes already been gone month and no hope of her coming back anytime soon apparently, every other person ive spoken to at PPL are useless or know how much hard work this sale is cannot be bothered to pick it up.
The sellers solicitors have now come back and said they refuse to register the house prior to exchange as they feel its not their responsibility to sort it. 
Can i continue without the land thats supposed to be inc with the house? Ive asked the question but the response is vague from the solicitor, they just said it will need to be reviewed but unless im on their back everyday my case is left. Im at a point now (waiting 10 months and this isnt a chain either!) that as long as the lender still thinks the house is worth what we are offering (£240k for a semi 3 bed ex council down south) then we go ahead without the front garden? or am i being stupid to do so?
Without my solictor i feel like no one is helping me or giving me any useful advice and its really effecting me emotionally.
Thanks to anyone who can give me some advice

Brie

I would want to ensure that this is sorted prior to the actual purchase.  There was a similar bit of confusion over a neighbour's property and the buyer was assured it wouldn't be an issue.  Turned out it was and 1/3 of the property he told he was buying didn't actual get included in the purchase.

The seller's are probably reluctant to spend money on something they see as not their problem.  You could make it their problem by pulling your offer so that they have to put the property back on the market.  You might however want to get their solicitor to sort it out with you paying for the extra this might cost.  It all depends on how badly you want this house but money solves many problems in a house sale.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you!

FreeBear

roxhas123 said: The sellers solicitors have now come back and said they refuse to register the house prior to exchange as they feel its not their responsibility to sort it.

Them registering the property will take time - No idea what the delays are like at present with the Land Registry.

Your purchase would be the trigger for a compulsory first registration, and if the vendors can provide deeds & conveyancing documents proving the chain of ownership, a first registration isn't a particularly odious task. The only real problem might

be the bit of land registered to the council - That may have been an oversight on their part when the house was sold, so will need a bit of extra work by the solicitors involved to sort out.

roxhas123

Brie said:

I would want to ensure that this is sorted prior to the actual purchase.  There was a similar bit of confusion over a neighbour's property and the buyer was assured it wouldn't be an issue.  Turned out it was and 1/3 of the property he told he was buying didn't actual get included in the purchase.

The seller's are probably reluctant to spend money on something they see as not their problem.  You could make it their problem by pulling your offer so that they have to put the property back on the market.  You might however want to get their solicitor to sort it out with you paying for the extra this might cost.  It all depends on how badly you want this house but money solves many problems in a house sale.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you!

We have thought about offering to pay for the registration, but it worries me that if we foot the bill, nothing can stop them from pulling out when its all sorted, Then we are left out of pocket. We've already had to spend alot on a storage unit and other inconviences of being promised a quick sale. 
Thank you so much. Im just struggling to see a light at the end of this very very long tunnel! 

roxhas123

FreeBear said:

roxhas123 said: The sellers solicitors have now come back and said they refuse to register the house prior to exchange as they feel its not their responsibility to sort it.

Them registering the property will take time - No idea what the delays are like at present with the Land Registry.

Your purchase would be the trigger for a compulsory first registration, and if the vendors can provide deeds & conveyancing documents proving the chain of ownership, a first registration isn't a particularly odious task. The only real problem might

be the bit of land registered to the council - That may have been an oversight on their part when the house was sold, so will need a bit of extra work by the solicitors involved to sort out.

I do feel like their solictors are lazy and probably cannot be bothered with the task to be honest. He doesnt have a good reputation to be honest and when i heard he was the sellers solictor i just wanted to cry as ive heard stories about him from numerous people. 
Shame they cant see how this affects peoples lives and mental health

Slithery

If the whole thing was unregistered then it wouldn't bother me as first registration is automatic when the property changes hands.
The fact that the council appear to own the garden and the vendors are unwilling to sort out the issue would have me pulling out and looking for a different property.

roxhas123

Slithery said:

If the whole thing was unregistered then it wouldn't bother me as first registration is automatic when the property changes hands.
The fact that the council appear to own the garden and the vendors are unwilling to sort out the issue would have me pulling out and looking for a different property.

We've put this on a back burner twice and tried to find another property. We viewed one recently with a 50 person waiting list to view but it was no good and not worth the asking price in our opinion (we only got a slot to view because someone cancelled and we already have a mortgage offer in place) so we are just stuck. Houses are on the market for 5 mins then gone, and people are happily paying over the odds at the moment, so we havent got it in ourselves to just pull out incase we dont get another offer accepted. Not just that, we would have to pay the solictors fees as it would be our decision to pull out so just makes it harder to part with that money for nothing.