Advice needed!

mcdelarich

Hello all,

We are currently in the process of purchasing our first house - we are at the stage where surveys/valuations have been done, mortgage offer is all sorted and with the relevant people, searches are complete, everything is in place to sign contracts (sooo near!!!)

The problem we have is that to the side of the property there is a "shared access", well it was believed to be shared. Our solicitor was going through the deeds and found that it doesn't mention the access being shared at all - so he thinks it maybe ours - or it maybe the neighbours???

So he has spoken to the vendors solicitor, regarding indemnity insurance?? (No idea what this is)

The problem is - our vendor (who is ringing me constantly!) doesn't have a clue about any of it - and this wasnt brought up when they purchased the house a few years ago.

We're sort of stuck in limbo - not sure how this will get resolved?

The other thing is our vendors have booked a holiday for the 6th Feb, for 2 weeks, and are now moaning that we won't complete in time, eventhough realistically it has been their solicitors holding things up - he doesn't seem to want to push his solicitor too hard.

Does anyone have any suggestions on this? We were hoping to complete next week or v. early the week after

Rich

Debt_Free_Chick

Where does the access route lead to? In other words, assuming both properties share it, where would it take you to? And where would it take the neighbours to?

Lotus-eater

Go and talk to the neighbours and find out what they think.

mcdelarich

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Where does the access route lead to? In other words, assuming both properties share it, where would it take you to? And where would it take the neighbours to?

The access leads to the gardens to the rear - it is like a driveway only both houses have driveways at the front of the house too. We both have double gates on the side of the garden to be able to access the gardens.

feralkitten

If it is a shared route, the deeds should show the rights and obligations of the adjoining owners. This is sometimes in a separate Deed which sets these out and should be registered at HM Land Registry. The plans on the deeds should also show the correct boundaries, i.e. either running down the centre of the route (so each owner has their half) or to one side. This can be checked by getting a copy of the nextdoor's plan as well as the house you are buying. It may be that the nextdoor owner has a copy at home, so it's worth asking. In any case, this would establish whether there is any problem with nextdoor over the use, which is something you need to be clear on before buying.

firesidemaid

do not let the sellers bully you into rushing into the sale before you are happy and ready.

indemnity insurance is normally available for those situations where something should be present/have been done and it isn't/hasn't. then if there is ever a problem, the indemnity insurance would pay out. any indemnity should be paid for by the vendor if they or their solicitor cannot find the supporting paperwork.

have you exchanged yet?

carli_h

I had a similar problem with our last property. We had a tiered garden and the only access to the top tier of the garden were steps which didn't show on our deeds. Our sol checked the deeds of our neighbour and they belonged to him.

We resolved this with an indemnity insurance against the steps which can be transferred to the new owner when you sell the property. At the time it cost about £200 and our vendor agreed to pay it.

Whatever you do, please do not speak to the neighbour about this as if you proceed wit the property it may invalidate the insurance according to our sol.

mcdelarich

Thanks everyone - I will get onto our solicitors again in the morning.

We were hoping to exchange this coming week - it is really annoying because the date the vendors come back from holiday I am due away on a business trip for 4 days.

Makes me wonder why people book hol's knowing they are about to sell their house!!

chappers

Your solicitor should be able to check this if it is not in the land registry or the deeds for each property then he may need to go back a couple of sales to make sure it has all been registered correctly in the past and not been left off at some point.
Your solicitor will probably have a legal obligation to inform the lender of any thing that breaches their T&Cs anyway.