Potential Property: Outbuilding on common land

Scottland · 10 Apr 2017 at 16:17

Hi,

We're house hunting at the moment, and the house at the top of our list has an outbuilding (a garage) built on what we think is common land next to the property. It's been there for ~30 years without issue, but I wouldn't take that for granted.

We would potentially be interested in acquiring the rights to the land, but at the same time have a 'wait and see what happens' mindset.

I'm just curious if anyone has encountered anything similar in the past? Is there anyway I can find out who owns the land?

thezappa · 10 Apr 2017 at 17:31

Not had it happen, but the land registry would be my first place to start.

Derek W · 10 Apr 2017 at 17:50

Why do you think it could be common land?

As above, land registry will have a copy of the title deed or if you're interested in the property your / their solicitor will be able to get this clarified when the titles etc change over.

Scottland · 10 Apr 2017 at 18:08

Thanks, I've done some googling and it appears the county council have a process to check if a property is on/near common land, so we can do that if we proceed with the purchase.

The reason we think it's common land, is that it's completely surrounded by it - we presume some/all parties that have a stake in the land are farmers as there are sheep grazing everywhere, possibly the golf course too as it's also in the middle of the course

rexehuk · 10 Apr 2017 at 19:58

Just buy the land registry plan... costs like £6.

If not on there, maybe move on or put offer in and be prepared to fight for legal documentation.

Skillmister · 12 Apr 2017 at 07:38

The local search will tell you if it's common land (it's an "additional question" at extra cost so make sure you specify you want it).

As to the rest, sounds like it's going to be completely situation dependant so hard to advise without more info.

Scottland · 12 Apr 2017 at 09:15

Skillmister said:
The local search will tell you if it's common land (it's an "additional question" at extra cost so make sure you specify you want it).

As to the rest, sounds like it's going to be completely situation dependant so hard to advise without more info.

Thanks, we've found the relevant info from the local council, so we can add onto the searches should we proceed further. You're right though, it's very situation dependant, I was just curious if anyone had an experiences.

At the end of the day, if we were to proceed with the house purchase and someone then tell us to demolish the garage it wouldn't change the fact that it is the house we want - the garage is just a bonus if we can use it...

Skillmister · 12 Apr 2017 at 12:09

Is the property being advertised with the garage? If so you'd have good grounds to reduce the price if it turned out it either wasn't included in the title or there aren't sufficient rights to use it legally (even though you may well be able to continue using it).

If you trust me the details i'd happily check if its in the same title and get you the title number if it isn't so you could apply for a copy to see who owns it

Scottland · 12 Apr 2017 at 12:51

Skillmister said:
Is the property being advertised with the garage? If so you'd have good grounds to reduce the price if it turned out it either wasn't included in the title or there aren't sufficient rights to use it legally (even though you may well be able to continue using it).

If you trust me the details i'd happily check if its in the same title and get you the title number if it isn't so you could apply for a copy to see who owns it

No it's not listed as part of the title, we're going back on Fri for another viewing - so if we take it further to make an offer I might start digging into it a little more and I might drop you a trust message