Ramblers Welcome?
It’s Day One in your new home. Suddenly you spy a party of ramblers hiking across your garden.
Turns out they have a perfect legal right to cross your land (land is legally referred to as ‘property’).
So how can you tell if there’s a hidden right of way? This is something your conveyancer should check, but it’s not unknown for things to get missed. Apart from the potential disturbance and hassle, if other people have a right of way over your garden it could seriously detract for the property’s market value.
Fortunately help is at hand. As well as checking the condition of the property you’re buying, a survey can be extremely useful because it will flag up any suspicions the surveyor has about legal rights across the property. It should also spot any potential legal issues getting access to your property such as shared drives.
Rights of way can be either public or private. Public footpaths and bridleways are usually signposted, but may not be obvious where for example someone has removed the sign!
Private rights of way are not always visible but there may be some clues – such as Victorian terraces with old gates across the back gardens.
You can check rights of way and easements on Land registry title deeds.
And also download Title Plans from the Land Registry show you the property’s overall plot and boundaries.
Our next blog – coming soon …….
Exchange of Contracts
Check out our Rightsurvey blog page for more industry tips and secrets written by property professionals to help put you in control.
