Advert said garage and driveway... Searches say different

Lyd00

My solicitor has sent me results of her initial searches today. 

The piece of land that runs alongside the house was advertised as a driveway when in fact it is right of way only and doesn't actually belong to the house (the seller says they didn't know and says they've been parking 2 cars on it ever since they lived there for over 10 years with no problems). There is a public sewer which runs to the rear of the property therefore Yorkshire water have rights of access onto this land /the property to carry out repairs to the sewers.

Secondly the garage doesn't appear to have planning permission. My solicitor has said she can ask for an indemnity policy because the covenants state permission is needed from the council which they haven't got. 

Thirdly the back garden fence sticks out rather than being in line with the garage so I think they've pinched some land? 

Would it be unreasonable to renegotiate based on my offer being for a 3 bed end terraced that has a driveway and garage which isn't technically what I'd be getting?

The advertised driveway is unsightly, it is uneven and covered in moss and when I had the money I'd be digging it up and re-paving it which I assume I now can't do as it wouldn't be my land? (edited to add that it looks like I'm to maintain it so paving it might be OK) but I still don't know whether I have pedestrian access only or vehicular. 

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks 

user1977

How old is the garage? Unless it's been constructed very recently, lack of planning permission is hardly an issue.

theoretica

Whose land is the driveway? 

Lyd00

user1977 said:

How old is the garage? Unless it's been constructed very recently, lack of planning permission is hardly an issue.

Were waiting to hear back, hopefully long enough 

Lyd00

theoretica said:

Whose land is the driveway? 

It's council owned land, the property has right of access /way

Ath_Wat

Whether it's a driveway or not is not really the issue; it's not part of the plot you are buying.  If your offer was based on you thinking the plot was bigger than it actually is then yes, of course it is reasonable to adjust your offer.

By how much, is really the question.

eddddy

Lyd00 said:

... when I had the money I'd be digging it up and re-paving it which I assume I now can't do as it wouldn't be my land?

Assuming you're paying for it, I'd be very surprised if the landowner (i.e. the council) or anyone else tried to stop you. I doubt that the council are keen to keep the moss covered, uneven driveway.

You might even find that it's the council's responsibility to maintain it (pay for repairs) - but I doubt they'd be keen to spend any money, and maybe you want to keep off their radar anyway. So maybe say nothing and do the repairs yourself.

[Deleted User]

Sounds like the owner is trying it on. Unless their own solicitor at the time they bought it was incompetent, they would doubtless have discovered that the "driveway" was merely a right of way.

Same with the garage, either they bought knowing it had no planning permission or they built it without bothering to get permission.

These are definitely things you can use as leverage to get a hefty discount, but of course the seller can always so "no" so you really need to decide a) how much discount you want and b) what will you do if they say no?

Lyd00

eddddy said:

Lyd00 said:

... when I had the money I'd be digging it up and re-paving it which I assume I now can't do as it wouldn't be my land?

You might even find that it's the council's responsibility to maintain it (pay for repairs) - but I doubt they'd be keen to spend any money, and maybe you want to keep off their radar anyway. So maybe say nothing and do the repairs yourself.

How do I go about finding this out? (whether the council should be maintaining it?) or whether they'll hand the land over to me? 

user1977

Lyd00 said:

eddddy said:

Lyd00 said:

... when I had the money I'd be digging it up and re-paving it which I assume I now can't do as it wouldn't be my land?

You might even find that it's the council's responsibility to maintain it (pay for repairs) - but I doubt they'd be keen to spend any money, and maybe you want to keep off their radar anyway. So maybe say nothing and do the repairs yourself.

How do I go about finding this out? (whether the council should be maintaining it?) or whether they'll hand the land over to me? 

Talk to your solicitor.

Noneforit999

Surely the existing vendors own solicitor would have picked up the same thing about the driveway when they bought it? I find it hard to believe they had no idea. 

In terms of what you can do, you have two options. Pull out or try to negotiate a lower price. Reality is if you plan to sell in future you won't be able to advertise the house as having two off road parking spaces which means the house is worth a little less and would put a lot of buyers off.