I have a buyer for my house but his solicitor is querying ownership of the strip of land between my front fence and the road outside – what I would call the verge. Obviously I have to cross this verge to access my property. Apparently this strip of land is not registered anywhere (or at least registration cannot be found) and so it’s not known who owns it and therefore whether I have a legal right to cross it (unless I can prove that it has been used as an access for 20 plus years).
However the verge is used by most of the utilities, water, drains, gas etc so I assume that it is under the control of the local authority. Can any one provide any guidance on this please? Thanks, David

It is probably what is known as a service stip and actually is regarded as a road (despite being grass). It is likely the either you or the local authority own it. One thing is for sure, its very unlikely you can build on it :D

Just been through a similar thing. Friend has bought a house and no one can tell her who is responsible for the road in front of the house. So her solicitor made the venders take out an insurance policy to cover her against anything coming her way regarding the road.

Your local council will be able to tell you who owns it. If it's between the road and a pavement then it's likely to be the Highways Authority (your County Council/Local Council)...still, a quick call to Engineering (unless it's a housing association owned estate?) should sort it :)

If it's a query about wheter you can drive over the verge to access your driveway (i.e. you don't have a dropped kerb) then that's illegal and you shouldn't be doing it wheter you own the verge or not :(

Hope that helps,

Jen

Thanks for the useful comments. I will probe deeper. Yes I do need it for vehicle access and have a driveway across/through verge which is level with road. My solicitor mentioned indemnity insurance as a way out but reckons over a grand in premium - which is about £999 more than I have got at the moment..... David

The council owns it, but you are responsible for it (just the verge, not the kerbside) under the highways act.

My village is the same, I have a ditch in my verge, which I have to clear out once and a while.

Paul

Had a similar thing in my last place, even had to pay 20 quid a year for the council to cut the grass, whether I wanted it or not.

Cheers
Cammy

If it is not registered anywhere at all, maybe it is completely undiscovered - you can just stick a flag up and claim it as your own :D

Thanks again - all very useful and I will keep investigating. Not sure about the tax free zone though :D :D David

Firstly check with the local authority (council) who will be able to confirm whether or not the strip is publicly maintained, if so, its a public right of way and no problem. Your solicitor should make this enquiry for you.

It may well be that the council do own the land but it is has not yet been registered.

If this fails, it may well be that the strip of land should have been registered with your Title at first registration. Is there a Transfer Plan or any pre-registration deeds with plans, if so, do they correspond with the Filed Plan. Sometimes the Land Registry make mistakes when the Title is first registered.

You will need to show twenty years uniterupted use to have a right of way entered on the Title although this will not become indefeasible for 40 years. If you can't provide a Statutory Declaration for at least 20 years, do neighbouring properties have a similar problem, if so, can they provide a Stat Dec for the necessary period of time.

The last resort is an indemnity policy as you mention although a premium of £1,000.00 seems quite high, depends on how much you are selling for, the higher the risk, the higher the premium. It's worth tyring to see if the seller will pay half the premium to get the matter resolved. I doubt they will as anyone with any sav will know that you'll have the same problem on any subsequent sale if they don't proceed.

That's all I can think of for now, let me know how you get on or if you want any further information.

Chris

[Edited by chris singleton - 2/10/2003 4:29:23 PM]