UK legal problem with house. Anything I can do anyone?
Jan 24th 2009, 7:19 pm
#31
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Joined: Feb 2002
Location: Wimbledon, England
Posts: 441
Re: UK legal problem with house. Anything I can do anyone?
this sheds new light on this one. it was unregistered land. however your solicitor has the deed of exchange relating to the piece of land in dispute. accordingly it seems to me you purchased the two pieces of land together and the land registry has either made an error in the first registration maybe because the deed of ex did not have a plan or your soliitor did not send the deed of exchange in when he registered the house. i wonder if the piece of land in question is now registered ? maybe lodge a SIM enquiry with the land registry to see what is registered and what is not. If it is not registered then your sols has the deed to resolve it. If it has been registered to someone else then your sols can try and establish on what basis the land registry decided to do that. If they are registering a notice this suggests it is now registered but how was it registered given your sols have the deed of exchange. the land registry need to see that deed of exchange asap and determine why the land has been registered to someone else.
Jan 25th 2009, 12:19 am
#32
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Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Adelaide
Posts: 3,162
Re: UK legal problem with house. Anything I can do anyone?
Might be worth contacting the previous owners, if you have their details also to get a statement from them saying they used the land, and maintained it and how long for.
Jan 25th 2009, 8:43 am
#33
Just Joined
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 25
Re: UK legal problem with house. Anything I can do anyone?
this sheds new light on this one. it was unregistered land. however your solicitor has the deed of exchange relating to the piece of land in dispute. accordingly it seems to me you purchased the two pieces of land together and the land registry has either made an error in the first registration maybe because the deed of ex did not have a plan or your soliitor did not send the deed of exchange in when he registered the house. i wonder if the piece of land in question is now registered ? maybe lodge a SIM enquiry with the land registry to see what is registered and what is not. If it is not registered then your sols has the deed to resolve it. If it has been registered to someone else then your sols can try and establish on what basis the land registry decided to do that. If they are registering a notice this suggests it is now registered but how was it registered given your sols have the deed of exchange. the land registry need to see that deed of exchange asap and determine why the land has been registered to someone else.
We don't know what particular notice has been recorded against the land, however if it is a notice against first registration this suggests that the land remains unregistered.
If someone is/has made an application to register the land you would have been contacted by the land registry as an adjacent land owner and given an opportunity to object to the registration. You don't say whether you have been contacted by the Land Registry. If you haven't updated your contact details at the Land Registry they will write to you at your property address (you can have two addresses for service aswell as an email address on your title) perhaps check with your tenant to see whether anything was sent to you.
At the moment you say that the son of the previous owner has taken possession of the plot of land. Possession in land law is not the same as the general definition. He may be occupying the land but this is not necessarily possession and does not mean that he may have any greater a claim to the land than you.
As a property lawyer for 10+ years I would suggest that you seek further clarification from your appointed solicitors. It is their job to make sure you understand what has happened and more importantly what your options are.
I hope you wont mind me saying this but the issues you raise are in themselves complex and without site of the legal agreements you speak of it is impossible for anyone on this forum (including myself) to provide you with anything other than opinion . At this stage what you need is bone fide legal advice which in my opinion is beyond the scope of this thread PLEASE either go back to your solicitor or find another. As with many legal issues time is often of the essence.
All the very best
Last edited by Cooperclan; Jan 25th 2009 at 8:47 am.
Jan 26th 2009, 2:29 am
#34
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Joined: Dec 2006
Location: Chelmer and Coolangatta
Posts: 612
Re: UK legal problem with house. Anything I can do anyone?
Hi,
From the limited information it would seem that your solicitor appears to be doing the only thing really available to protect your interest in the plot of land. As the property was unregistered when you purchased it the small plot of land is also likely to be unregistered. The notice will no doubt be against first registration by any third party. Meaning that If someone tries to make a claim for ownership of the land through Land Registry, you or your solicitor will be notified. At that stage it will be for the land registry to decide (on the basis of evidence presented by you and the person attempting to register the land in their name) who has the better claim to title to the land. There are so many factors to be considered it is impossible to discuss them here especially without sight of any of the documents. Anyway, The land will then be registered in the successful applicants name. If your evidence is deemed to be better than the third party's the small plot will probably end up being included in the title to your house.
Hope that is of some use.
Best of luck
Anne
From the limited information it would seem that your solicitor appears to be doing the only thing really available to protect your interest in the plot of land. As the property was unregistered when you purchased it the small plot of land is also likely to be unregistered. The notice will no doubt be against first registration by any third party. Meaning that If someone tries to make a claim for ownership of the land through Land Registry, you or your solicitor will be notified. At that stage it will be for the land registry to decide (on the basis of evidence presented by you and the person attempting to register the land in their name) who has the better claim to title to the land. There are so many factors to be considered it is impossible to discuss them here especially without sight of any of the documents. Anyway, The land will then be registered in the successful applicants name. If your evidence is deemed to be better than the third party's the small plot will probably end up being included in the title to your house.
Hope that is of some use.
Best of luck
Anne
It sounds like I have the choice of bringing the charge to the attention of the other party and then probably have to get evidence submitted to Registry, or hold off in the hope that he doesn't notice until I have a UK trip coming up so I can be on the spot.
It would be nice to get it sorted out sooner rather than later. I will give it some thought.
