Adding Garage to House Deeds

[carlyjackson]

I bought my house earlier this year and was handed the keys to a garage that is situated behind my house. The previous owner stated that she was handed the keys when she moved in (2yrs ago) from the gentleman who owned the house at that time. Apparently quite a few years a neighbour handed the keys of the garage over to this gentleman as it wasn't being used, these keys have just been passed along, and are now in my posession and i use this garage.
I just wondered if anyone knew my legal right to this garage or could direct me to where I could find this info...could this garage be added to my deeds?

[jenniprice]

I would presume that the garage was yours if you have the keys. Have you checked your deeds to see if it's on there?
Could have been a little confusion down the line.

If not your local land registry should be able to help see who does own it, then give you advice on what you need to do to try claim it/buy it.
Or speak to the neighbour who you think owns it to see what he knows.

[carlyjackson]

There is nothing on the land registry and I have nothing to say who it may belong to, all I know is that when the house's were first built a row of a few garages were built behind the house too, one house had ownership of the garage but the keys got handed over to the owner of my house as they weren't using it and these keys just got passed down with the house. There has never been any dispute over ownership but I am thinking of gettin this garage added to my deeds.

[buildersmate]

How come your solicitor didn't get involved in looking at this at the time you bought the house - did you not tell him/her there was a garage included as part of the deal?

The straight answer to your question is that you will need to claim Adverse Possession, and demonstrate 12 years maintenance/usage of the garage. As a process this works through the LR as suggested above. It is possible to do it yourself for relatively small sums of money (LR fees) but many people prefer to use a solicitor. I am assuming you are correct in your assertion about not being LR registered - its rather different if it proves not to be the case.

Since this going to be complex, suggest you answer the bit about when you bought it first - because the best bet may be to direct you back to the solicitor who helped buy the house - if the job wasn't done properly in the first place.

[carlyjackson]

Nothin was mentioned about this garage until after the sale, the day they moved out i went to collect the keys from them and thats when i was informed that we had a garage too.

[buildersmate]

OK so that's (unfortunately) your solicitor off the hook if you never advised them it was part of the deal (because you didn't know either).
To get the garage added to the LR land title that you hold you are going to have to demonstrate Adverse Possession for 12 years (I'm still assuming this piece of land is unregistered). To do that, you need to show 12 years of occupation and maintenance and since you've only just moved in, you can't do that.
One option is to wait until 12 years are up - then go for it. Only downside is if someone does hold an old deed for the site and turns up wanting their property back (unlikely I guess - the land is probably just owned by no-one). So you are unlikely to get shifted off the site.
The second option is more costly. You would have to go back to the seller and ask them to supply you with a sworn statement that they have had sole use of this garage for x years (as far as I know, LR will require a proper sworn statement). If the previous seller hasn't been there 12 years you would have to go back further to the previous owner and repeat the process. Armed with that information, you (or your solicitor) would be able to make an application for possessionary title. There is no reason why the seller would do this for you for nothing and the sworn statement will probably cost �50 or so to draw up.
The LR document to read, if you are so inclined is here.
http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library /documents/lrpg005.pdf
But it is pretty heavy legal stuff.

[carlyjackson]

Thanks builders mate for all your advice..................I got in contact with the land registry who have given me a form to fill in to search ownership of the land and I have to supply a plan of the land im interested in- they said that the plan 'should be drawn to scale and be based on the latest edition of the large scale Ordnance Survey map. The scale and north point should be indicated, and the extent of the property should be shown by suitable colouring and its position in relation to nearby roads, and other features, should be readily apparent' so any pointers to where I could obtain this from would be a great help.

So I take it if it comes back that the land is un-owned and I want to go for ownership of the land then I have to prove this 12year ownership .........this is not as simple as I intially thought. I presumed if no-one had ownership of the land then I could simply buy the land. I may have to re-think if all this is worth it. I don't mind the cost its the fact I don't intend on staying in my house for 12yrs and chasing the previous owners wont be a problem, but its the couple before them they were a very elderly and moved away.......

Anyway thank you for your help!

[buildersmate]

Maps - easy peasy. Try here.
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/site /contact/maps-for-planning-applications.html

The Ordnance Survey maintain the right to sell these - so follow the links to somewhere nearby you. Check what the LR asks for - probably 1:500 or 1:1250 scale.

Buying the land - fine idea, but there's no-one to buy it off! It isn't owned by anyone according to your research, but let the LR do a proper search - it won't cost much.

Is it worth try to claim it? - up to you. Assuming LR turns up nothing the only small risk is someone turning up with old (unregistered) deeds and claiming they own it. You got it as a bonus with your purchase, so nothing lost.
Just make sure you you offer it to the next purchasers up front and explain the legal position.

[carlyjackson]

Yeah i'm thinkin it may not be worth the hassle, whatever I decide i'll keep coming across a hurdle or two, knowing my luck I'll just open up a whole can of worms, It may just be easier to think of it as a bonus, like you said, just continue with the tradition of handing the keys over when I decide to sell up.
thank you!