Right of way on house we are sale agreed on....

terrydel

We have found a house and gone sale agreed, however there is a right of way running thru the rear garden down the side of the house out thru the driveway onto the road outside.
The estate agent was a bit vague on it, only saying its not an issue and not in use, but that doesn't hold much weight with us.
We have no concrete information on when/to who/etc this was granted, altho we are trying to find this out thru our solicitor.
The only fragment of info we currently have is it belongs to the person who owns the fields behind the house, which would make sense, and this could possibly be the son of the man who previously lived in the house we are looking to buy.
However, despite requesting confirmation of this from the other side, til now we have heard nothing back.
My question is does anyone have experience of this issue, and if information on the specifics of the right of way was obtainable and was it possible to have the right of way removed and/or revoked?
What are our options here? As we would not be keen to complete the sale with the right of way in place. Is it even worth the time and effort to try remove it if its possible to do so?
Thanks.

Baybay

In my opinion, there are so many computations in this scenario that your best bet is to be guided by a very good solicitor.

There’ll be the who’s, the what fors, the how longs, the widths, the times, the possible future changes etc.

Dolbhad

terrydel wrote: »

We have found a house and gone sale agreed, however there is a right of way running thru the rear garden down the side of the house out thru the driveway onto the road outside.
The estate agent was a bit vague on it, only saying its not an issue and not in use, but that doesn't hold much weight with us.
We have no concrete information on when/to who/etc this was granted, altho we are trying to find this out thru our solicitor.
The only fragment of info we currently have is it belongs to the person who owns the fields behind the house, which would make sense, and this could possibly be the son of the man who previously lived in the house we are looking to buy.
However, despite requesting confirmation of this from the other side, til now we have heard nothing back.
My question is does anyone have experience of this issue, and if information on the specifics of the right of way was obtainable and was it possible to have the right of way removed and/or revoked?
What are our options here? As we would not be keen to complete the sale with the right of way in place. Is it even worth the time and effort to try remove it if its possible to do so?
Thanks.

Get a good solicitor. Tell them beforehand there is a right do way so they can request the paperwork for it so there is no delay. If it’s registered on title and property is land registry, it will show as a burden on the folio. There should be a right of way deed with contracts which was executed by a previous owner of the house you want to buy and the neighbour.

If it’s registered on title already, you can only remove it by consent of the person who has the benefit of right of way (which is unlikely) or a court order which means a very expensive procedure and probably would only succeed if you could show they didn’t need it ie had access somewhere else.

The auctioneer won’t have details - that’s more between the solicitors.

terrydel

Dolbhad wrote: »

Get a good solicitor. Tell them beforehand there is a right do way so they can request the paperwork for it so there is no delay. If it’s registered on title and property is land registry, it will show as a burden on the folio. There should be a right of way deed with contracts which was executed by a previous owner of the house you want to buy and the neighbour.

If it’s registered on title already, you can only remove it by consent of the person who has the benefit of right of way (which is unlikely) or a court order which means a very expensive procedure and probably would only succeed if you could show they didn’t need it ie had access somewhere else.

The auctioneer won’t have details - that’s more between the solicitors.

Thanks for the reply.
We've got the property map from the folio, the right of way is clearly marked on that. My guess is that it is on title (I'm not an expert but I assume that means it's in the deeds for the house and the land that's benefiting from it?) as I said, we've asked for clarity on this but so far have had no response.

funkey_monkey

Don't sign until resolved. This could potentially be a massive mess and financial black hole.

terrydel

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Don't sign until resolved. This could potentially be a massive mess and financial black hole.

Totally agree and have no intention of doing so. At this stage we are genuinely wondering if it's worth the hassle going any further with it, but we will give it enough time to at least hear from the other side and see the specifics around the right of way.

Fann Linn

Could be more trouble tha its worth. I viewed a house years ago which has right of way attached. The farmer would be through the land a number of times during the day with tractor, machinery, feed and cattle.
Unless you're getting some discount or the house is a palace I'd tread cautiously.

the_syco

terrydel wrote: »

The estate agent was a bit vague on it

I'd be wondering if they're being vague, as they've lost sales because of it.

terrydel wrote: »

running thru the rear garden down the side of the house out thru the driveway onto the road outside.

Would a tractor fit in this right of way?

terrydel wrote: »

However, despite requesting confirmation of this from the other side, til now we have heard nothing back.

I'm sure they'll try to dodge your queries until you sign the contract.

As above, get a solicitor. And see if you can find out how long they've been there. Also, pop into the farmer, and ask does he use the right of way much. He may lie, or he may tell you how often he uses it; the right of way may be the reason that the house is for sale!

DubCount

It may be a mapping issue, which I believe is not uncommon. Even if it is an admin error, its likely to take several months to resolve. It will need to be dealt with before completion, so consider how long you can wait for the issue to be addressed and discuss with your solicitor what possible scenarios you can/cannot proceed with.

terrydel

the_syco wrote: »

I'd be wondering if they're being vague, as they've lost sales because of it.


Would a tractor fit in this right of way?


I'm sure they'll try to dodge your queries until you sign the contract.

As above, get a solicitor. And see if you can find out how long they've been there. Also, pop into the farmer, and ask does he use the right of way much. He may lie, or he may tell you how often he uses it; the right of way may be the reason that the house is for sale!

It's not for sale due to the right of way, yes a tractor would fit thru. The house is for sale over a year, we viewed it last summer before we decided to stay on at our current rented accommodation. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this is at least part of the reason it hasn't sold.
The only bit of info we have is the right of way may belong to the son of the man who owned the house, the estate agent said something along those lines but there's nothing to back that up so far. If it is the case, then the only reason we haven't heard a word in reply to our queries, it's because he wants it to remain. But until we get the facts, who knows.

scamalert

imagine waking up to smell of sewage to fertilize fields :mad::cool::pac:


depending on location might be a big issue, whos going onto field, how accessible etc, really would need to get all sorted before any paperwork would be signed.

shane b

We had a right of way issue with the house we bought in 2011. The lane or drive up to our property belongs to the farmer who owns the land beside us. The documentation the vendors had at the time of the sale wasn't sufficient from a legal perspective to allow the sale to proceed. This was our solicitors call and took 3 months to get sorted.

terrydel

shane b wrote: »

We had a right of way issue with the house we bought in 2011. The lane or drive up to our property belongs to the farmer who owns the land beside us. The documentation the vendors had at the time of the sale wasn't sufficient from a legal perspective to allow the sale to proceed. This was our solicitors call and took 3 months to get sorted.

What happened, did the right of way remain in place? If so, is it being used? What was the end result?

Dolbhad

terrydel wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.
We've got the property map from the folio, the right of way is clearly marked on that. My guess is that it is on title (I'm not an expert but I assume that means it's in the deeds for the house and the land that's benefiting from it?) as I said, we've asked for clarity on this but so far have had no response.

You will see next to it the date of registration in land registry and a dealing number on the folio. The original would be lodged with land registry so if for some reason a copy isn’t with title deeds, it can be requested off land registry with the dealing. If you log on to landdirect.ie and search the folio it might show the extent of the right of way. It should be outlined in yellow. You can log in as a guest and it’s all public information.

Until solicitor does a review, it’s hard to know how substantial the right of way is. Is it limited to certain vehicles or time of day etc? That all comes with reviews but means your incurring costs. If through your property is the only way he can access the main road, then it may be a no go but if there are other routes, it may not be used on practise. But just remember if your happy to go ahead, if you do sell in future, you may have a purchaser with same concerns.

But since it’s a burden on folio, it’s very heard to remove without consent.

terrydel

Dolbhad wrote: »

You will see next to it the date of registration in land registry and a dealing number on the folio. The original would be lodged with land registry so if for some reason a copy isn’t with title deeds, it can be requested off land registry with the dealing. If you log on to landdirect.ie and search the folio it might show the extent of the right of way. It should be outlined in yellow. You can log in as a guest and it’s all public information.

Until solicitor does a review, it’s hard to know how substantial the right of way is. Is it limited to certain vehicles or time of day etc? That all comes with reviews but means your incurring costs. If through your property is the only way he can access the main road, then it may be a no go but if there are other routes, it may not be used on practise. But just remember if your happy to go ahead, if you do sell in future, you may have a purchaser with same concerns.

But since it’s a burden on folio, it’s very heard to remove without consent.

We have the map and it's marked clearly in yellow on that. It runs straight thru the property grounds, right next to the house. Our solicitor has requested the seller to get the details from land registry but I believe this can take 6-8 weeks. So the map is all we have for now, until we are provided with the details. Cheers.

shane b

There was a new right of easement as it's known allowing us to travel legally up and down the lane to get to our property. Doesn't give us any grounds for objecting to tractor or cattle traffic or anything else as it's still his land.
We both from farming backgrounds so it's not a big deal.

There was also a rumour the vendor had to compensate the farmer for the inconvience of legally sorting it out. Still not sure how true it is.

Graces7

Having seen the chaos the row issue seems to cause, I would look elsewhere, OP.

terrydel

Graces7 wrote: »

Having seen the chaos the row issue seems to cause, I would look elsewhere, OP.

That's my current mindset at the moment.
We hope to hear from our solicitor next week with info that we will make a final decision on.

the_syco

terrydel wrote: »

yes a tractor would fit thru.

So I'd say it regularly does.

terrydel wrote: »

The only bit of info we have is the right of way may belong to the son of the man who owned the house

Keep in mind that if the house is being sold due to money issues, the son may despise you.

Graces7

terrydel wrote: »

That's my current mindset at the moment.
We hope to hear from our solicitor next week with info that we will make a final decision on.

wise man. I have very painful memories of this kind of set up.

terrydel

We've walked away from this one in the end, we were informed that the son of the vendor is causing problems around the right of way and it was him who put up the fresh new sign recently. We noticed this when we viewed it and both myself and my partner commented on how new it was, so must have only gone up recently.
Once I heard that there was this family issue around it, that was the final straw for me and we decided to walk away.

funkey_monkey

Wise decision.

Graces7

terrydel wrote: »

We've walked away from this one in the end, we were informed that the son of the vendor is causing problems around the right of way and it was him who put up the fresh new sign recently. We noticed this when we viewed it and both myself and my partner commented on how new it was, so must have only gone up recently.
Once I heard that there was this family issue around it, that was the final straw for me and we decided to walk away.

Glad and relieved to hear it. The right decision. It cost me E10,000 the time I had to tangle with this. We got it back in court but the hassle . well done and hoping you find somewhere trouble free.

Dolbhad

terrydel wrote: »

We've walked away from this one in the end, we were informed that the son of the vendor is causing problems around the right of way and it was him who put up the fresh new sign recently. We noticed this when we viewed it and both myself and my partner commented on how new it was, so must have only gone up recently.
Once I heard that there was this family issue around it, that was the final straw for me and we decided to walk away.

I think that was the right decision. Best of luck on the next house.