Lack of right of way to access side of house

neonorigami

I'm in the process of buying a house but an issue concerning the boundaries and rights of way has come up during the conveyancing.

The house is detached but is not surrounded by its own land on all sides as detached properties often are. It has passageways adjoining it to the left and right. On the right-hand side is a shared passageway leading to its back garden and a neighbour's garden, half of which falls within the house's boundary according to the land registry plan.

To the left of the house there is another passageway that goes halfway up the length of the house. This passage leads to a gate that gives access to the garden of the house round the corner. This garden seems to run all the way up to the house I'm buying.

I am concerned about how I would access the left wall of my house for repairs, because my solicitor has informed me that due to a "defect in the title" of the property, there is no legally enforceable right of way. She says I also have no legal right to the use of services such as cables and pipes.

She proposes that I take out indemnity insurance to cover any costs incurred by the absence of easement, but I don't know if that's the best solution or not. I wonder what these costs could be. The insurance policy would only cover me up to the value of the house and would not cover any action taken by a neighbour. I am worried about what would happen if the neighbour decided to build up against my house or attach things to it - would they be allowed to do that?

The deeds from 1906 says "all division walls are party walls" so I assumed the left and right walls of the house are still considered party walls - does this mean the neighbours technically own half of them, even though it's a detached place?

My solicitor and the vendor are being very slow and unhelpful answering my questions. The vendor just put "don't know" in response to the question in the solicitor's report about who is responsible for the left boundary, which seems odd as it seems to be the wall of her house! So I thought I'd see if anyone here had dealt with this kind of situation before. It's putting me off the house but it was so hard for me to get a mortgage, I am reluctant to pull out in case I can't get one again.

I wonder if this issue would put potential buyers off in future, or if I'm being unduly cautious in finding it off-putting?

Grizebeck

I wouldn't let this you off. Just follow solicitors advice 

propertyrental

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/23/contents

RHemmings

This, more or less, is the case for my house. We all agree that we'll let each other access to passageways to access roofs and walls of each other's houses. It would be best to say hello to the neighbours and see what the situation is.