out houses not on deeds

[syston96]

Hi on my deeds it shows one boundery as being straight but there are out buildings meeasuring 1.5 wide and 3.6 long with doors from my garden into them,which are shown as being next door on the title deeds. what can i do to amend things should i want to sell the property ? the house is victorian and were i believe the outside toilet etc. Thanks for any replies

[daffy654]

If they are shown on the deeds as belonging to your neighbour then they must actually belong to them.

[HowardKennitby]

What exactly do you mean by "shown as being next door on the title deeds"
Do you mean your deeds or next door's?

[LoftyLottie]

Not necessarily daffy. If it is an old house and the deeds are old and there is no land registry, then if the sheds have been used and believed to be on syston96's property for a number of years (I believe it is now 10, but used to be 12) then they have become syston's by adverse possession.

This needs to be sorted before the house goes on the market. Can you talk to your neighbour about the situation syston? A solicitor should be able to give you the information you need.

[gness]

We purchased a Victorian house on a double plot. The second plot had been bought buy the previous owner in 1950. When we saw the deeds on completion of our mortgage the second plot had never been registered. Our solicitor should have picked that up when we bought but he was nowhere to be found having been struck off and imprisoned for fraud. We hired another solicitor but could, with hindsight, have done much of the groundwork ourselves and saved some money.
We obtained Possessory Title by proving that we had bought a double plot, used it and built on it in full view of anyone passing by.
This title would become Absolute after 12 years if no-one else came up with the deeds to the land. We took out insurance against this to cover the value of the land and devaluation of our house on the original plot. This was easy and inexpensive.
We planned to stay longer than 12 years but when my husband died I decided to move. Possessory Title was not a problem and did not affect the value of my house. I had five offers and explained the situation to interested parties. The insurance carried over to my buyers and was not a problem to them.
I hope you can glean some helpful information from this but do look at the Land Registry website.

[tonywiltshire]

Title plans are notoriously wrong and often cause delays with conveyance so you are very sensible to sort it out now. From what you say the property is older than you so when you purchased or were left the property did your Solicitor (if you used one) have any difficulty with your title plan? I am assuming you have not sold any part of the property or land since you obtained it.
The title plan of your next-door neighbour, in whose property the buildings are shown, would be of interest and can be obtained from the land registry. If you and your neighbour can agree the boundary and that the buildings are in your land you can contact the land registry (customer support 0844 892111) and ask that the mistake be corrected.
If you intend to offer the house for sale soon you may like to make the arrangements through the Solicitor that you intend to use for the conveyance.

[LoftyLottie]

Unfortunately though, many old properties are not even on the land registry (ours was not, nor our neighbours) so deeds are the only evidence. If this is the case for yourself and your neighbour and the deeds of yourself and your neighbour don't relate to each other or show discrepancies then the only way forward is come to an agreement with your neighbour and register the houses. You need to do this before putting it on the market to save any complications.

Our deeds show our house as is was in the 60's. No amendments have evere been made to the drawings. We bought our house in the late 70's. We only registered it with Land Registry when we took on additional mortage in the 1990's, and even at the stage of registering (which the Building Society did for us) the 1960's drawings were still used. Land Registry make no guarantee that drawings are accurate and say they can't be used as legal evidence.

So as I said earlier if the outbuildings have been used by you and assumed to be on your land, and this has not been questioned by neighbours, for 10 years (it has changed from 12) then they are yours by adverse possession regardless of what is shown on the deeds or the land registry.

It all makes a mockery of solicitors searches in my opinion. Money for old rope!!

[gness]

Last sentence says it all LL.

[LoftyLottie]

Yep! :o/

[Eve]

Bear in mind though that, generally speaking, the solicitor does not see the property being purchased and is reliant on the buyer to confirm that the property marked on the relevant plan corresponds with the property the buyers are buying - confirmation of this is often asked. Searches can uncover all kinds of things.

When did you buy? Is the property registered or unregistered? What plan are you looking at (on what document)?

Adverse possession is not necessarily as straightforward as people think, it's not simply just using a piece of land for a period of time. It needs sorting properly, especially if there is a known/traceable owner of the land the outbuildings are on.

[LoftyLottie]

- confirmation of this is often asked

Unfortunately, that's not my experience Jenna!!

I agree that adverse possession is not straightforward which is why one has to see a solicitor, just gave a general overview. It needs sorting. Have had a terrible situation myself in recent years re adverse possession, etc.