• Shared Access Driveway

    By Guest on 29th Sep 2016

    We are thinking of buying a plot of land which is down a small lane with other properties in the immediate vicinity. The lane is the shared access to these properties and from what I have been told by the vendor no-one knows who owns the small lane. Indeed, everyone has a indemnity policy in place that uses the lane.
    The Land a registry has no information on ownership of the lane.
    This is the only way in and out of the property so I'm slightly worried.
    What would you recommend we do ?
    I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

    Many thanks.

    Regards,

    John Attrill

  • 2 Answers

    By Guest on 29/09/2016

  • By Guest on 21/11/2016

    You should obtain a statutory declaration from your seller stating that he has used the lane during his ownership of the land openly at all times and for all purposes and without payment, consent, licence or objection. This should be sworn in the presence of a solicitor. If he has owned the land for more than 20 years you should ask him to apply to register a prescriptive easement (using the stat dec as supporting evidence). If he has not owned the land 20 years or will not apply you will still need the statutory declaration but will also need indemnity insurance. You will need a bespoke policy though as the standard self issue policies require the land to have been used as a dwelling for at least 12 months prior to inception of the cover.

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