Newly Bought House - Garden "Stolen"

Grumpy_chap

thundyuk said:

4> In writing, has agreed not to pursue planning permission on the land without giving us at least 18 months' notice so if we wanted to sell our property without the potential devaluing effects of having new houses added to the land we could do so.

It is good that you have an amicable route forwards.  As others mentioned, what if the current resident moves on?  Can you buy the part of the garden so the arrangement is reversed?  To protect against the former, you probably want an agreement that last for perpetuity.  For the latter, you'd probably be happy with an agreement that lapses when the neighbour changes.

I am not an expert but suspect, if the neighbour writes to say "in June 2025 I intend to file planning application for XXX" you would have to declare that in any sale between now and then.

Gavin83

user1977 said:

thundyuk said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Thundy, it would help us to help you if you gave clear answers to Qs asked.

1) Was this sold via an estate agent? If so, what do the sales 'particulars' say?

2) When you were (presumably) shown around, what were you told? Did you wander freely into this garden along with the rep, as if the garden did belong to the house you were considering buying? What was said? Anything? "Ooh, this would make a nice place for a garden room?"

3) Look through all the letters and docs your conveyancing solicitor sent you. You should have a letter which fronts a copy of the deeds, which should in turn include the deeds map. Your conveyancer's covering letter should ask you to go through this, and also ask you to confirm that the plot outlined in red is an accurate representation of what you saw - will see - on the ground. Tell us what that map shows. Why can't you include this map on here? Just import the pic into any vague editing software - even MS Paint will do this - and cover any IDing names.

4) Did you have any communication with the seller? Bump into him? A chat over the fence?

5) Was ANYTHING said to you by ANYONE to suggest that this garden came with the house?

And,

6) Have you spoken to your conveyancing solicitor yet?

5> The above will be done via a solicitor so it's binding

"Binding" in what sense? Binding on all future owners of your and his properties? So covenants / easements / whatever put into both titles? With the agreement of any mortgage lenders? He's paying your legal fees and your lender's costs (if appropriate)?

The neighbour would be insane to agree to this. A lot to lose (especially financially) and nothing to gain. I'm surprised he's agreed to pay any legal fees as again there's no reason for him to.

However if the guy is willing to do this then I see no reason for the OP not to take advantage.

Emily_Joy

I think I am going to disagree with the rest. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that the vendor has not realised that

(1) most people would assume that the boundary is where the fence is

(2) if he moves the fence where it is out to be, he would find it much harder to sell the house - or to achieve the price he has achieved.

Finally, selling the house is by no means instantaneous - he or his relatives had a plenty of time to move the fence between the time the house was put up for sale and the exchange of contracts. However, they choose not to do so.

Based on the above, I would be looking for a lawyer with "no win no fee" policy to file the case of misrepresentation. There are a plenty of those among ambulance chasers, this is be far more decent than extracting money from NHS.

EssexHebridean

Allowing that there is no case to answer because the fault lies squarely with the OP as they have acknowledged for not reading/checking the documentation they had, it really isn't in any way "more decent" than someone making a legitimate claim against the NHS for an error made BY the NHS. 

user1977

Emily_Joy said:

I would be looking for a lawyer with "no win no fee" policy to file the case of misrepresentation. 

With what as a remedy? The OP has completed their purchase and hasn't mitigated any loss by e.g. paying attention to what they were told by the EA or their own solicitor.

RHemmings

Call me paranoid if you want, but I wouldn't be surprised if the EA showing the OP around the property was aware that the OP thought that the full garden was included, and didn't tell them. 

That's probably not a legal issue if there was no active misrepresentation. But, personally I consider it immoral. If it happened, of course. 

Emily_Joy

user1977 said:

Emily_Joy said:

I would be looking for a lawyer with "no win no fee" policy to file the case of misrepresentation. 

With what as a remedy? The OP has completed their purchase and hasn't mitigated any loss by e.g. paying attention to what they were told by the EA or their own solicitor.

The remedy could be to transfer/to sell at a discounted price a half of the garden that he transferred to the other house. Just to make sure that nothing can be built on that parcel of land. I would also start it asap, to make sure that if he decides to sell and to move to a retirement apartment, say, he would have declare a dispute with neighbours. With the idea that once the future buyer of their house finds the nature of the dispute they would be extra careful.

I believe that using such an exploit is immoral. It is a human nature that we trust our eyes more than papers. When the RainRadar is showing clear blue sky and the rain is pouring on my nose, I am inclined to think that the forecast is wrong. 

thundyuk

ThisIsWeird said:

What an outcome!

Really - you are very, very lucky.

Yes, this isn't the perfect outcome - that would obviously be that the land somehow was yours, but that just wasn't on the cards! - but to have such an understanding neighbour is worth its weight in gold.

As others have said, tho', things can easily change, and you mustn't feel too let down if they do - this is not your land.

Also, even tho' he very thoughtfully suggested he would give you looong notice of any plans to develop that land, you would then be aware of these plans, and are legally bound to declare during a sale "anything that could materially affect the value of your property".

It's also a wee bit concerning that he is prepared to be sooo considerate to you, but could well stitch up the next owner by not giving advance warning of him developing that land. That is weird?

Anyhoo, for what you say, no-one else has done wrong, so let this be a salutary warning in your house-moving life.

I genuinely think he's just a really nice person and didn't intend any harm. He's openly said that he's passing the property to family when the time comes, and yes they might seek to use the land differently but wants everyone to he happy in the meantime. He'll be around for a long time yet, he's not old, just older - and is using the money from the sale of the property I now own to retire early on. At least that's what he said....!!


As you and others have said this can all definitely change but I'm also just grateful for a positive outcome.

Anyway, I'll let this thread drop into the annals of history now but I wanted to just say I think it worked out as best I could have hoped given my stupidity. And again offer my thanks to you all.