Peterborough Solicitor resolves private right of way during conveyancing

Ramsey Mere, Peterborough

Conveyancing Solicitors in Peterborough often find that homes in the countryside do not directly front onto public highways, but are instead accessed by a private road or track owned by an adjoining property.

Matthew Rumbold was the Conveyancing Solicitor acting for the buyers of a country house at Ramsey Mereside, Peterborough PE26 in 2010. When the a copy of the land registry title was received from the sellers’ Solicitors, Serjeant and Sons of 101 High Street, Ramsey,  PE26 1DA, Matthew noted that there was no evidence of a legal right of way to the property. There was a note on the title that a prescriptive right was claimed, that is to say that the seller and previous owners claimed to have used the access for a number of years.

The sellers’ Solicitors advised that they were holding a number of statutory declarations by previous owners confirming that they had used the access while they had owned the property, that they had not paid anything for the use of the access, and that the adjoining landowner had not taken any action to stop them using the right of way. The law relating to acquisition of rights based on ‘prescription’ and long use is extremely complicated. Matthew advised his clients of the situation, and they said that they would be happy to go ahead, but as they were obtaining a mortgage on the property Matthew also had to inform the lender of the situation and obtain their approval.

Matthew carried out the usual drainage and water search with Anglian Water. This indicated that there was no direct mains water connection, and that the house was not connected to a public sewer. From further enquiries it was found that the water supply to the property was via a pipe connecting to a main supply on the adjoining property, and there was a separate water meter, so that the owners had to pay the adjoining owner for water supplied to the property. Drainage took the form of a septic tank within the boundaries of the property, which was unproblematic.

It is obviously a concern for anyone buying a house that there should be proper legal access to the property. Normally this is direct from a public highway, but where it is not there should be a clear legal right of way. In this case, that was not clear, so the sellers agreed to provide a further statutory declaration confirming the use of the access road while they had owned the house, and also confirming their use of the water supply. They also agreed to pay for an indemnity policy which would protect the buyers and their lender. This is an insurance policy which would provide cover in the event that the landowner over whose land the access ran tried to stop the buyers using the access, including legal costs in fighting any court case.

The clients’ lenders were informed of the situation, and agreed to accept the title on the basis that an indemnity policy would be available. The vendors’ Conveyancing Solicitors obtained a quote for a policy, and sent Matthew a copy of the policy wording for approval. He accepted this, so the buyers confirmed that they were happy to proceed. They mentioned that it appeared from their inspection of the house that the access road served both their property and the adjoining property, and had apparently been like that for some considerable time, so it looked unlikely that anyone would try to stop them using it.

Matthew agreed for the necessary provisions to be inserted in the contract, and once he had obtained the clients' signatures to the contract he was able to exchange, with completion following shortly thereafter.

Although it is uncommon to find problems of this sort on a house purchase, the buyers appreciated all the work Matthew did to help them with the purchase of their lovely country house, and were grateful that he had done his best to sort everything out for them. To put your Conveyancing in Peterborough in expert hands, get a Conveyancing Quote today.