Garden Not Showing On Land Registry Plan To House

[buffymad]

I'm in the middle of selling my house and the buyer's solicitor has come back querying something.

I live in a row of terraced houses. We have a garden but to get to that, you exit the front door and then there's a pathway in between the house and the garden (takes about 2 steps to get into the garden). The plan from the Land Registry doesn't show the garden (actually, it doesn't show anyone's gardens).

Any idea what this would mean or what should happen? We've lived in the property for nearly 20 years and don't think we had any queries or problems when we bought the house in this respect. No one has ever said the gardens don't belong to the owners of each property and certainly the only people ever maintaining the gardens are the owners!

My solicitor is looking into this but thought I'd ask on here in case anyone has good advice. The buyer's solicitor is asking for a statutory declaration and indemnity insurance. What does that entail and what is that for? Sounds costly ...

[horseshoes]

It sounds as if that at sometime in the past each terrace has purchased a parcel of land for a garden but it's never been registered. Not that rare years ago and certainly not an uncommon problem.

[buffymad]

What needs to be done to rectify that? Seems a shame it wasn't brought to our attention when buying the house otherwise the then owners would have probably had to sort it!

[buildersmate]

In your situation, your solicitor will probably sort it for you OK, because you've been maintaining this garden for over 12 years and so can claim adverse possession. It sounds like a Land Registry mistake that should have been rectified years ago - and certainly when you bought the property.

The statutory declaration is a simple legal document that your solicitor pulls off the LR website and it gets you to declare that you've been maintaining it for x years. Using it, the buyer will be able to get the garden registered as his own.

The indemnity insurance is belt-and-braces in case it goes wrong and someone emerges from the woodwork claiming the land - the insurance company would indemnify the new owner to buy back the garden.

The risk of this happening is tiny, so the policy premium is modest - perhaps £400 or thereabouts.

[gness]

Buffy. I lived in a house on a double plot for thirty years. After twenty five years I discovered the second plot, bought by the previous owner had not been registered at the Land Registry. My solicitor should have discovered this when I bought but he was now in prison!
I had to prove I had been using the land..easily done.. and then register the land. If, after twelve years, no-one came to claim the land it would become mine.
I took out indemnity insurance. I can't recall what it cost but it was very little. This protected me for the full value of the property and land if a problem arose.
When I decided to sell the insurance carried on to the new buyers and I had no problem at all with prospective buyers.
I don't know where you live but in the area in which I lived it wasn't required to register land until 1973 so many people were in the same situation. A common problem...solicitors were familiar with dealing with it and easily dealt with.
Hope this helps a little. I have all the paperwork somewhere if you need any more information. x

[horseshoes]

I'm afraid I don't know the answer but I'm sure somebody on here all advise you. My mum bought a piece of the field at the side of their house, paid the seller assuming she would register the sale but she didn't. I cos hem about £200 to register it, but his was about 15 years ago. My son lives in a terrace of 5 and each of the occupies in the terrace bought a section of land from the person who owned the whole field at he back so they could have a garden. They merely paid to register it.

[gness]

When I took out the insurance my house was worth about £250.000 and the insurance was around a hundred pounds, can't recall exactly, so it's worth getting some quotes.....times change.

[buffymad]

Would it be cheaper just to pay to register it rather than go through the statutory declaration and insurance indemnity? And if so, how do you go about that? I'm starting to understand what this is all about so thank you everyone!

[buildersmate]

Yes, but that depends on how much your solicitor is going to change you to do it. Ask him/her.

I could raise the necessary forms in 30 minutes for you, but Im sure your solicitor will want an additional 'large wodge'.

[buffymad]

Haha, my solicitor is the firm I actually work for so I can keep an eye on what she's doing!! Already getting preferential rates so don't want it creeping up if it doesn't have to!

[gness]

Testing my memory here Buffy, and late OH dealt with most of it. As BM says your solicitor will want a good fee for doing it. We went to a solicitor too soon because we were green and also considering getting the original solicitor to cough up as it was his fault. Much of our money went on trying to find him.. never thought of looking in HMP.
Let BM find the forms for you...look at all the Land Registry sites and get your head around everything.
Are you worried? I was distraught...it was all new to me and scary. Don't be. It is a very common problem and the people at Land Registry are very helpful.
Do as much as you can yourself with the help of BM's forms and come back here. One of us will be able to help and when I can remember where the "safe place" is I can look at my paperwork if you need...but all you need will be online. x

[buffymad]

Gness - its a bit scary, yes!! It was all going so smoothly too (should have known!)

If anyone can help point me in the right direction that would be great. If I know what I need to do and what type of things I need to say then i'm sure we'll be able to cope. It's just knowing what to look for and where to start (when you know nothing at all about all this!).

[gness]

Buffy, Type in Unregistered Land and read up on it. I also phoned the Land Registry for advice and look at the forms Buildersmate is getting for you.
At some point I had to provide photos of us using the land..kids playing in the garden etc.
It will be fine...x

[buildersmate]

This explains the process. Its written in legalise (its a professional guide to help conveyancers, not a public guide intended for laypeople.
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides/practice-guide-5

I think you'll find you apply using Form FR27 and it will require a Statement of Truth (which is similar to a Statutory Declaration).

The trouble with what you are thinking of doing is the time the LR may require to investigate the circumstances behind this mistake - you don't want it holding back your sale. That alone may persuade you to let the buying end of the chain do it.

[buffymad]

Thanks buildersmate and you're right, we don't want this holding up the sale of the house so it looks like never mind the cheapest, go for the quickest option.

My solicitor is going to contact the previous solicitor to see if they spotted anything. I'm assuming not because nothing was ever mentioned to us. Would we have any comeback with them for "not doing their job" so to speak?

[gness]

Be careful before you spend money on action against the original solicitor. We appealed to the Law Society because our solicitor had been struck off and they refused to consider it because of the time it took us to find out.

[bednobs]

can the buyer pay for the indemnity rather than you?

[buffymad]

Well so far we're completing a statutory declaration. My solicitor thinks becuase we've been there for so long, no indemnity insurance is required - but we'll see what the other side say about that!

[gness]

Buffy...I was in my house for over thirty years but still needed the indemnity insurance in the unlikely event of someone appearing with the deeds to the land I thought I owned.....for a small sum of money the peace of mind was invaluable. Your situation may be different but I wouldn't buy a house without indemnity insurance either...if they do it's their problem....Gx

[buffymad]

Statutory declaration done as they've requested. Still need indemnity insurance for the pathway (as there's the front door, a pathway (which can be used by anyone) and then the garden). Now the buyer's solicitor is asking us to apply for absolute title! Grrrrr!!!! Which obviously takes more time (never mind the money). Wouldn't it make more sense for me to give him an indemnity and then for him to apply for absolute title after he's got the place? Otherwise it would need transferring into his name which I presume would cost him money anyway? Is the solicitor being picky or is it just me?!!! Stressed!!

[gness]

Buffy...unless things have changed I don't think you can apply for absolute title for twelve years...could be wrong so I will look at my old paperwork. If you have absolute title why would you need indemnity insurance?