Title deeds vs building plans

Angepet

Hi all. FTB here, offer accepted in July. We are buying one of a pair of semis built in 1992 on a plot of land in a street of much older houses. Between the house we are purchasing and one of the older houses is a drive which we were told on viewing would belong to us. When we got the title deeds the boundary line bisected the drive, so it looked like we wouldn't own it all. We have queried this with the solicitor and are waiting on a reply, but had a call today from the EA, calling our solicitor "arsey". He also sent us a copy of the building plans which show the whole drive attached to the property, and a pedestrian RoW for bins. There is no RoW in the deeds. Does this have any legal status or do we go by the deeds? 
Thank you for any advice while we wait for solicitor to reply. 

GDB2222

You go by the deeds. 

Above all, take no notice of the estate agent. He will say anything at all to get the sale through. And of course some of them even believe the misinformation that they are giving out. 

The solicitor is the expert. Take his advice.  

user1977

What do you mean by "building plans"? Where are they from? How do the measurements match up to the title plan?

Angepet

I assume the plans that were granted as planning permission. There are measurements on there maybe I should go round with a tape measure! 

user1977

Bear in mind that the Land Registry title plan is sometimes based on an underlying Ordnance Survey plan which might be out of date (or inaccurate) - it's the red line boundary which matters, so there's the possibility that it merely looks like it bisects the driveway, but the measurements may actually match up with what's on the ground. 

propertyrental

The plans presumably date back to 1992 and may or may not have been accurate back then, and may or may not have changed since then

The Title docs from the land registry are current. It's quite common for a 'shared drive' between properties to be owned up the centre line by each property, though usually with a ROW over the other half otherwise you'd only get a narrow car, or a motorbike, up the drive on 'your' half.

In practice most neighbours reach an amicable arrangement, though with arsey neighbours it can become an issue.

.

Angepet

OK thanks for that. Would there have to be an official new measurement to get the title deeds to reflect reality? 

Angepet

propertyrental said:

The plans presumably date back to 1992 and may or may not have been accurate back then, and may or may not have changed since then

The Title docs from the land registry are current. It's quite common for a 'shared drive' between properties to be owned up the centre line by each property, though usually with a ROW over the other half otherwise you'd only get a narrow car, or a motorbike, up the drive on 'your' half.

In practice most neighbours reach an amicable arrangement, though with arsey neighbours it can become an issue.

.

Thank you. We were concerned because the house attached to ours mirrors the arrangement on their side, and the drive has been fenced in half, preventing them parking. The current neighbours we would share the drive with seem fine but we wanted to know our rights in case they sold up. 

user1977

Angepet said:

OK thanks for that. Would there have to be an official new measurement to get the title deeds to reflect reality? 

It's not just a question of getting things measured - if you want more land, it would need to be transferred to you by whoever owns it now.

propertyrental

Angepet said:

OK thanks for that. Would there have to be an official new measurement to get the title deeds to reflect reality? 

The 'reality' is that if this were your house, you would own half the drive and your neighbour would own the other half.

You could change that reality if your neighbour sold you, or gave you, some of their land ie 'their' half of the drive.

Angepet

propertyrental said:

Angepet said:

OK thanks for that. Would there have to be an official new measurement to get the title deeds to reflect reality? 

The 'reality' is that if this were your house, you would own half the drive and your neighbour would own the other half.

You could change that reality if your neighbour sold you, or gave you, some of their land ie 'their' half of the drive.

You are most probably correct. In which case should the deeds have anything in giving right of access over their half which we would  need to park at the rear?