Land registry - vendor doesn’t legally own part of the garden

Ath_Wat

I think you are looking at it the wrong way.  It's not theirs to sell, and won't be before the sale completes. Therefore whatever you pay them, you are not paying for that land.  Pay them for the house and land they do own, however much you think that is worth.

Then, after buying, you can use the land yourself if you want, and hope nobody claims it, and take your own steps to claim title over the next few years if you can.

If you pay the right price than the additional usable area is just a  bonus.  Don't pay the wrong price though.  That ship has sailed.  You're not buying that extra land.

gm0

If there are title glitches where land was parcelled off into chunks with the odd gap and tracks are adjacent to LA roads then this can result in a patch of garden which as other have said - is not owned - and cannot be sold to you as part of a garden - this is technically correct in the sense that you can't sell what you don't own.

Lost owner/never registered/extra road verge or bank beyond a fence.  Whether in practice this is an issue or impactful of valuation depends on the site and context.

The patch may well be "enclosed", in continuous use by your property, have not been subject to challenge, and the adverse posession clock is ticking down to the point where the title plan *can* be updated.  If it hasn't fully ticked down the vendor can't do it for you if that is the route you are on.  Similarly the "edge of the road" and to what extent the area of verges behind has an LA interest varies.  The position on LAs  actually maintaining or wanting anyting to do with a stretch and the legal position as to having rights along it may well differ.  If it is a country lane with steep banks and slopes unsuitable or unattractive for building on then the position may differ in terms of actual risk to an old orchard between two estates ripe for further infilling yet with interesting safe vehicular access issues to achieve the infill adjacent to the gardens and houses with irregular title.  Not worried about the former.  More concerned about the latter.

So if adverse possession is relevant to a particular example:

You need specific signed confirmation from previous owners about continuous enclosure and occupation of the to be claimed patch.   This is if you want to add the prior ownership period onto your own tenure at the property. 
Post completion this is entirely at the discretion of the vendor and they can not bother with it and ignore you. You are reliant upon goodwill.   So if you particularly want that document to get the clock down by what may be a long period of occupation with stable boundaries then make supply of that declaration an essential item for exchange + completion. 

A solicitor should know the latest version that LR will accept. I don't. We didn't do that so we had to wait for our own adverse possession clock to run all the way down starting from 0

J66998821

Thanks everyone. Yes I see what you mean good points.

well, we have asked the estate agent if we could buy just the house and garden they currently own ie reduce the asking price. He said absolutely not because the market in this area is really strong and he didn’t think losing half the garden would devalue the property - seriously?! 

babyblade41

J66998821 said:

Thanks everyone. Yes I see what you mean good points.

well, we have asked the estate agent if we could buy just the house and garden they currently own ie reduce the asking price. He said absolutely not because the market in this area is really strong and he didn’t think losing half the garden would devalue the property - seriously?! 

Then the  EA is a plank ,he will now have to disclose that this parcel of land is not included in the property as he has officially been made aware.

Ramouth

We tried to buy a property which turned out not to own the front garden including entrance porch.  The mortgage company wouldn’t touch it.  We tried going to a supposedly specialist broker.  Even the mortgage company that the vendors had their mortgage with.  No luck so we made a cash offer 10% under asking price (this was the most we could scrabble together) which was rejected.  The property was put back on the market and sold a week or so later.  I assume to a cash buyer.  There are plenty of cash buyers around these days.  

It is so hard when these things happen.  Especially when you find out that the vendors knew about the issue and failed to mention it.  You may find that a mortgage company is still willing to lend in your case as it is just garden so you will just need to decide if you are willing to take the risk.

Ath_Wat

J66998821 said:

Thanks everyone. Yes I see what you mean good points.

well, we have asked the estate agent if we could buy just the house and garden they currently own ie reduce the asking price. He said absolutely not because the market in this area is really strong and he didn’t think losing half the garden would devalue the property - seriously?! 

Well, of course he does, he works for the buyer and wants to make you pay as much as possible.

Although of course it's not up to him.  Tell him you are not remotely interested in his opinion, you are going to make a reduced offer to the buyer and if he doesn't want to be involved you will tell them directly.

And bear in mind that when most estate agents claim  "expertise in the housing market", that can be translated as "I have no moral compass and own a cheap suit".

srgrech

J66998821 What happened in the end? I find myself in the same situtation, was due to complete in a couple and then this bombshell.  FWIW Estate Agent said that you could sell the property no issue for the sale price agreed and some people will just overlook the fact that don't own the front garden (about 20sq m)