Buying house, right of way for side passage turns out not to exist

p00hsticks

If you haven't already, it might be worth checking the neighbours deeds to see if they say anything about it.

We once owned two adjacent terraced houses where there was a ground floor entry passageway running between the two, although entirely within the boundaries of property A. It was only when we came to sell (luckily both properties at the same time to the same person) that we realised that although the Land Registry title of property A said that property B had a right of way through the entry, the corresponding title of property B made no mention of the fact. As part of the sale process the solicotor was going to arrange for it to be added after completion

jimbog

Despite the neighbours owning the passageway there may be a covenant allowing access for you. Pay £3 to download a copy of each set of 'deeds' from the Land Registry website: 
https://search-property-information.service.gov.uk/?_ga=2.156930939.1731307741.1669709817-1226423776.1668501897

cypresstree

Thanks both.  I 've downloaded the 2 documents relating to the niehgbours deeds. Although it states that there were restrictive covenants on the original deed of the neighbouring property, it does not state what they were.

It doesn't look like the original victorian deeds are available for either property, it appears both have been lost.

RAS

You may need a more detailed search at the Land Registry.

MobileSaver

cypresstree said:

The EA says we're over-reacting and access has existing the hundred plus years since the house was built

In which case I am sure the EA will be happy to provide an indemnity against you losing this access in the future? It's a win-win; the sale goes ahead and they get their commission and no risk to the EA as you're over-reacting and there's no risk you'd lose access in the future. I wonder what the EA's response would be?

In your shoes, this would be a deal-breaker for me. Who knows who your neighbour might be in a year or two's time, or even whether the same existing neighbour would still give their informal consent this time next year. Unless you agree a formal ROW with the neighbour this could make living in the house rather miserable and of course cause problems when you come to sell.

propertyrental

I imagine getting a formal (legal) agreement in place with the neighbours would take your sellers time, esp if you wanted it lodged at the LR before buying.

An informal arrangement might be fine - till the neighbours move and  a new neighbour (from hell) moved in...

I'm surprised this has come to light so late in the day. Surely you saw early on that the neighbour owned the path, when you examined your own boundary, and hence would have checked you had a ROW...?

But my advice, given the clear need you have, is that this property does not meet your needs.

user1977

RAS said:

You may need a more detailed search at the Land Registry.

Given the stage the OP is at, I would presume their solicitors have already checked all relevant avenues.

saajan_12

cypresstree said:

Thanks for your answers. Yes, I don't doubt they've had no problems with access, but as you all suggest, I'm concerned that could always change and we'd have no come back if it did.

Good luck tomorrow.

The access is via a path that goes between the 2 houses, perhaps it's possible the vendor could formalise the arrangement with their neighbour.

However amenable the current neighbours are, their needs could change in the future, or they could sell to someone who does the same conveyancing checks, finds they have full rights to the alleyway and builds on it, blocking your access. 

So I think the only practical option for this property are for a formal access agreement between your vendor + current neighbour, so you can then buy with that in place. If the neighbour is effectively giving the access, they may not feel they are losing much if the legal expenses are covered and they get a token cash incentive. Perhaps the agreement can be maintenance of the land is also shared. 
If the neighbour refuses, then your response to the vendor / EA is its clearly not as much of an over-reaction. You can then decide whether to lower your offer to account for losing the side access, or look elsewhere. 

cypresstree

Hi, yes, solicitors have made some checks, so I'm really just checking incase any possibilites have been missed, and going back over some of the same ground in doing so. An indemnity policy was actually mentioned as a possible solution by the EA at one point, but no suitable policy could be found for the circumstances.

We have put the access question from the first viewing, but then relied on responses to queries from our solicitor to confirm the legal status, rather than checking this ourselves in the deeds, which I hadn't realised was possible at the time. So we didn't get confirmation until we really pressed for it, and it took some time to get to that point.

Thanks for all the answers, suggestions and advice. It looks like the conclusions are: there's an outside possibility of coming to a new legal agreement with the neighbour, but this may take considerable time and some cost. Otherwise we either accept as-is with the risk of losing access, or withdraw.

We will discuss option 1 with our solicitor, I'll update here if we make any headway.

Land_Registry

There’s no legal right/easement registered on either title. And the seller can only provide a limited time of use re a claimed (prescriptive) right but the neighbours have consented anyway. 

If you are buying with a mortgage the choice re whether you can complete may not be yours but I’m guessing it’s not an issue for your lender or you don’t have one. 

In light of the ‘doubts’ that exist and as some posts explain the better option would appear to be to formalise the right with the neighbour as they own the land. 

I’m sure your solicitor will be considering same as an option alongside the claimed right as well but a claimed right is likely to fail if permission has been granted by the landowner. 

So the options appear to be do nothing to formalise it or get a deed of grant entered into with the neighbour to formalise the right and register it against both titles. But please do rely on your solicitor for advice 
Prescriptive easements (PG 52) and Easements (62) 
https://www.gov.uk/topic/land-registration/practice-guides