As above really.
I am in the process of buying a new (Old) house. It is a old ex-smallholding, and the way in which the original farm was divided up and the way the ownership of the various sub plots has moved around over the last 40 years or so has generated a number of land registry documents relating to the various changes of ownership.
But they are all crude as ****! and none of them seem to line up properly. (Take printouts, superimpose them by holding them together and looking at them on a lightbox or through a sun lit window)
Thick felt tip pen outlines drawn on ancient OS maps that bear little relationship to the current disposition of land or buildings.
Where are the actual measurements and dimensions listed, more to the point. why aren't there any??
It is like a surveyor presenting a site plan drawn freehand on the back of an envelope, and yet these are the legal documents that define where your legal boundaries are. No wonder people run into boundary problems from time to time.
My cynical/paranoid side (And just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you!) is inclined to suspect that this uselessness is actually quite deliberate and is intended to ensure a sufficient stream of doubt and uncertainty to allow Lawyers the opportunity to fleece all parties concerned in potential future boundary disputes.
But really, for something so important. the lack of objective and verifiable detail in these documents, and the process generally, is appalling. Why are they so bad???
(This is only the second time I have bought a property and the last time was a flat, so everything was much more straightforward last time. so this has rather surprised me!)
I am in the process of buying a new (Old) house. It is a old ex-smallholding, and the way in which the original farm was divided up and the way the ownership of the various sub plots has moved around over the last 40 years or so has generated a number of land registry documents relating to the various changes of ownership.
But they are all crude as ****! and none of them seem to line up properly. (Take printouts, superimpose them by holding them together and looking at them on a lightbox or through a sun lit window)
Thick felt tip pen outlines drawn on ancient OS maps that bear little relationship to the current disposition of land or buildings.
Where are the actual measurements and dimensions listed, more to the point. why aren't there any??
It is like a surveyor presenting a site plan drawn freehand on the back of an envelope, and yet these are the legal documents that define where your legal boundaries are. No wonder people run into boundary problems from time to time.
My cynical/paranoid side (And just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you!) is inclined to suspect that this uselessness is actually quite deliberate and is intended to ensure a sufficient stream of doubt and uncertainty to allow Lawyers the opportunity to fleece all parties concerned in potential future boundary disputes.
But really, for something so important. the lack of objective and verifiable detail in these documents, and the process generally, is appalling. Why are they so bad???
(This is only the second time I have bought a property and the last time was a flat, so everything was much more straightforward last time. so this has rather surprised me!)
), but the pros of the current system of "vagueness" outweigh the cons in my view on a day to day basis