Index Map Search at the Land Registry

[RogerS]

The property we are hoping to buy is not currently registered. So our solicitor asked for an Index Map Search that looks at surrounding Title Plans to see if they have registered some of the land that we think we are going to buy.

Has anyone had any experience of this ? Know if it's automated or human control ?

Because it's thrown up a possible clash but is a right teaser because it doesn't tell you what/why or where. Really helpful. I've compared the two plans...LH is the registered Title Plan and RH is our proposed purchase. I cannot see any conflict.






The only possible reason is the small pink rectangle (arrowed). It's 'our' garage. It is also shown on the LH plan as a green rectangle and the text (partially hidden) says that the bit in green does not form part of the Title because it belongs to our property ...as we are expecting.

If the Index Map Search is automated then possibly it cannot parse that text and so thinks it's not ours. I put that to our solicitor who replied thus

The Land Registry will have taken into account the land not included in title to .........when carrying out the search.

The reality is that the Land Registry’s mapping methods mean that they can more accurately pinpoint discrepancies than we can.

As suggested the consequences are potentially:

1. very minor - if the incursion from the neighbouring registered title is very minor in itself (and just involves, say, a couple of feet on a boundary), or
2. quite significant if, for example, the garage on the ground, where placed on the recent sales plan (which may be more accurate as to the garage’s position on the ground - having utilised more recent satellite photography) is at odds with the older Land Registry plans (which may have used more dated imagery to create title plan......because that means the sellers are purporting to sell to you land (which they may well occupy on the ground) which in fact is registered to a third party (the owner of xxxxxxx). If that was the case and we simply proceeded, when we applied to register ........ in your names the Land Registry would say that they could not register to you the land already registered to a third party.

The starting point is for the sellers and their solicitors to identify where the discrepancy is. If this reveals the second scenario, I am afraid that this will delay matters whilst they resolve. However, better that than you buy land that they were unable to transfer to you, and we are left trying to rectify post-completion.

I looked at the satellite image and that also, to my eyes, shows no contention.



Our solicitor was wrong before viz Planning Permissions and I think he could be wrong again. Trouble is I have an Olympic Worrier living with me.

 

[HappyHacker]

The land registry title plans are not necessarily accurate. Partially due to the accuracy of any OS maps on which they are based and partially due to the thickness of any lines on the plans submitted for title registration. In addition they can make mistakes especially on old registrations where the current standards applied to title maps submitted for registration were not in place.

It has cost me over £40,000 to learn the above. I sold part of some land for £12,000 and 15 years later the purchaser decides he owns parts of my land. The land registry had made a mistake on the title of an adjacent house when registered in the 60's so the boundary of the land I bought/sold was wrong on the title deed. despite fences etc being in the correct place. In addition the OS map of the area was wrong and they corrected that with a detailed survey. Even a substation was in the incorrect position on the OS map. I had to prove this to the land registry who eventually corrected the error on their Index map but would not change the title deeds as they were within their tolerances. Eventually I had to give the purchaser land he had not bought or pay over £100,000 to go to court where even if I won I would not get all my costs back.

I would get the seller to sort the issue out otherwise it may cost you a lot in surveyor fees and solicitor fees.

Good luck

 

[duke]

Over here we can pay a small fee for title insurance to protect you from irregularities but in most cases your lawyer will not do due diligence because of it.
I have bought and sold many properties and always provided or received a survey. If the seller does not have one and the property is registered at the land registry , I still insist for one or no deal. And I always check with the land registry that they match.
If you are dealing with multiple parts and parcels make sure your lawyer states all of these on the land transfer document.
An example, our present property has a land locked parcel of land across the lake from us. When I went in to review documents before signing the lawyer had missed putting that parcel of land on the submission papers. Oh they said it's already registered with the current owners, then I said if you register without the included parcel then according to the land registry I won't own it.
They did include it after our discussion.
As HappyHacker mentioned things can get very messy.

 

[RogerS]

I'm becoming much more comfortable with my diagnosis/synopsis as I got a reply back from that commercial Land Registry outfit that the Search is done digitally. High chance that that writing got ignored thus raising the Red Flag. Got an enquiry out to the actual Land Registry.

 

[akirk]

you can go online to the land registry and download plans and deeds.
Simply download at £7.50 per deed (was half that until recently!)
I would agree with your reading of it - the two diagrams in the first post match - like a jigsaw, one is the inverse of the other which is what you want to see...

more to the point though is do you have a right of way / access to the garage?! otherwise there is no point owning it when it seems to be surrounded by someone else's land

 

[Blackswanwood]

Something that may ease the concerns of the Olympic Worrier on the topic of right of way …

A right of way doesn’t necessarily need be noted in the title deeds (if unregistered) or by the Land Registry if it is registered.

Right of way is often obtained through long use. If the current or previous owners have accessed the garage across land belonging to someone else regularly over a twenty year period they can claim a right of way has been established. It’s called a prescriptive easement.

We had similar issues when we bought our current house (no decipherable mention of access rights in an 8” thick title deed pack) and the vendors solicitor got statements from members of the family owning the house which solved the issue.

 

[RogerS]

Re Right of Access. There’s a missing 1943 document. Two Indemnity policies have sorted that out. There is also a formal statement re accessing along it for 41 years.

Alasdair…I think the Land Registry should give me a discount for quantity. When we’ve been looking at potential properties my Go-To was always the Title Plan

 

[akirk]

In which case it sounds as though you should be fine…

 

[RogerS]

...

We had similar issues when we bought our current house (no decipherable mention of access rights in an 8” thick title deed pack) and the vendors solicitor got statements from members of the family owning the house which solved the issue.

At our last place there were two oversights by the solicitors drawing up the old covenants etc.

Our power came down a cable from the farm. There was a clause to say we had the right to use the cable but nowhere did it say whose cable it actually was or, indeed, who was responsible for maintaining it.

We had Right of Way down the farmer's drive. We had the right to tarmac it. But nowhere was there anything to say that he couldn't then dig it up.

Both of these were picked up by our solicitor - the one we're using now. Whe we sold, neither was picked up by our buyer's solicitor

 

[John Brown]

At our last place there were two oversights by the solicitors drawing up the old covenants etc.

Our power came down a cable from the farm. There was a clause to say we had the right to use the cable but nowhere did it say whose cable it actually was or, indeed, who was responsible for maintaining it.

We had Right of Way down the farmer's drive. We had the right to tarmac it. But nowhere was there anything to say that he couldn't then dig it up.

Both of these were picked up by our solicitor - the one we're using now. Whe we sold, neither was picked up by our buyer's solicitor View attachment 33401

Aren't you supposed to disclose stuff like that when you sell?
When we bought this place the sellers even showed us correspondence with the neighbour relating to her dogs jumping the fence, in the interests of full disclosure.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Aren't you supposed to disclose stuff like that when you sell?
When we bought this place the sellers even showed us correspondence with the neighbour relating to her dogs jumping the fence, in the interests of full disclosure.

Only if asked.

It’s usual for the purchasers solicitor to require the vendor to complete a TA6 form which asks if you have had any disputes with neighbour (which probably explains what you were provided with). It also asks a series of questions about boundaries and whether you are aware if anything which might lead to a dispute.

 

[RogerS]

Aren't you supposed to disclose stuff like that when you sell?
When we bought this place the sellers even showed us correspondence with the neighbour relating to her dogs jumping the fence, in the interests of full disclosure.

Exactly as blackswanwood has said. Ever heard of Caveat Emptor ? Ask the questions.

 

[John Brown]

Exactly as blackswanwood has said. Ever heard of Caveat Emptor ? Ask the questions.

Yes, I have heard of caveat emptor, the very fact that it's a Latin phrase alerts me to the possibility that it may be slightly outdated. I have to say that in the last two or three property transactions I've been involved with, there seemed to be a duty to disclose, or at the very least, a phrasing in the contract that would lead one to believe that there was some imperitave to supply such information m
However, I'm not wanting to make trouble, or start an argument, just genuinely curious.