Part of Garden Not owned

Bluebound1

Morning,

Wondering if anyone has had this experience before. Currently in the process of purchasing a propert, everything is pretty much done enquiries wise apart from it appears a small strip of the Garden at the back is owned by the council housing trust. It’s part of the red outlined area when the council sold the house 40 odd years ago but not on the land registry. Sellers solicitor has been asked to contact the housing trust about buying the land. Anyone had this experience before? Conscious with what I’ve read online this could potentially drag out for months. 

Thanks! 

Jaybee_16

When I owned a flat in London, half the garden was owned by London Transport Property, later Transport for London. They refused to sell the land so I had an annually renewable lease for that half. 
Started out as a flat rate which didn't change each year until TfL decided it needed to be more profitable and changed it to an annual increase in line with RPI.

Section62

Bluebound1 said:

Wondering if anyone has had this experience before. Currently in the process of purchasing a propert, everything is pretty much done enquiries wise apart from it appears a small strip of the Garden at the back is owned by the council housing trust. It’s part of the red outlined area when the council sold the house 40 odd years ago but not on the land registry. Sellers solicitor has been asked to contact the housing trust about buying the land. Anyone had this experience before? Conscious with what I’ve read online this could potentially drag out for months. 

How wide is the strip?  Is it just a difference between what someone had drawn on the plan 40 years ago vs how the same area looks on a Land Registry plan generated using the current map base?

Posting a copy of the plan (with identifying details redacted) would probably help us understand the situation better.

monkey-fingers

I mean, could the current owner not submit an adverse possession claim? If they're not paying any rent.

user1977

What's actually on the ground? If we're talking about an overgrown bit at the bottom of the garden, it might be nice to tidy up the title, but probably not something worth months of delay. Different if it is built on or used for access.

Mr.Generous

Had a sale near us complete in December that was sold around March with the same issue. About an 8ft wide strip along the bottom of the gardens on a row of old cottages that used to be used for access to empty cess pits. Long since fenced in as back gardens by all 4 cottages. I spoke to the seller and the problem was not only did he not own the title on what they thought they were buying, but if he moved the fence back and left the strip so it wasn't part of the garden the mortgage provider for the new buyers was not willing to go ahead. I don't know what the resolution was but 9 months must have eaten into the patience of both parties, and I'm sure the main beneficiaries would have been the legal representatives. 

lincroft1710

50 years ago when I bought my first house, part of the open plan front/side garden (lawn) was in the ownership of the council. Caused no problems, I just mowed the lawn and no problems arose when selling the house. Perhaps things were different then?