Neighbours bathroom juts into the house we want to buy

gt568

We had this upstairs in a RAF married quarter.  Our three bed semi jutted into the 2 bed semi next door.  The third bedroom on our side jutted into that house.  No issues at all.

eddddy

joannestar12 said:

Went home and found a previous advert of next door when it was last on the market. Next door is a tiny house and it looks like downstairs had an extension of the bathroom at some point and it's the bath/shower that abuts in our house.

As others say, it sounds like there is a bit of "Flying Freehold" / "Creeping Freehold".


Are you saying that when the house was sold previously, the floorplan suggested there was no "Flying Freehold"?

If so, could it just be that the previous floorplan is inaccurate?

Or do you think the current owners of both houses (or previous owners of both houses) agreed that part of one house should be handed over to the other house? Doing that would be very unusual.

If they are very old houses, it is more likely that they were originally built that way. Especially, if both houses were originally built by the same owner - for example, as workers cottages.

propertyrental

What is above this area which belongs to the neighbour? If above it is yours (eg your bedroom/bathroom) then it's a Flying Freehold.

joannestar12

Hi everyone, 

I am so so sorry for the delay in responding back to this. 

The property is this one: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144021506#/?channel=RES_BUY

The bathroom appears as an alcove in the room called "Family room" in the floor plan.

It has loads more space, good sized rooms, a fair bit of potential, larger garden and space on the drive for our caravan. We put an offer in and it got accepted as it really ticks the majority of our boxes.

Story goes is that the original owner used to own both houses and who then nicked a bit of "our" house to add a bath to next door's downstairs bathroom. He then separated the two properties and its been like that for about 25 years. Talks to our local planning department says that they can't find any planning permission for it. We have paid a private surveyor to do a homeowners survey on it and he didn't find any problem with the set up and said that he has seen it before and that it isn't causing any problems. 

Thank you for for your advice so far. 

housebuyer143

You might find it's a flying freehold situation assuming that they have actually registered the change at the land registry. Can you get the title deeds for the property.
If it's flying freehold you will need to check the lender will accept it, probably before applying as it can be a sticking point with a few.

The only thing that might put me off (as long as it's a brick wall dividing it from the family room), is understanding how his property affects your ownership of the land your house is on.

jonnydeppiwish!

gt568 said:

We had this upstairs in a RAF married quarter.  Our three bed semi jutted into the 2 bed semi next door.  The third bedroom on our side jutted into that house.  No issues at all.

Go to love a MQ!

Jonboy_1984

As mentioned above check with your mortgage broker/ lender as not all mortgage products accept flying freeholds or they have specific requirements for the deeds.

(Our original broker made clear it’s not a no-go, just a case of choosing the correct mortgage product and they could look it up in a few seconds on the mortgage comparison system they showed us).

EssexHebridean

IIRC you can check for yourself on the CML Handbook* what your lender’s take on flying freeholds is. However, you definitely need to check what the deeds/title plan show as it could be due to the way this was done that it’s not actually formalised anywhere, which might be more of a problem! 

* just checked for you - it’s name has changed but the site you need is here: https://lendershandbook.ukfinance.org.uk/lenders-handbook/

ThisIsWeird

Is it the wall in pic 4, RH side with the small side table against it?
The house otherwise appears to be a conventional semi, with the expected straight dividing wall. So this - surely - wasn't an intentional part of the original design and build. That suggests it was a presumably-agreed modification made either between two friendly neighbours, or by a single owner of both properties at the time.
I can understand your anguish, Jo, as that is a really sweet house
Is this an issue? Absolutely no idea, but I suspect so. There are two aspects; one is the legalities, and any consequences that could result if this is not nailed down, and the other is whether you can 'live' with it.
That's a lovely family room - a nice place to escape to for a quiet read in the evening when everyone else is watching tele in the sitting room. And then you hear a toilet flush, and it's almost coming from inside your room. Or, a 'click' and steady drone of an extractor fan, which runs for a solid half hour.
Be 100% certain you will be able to cope with this. And, depending on the 'legalities' - whether this change has been recorded in your respective deeds - be 100% certain you can cope with it if it's simply a time-elapsed fait accompli, the result of an agreement, and now beyond action, especially if you fall out with a sneering neighbour.
So, 'legalities' in terms of insurance, mortgage, etc. And emotional/practical in terms of whether you can 'live' with it in the worst case scenarios. 
I don't think I could.

YoungBlueEyes

What do the deeds for both properties show? Have they built their bathroom into 'your' family room? Or is that portion of land/house not 'yours' now? It might be overkill but I'd be wanting an se to check it was done properly.

I agree with TiW about the possible noise though, I couldn't bear it.