Selling Property and part of my front garden and driveway is unregistered land

CuteBunny

Hello,
I am just sold my house and I am concerned the buyers might pull out due to part of my top front garden and driveway is not on the land registry.  The house land registry was applied in 1990, however my house wasn't built until 1993 and the footpath was moved back, but this was never updated on the land registry.  The pervious owners signed a statutory declaration to say they have always believed this to be within their boundary and hasn't caused them issues to sell the property.  As I have only been in the property for just over 5 years I can not apply for adverse possession, so I would really appreciate any ones advice how I can reassure the new buyers, as it wasn't my intention to move, but due to financial circumstances I am having to sell my property.  Thank you in advance.

user1977

If you've got buyers, haven't you discussed this with your solicitor?

Section62

CuteBunny said:

Hello,
I am just sold my house and I am concerned the buyers might pull out due to part of my top front garden and driveway is not on the land registry.  The house land registry was applied in 1990, however my house wasn't built until 1993 and the footpath was moved back, but this was never updated on the land registry.  The pervious owners signed a statutory declaration to say they have always believed this to be within their boundary and hasn't caused them issues to sell the property.  As I have only been in the property for just over 5 years I can not apply for adverse possession, so I would really appreciate any ones advice how I can reassure the new buyers, as it wasn't my intention to move, but due to financial circumstances I am having to sell my property.  Thank you in advance.

Do you mean the 'footpath' was physically moved, or just not built as shown on the plans?  Is the 'footpath' next to a road, and is the road maintained by the council?

It would help if you could post an extract from the title plan and/or some pictures showing the layout.

RogerPensionGuy

So it looks like you have buyers trying to buy, but house property isn't sold yet. 

Looks like you purchased in this current position. 

Why don't you just sell in this same condition?

If this condition is a problem to sell, maybe the solicitors you used to buy can explain or sort out or compensate you if they didn't do their work correctly. 

CuteBunny

From the land registry original document it shows there was going to be a public footpath where my front garden and driveway is now, but when the build was complete it was moved further up. Please see attached. I took an indemnity insurance to cover this issue, but not sure the new buyers will be comfortable wity this. My solicitor is looking into this for me

CuteBunny

Sorry,  I didn't mention that the footpath is next to the road and is maintained by the council. Thank you 

Section62

CuteBunny said:

Sorry,  I didn't mention that the footpath is next to the road and is maintained by the council. Thank you 

Then the land could be highway even though the footway didn't get built - this might explain why the red line boundary was drawn as shown on the title plan.

Adverse posession is unlikely to be an option, even if you had lived there long enough.

CuteBunny

So the only option would be indemnity insurance for the new buyer? Appreciate your help.

Section62

CuteBunny said:

So the only option would be indemnity insurance for the new buyer? Appreciate your help.

If the land is highway then I'm not sure indemnity insurance serves any purpose - if the highway authority object to you doing something with the land they can just stop you.  I suppose the insurance might help you with a legal case challenging the highway authority's actions, or maybe defend against prosecution, but if the land is highway then I doubt a challenge would be worthwhile and the highway authority would only prosecute if there was some significant issue and you/the buyer refused to back down.

But still worth checking (with your solicitor) whether the land is highway (or has some other owner).  I should have mentioned that a lot of highway land is unregistered, and given the original sale date the land transfer to the highway authority could pre-date compulsory registration.

CuteBunny

OK thank you letting me know. My neighbour next door to me who have the same issue with their land as me have just had their driveway approved by the council, so I might see if they know who owned the land. Thank you again.

Section62

CuteBunny said:

OK thank you letting me know. My neighbour next door to me who have the same issue with their land as me have just had their driveway approved by the council, so I might see if they know who owned the land. Thank you again.

Has the neighbour got a quote from the council for doing the crossover?  If they have a plan of the proposed work it should be a good indication of where the highway boundary is.