Conveyancing spot a major title defect missed by large national builder
The flat was part of a large development by a major national builder, and Mrs G hoped it would be a safe investment.
Access Legal from Shoosmiths had already dealt efficiently with some probate work on behalf of Mrs G, and she now instructed the conveyancing team to act for her in the purchase of the flat.
What we did
The developer's paperwork for the flat was received by the team and checked by the conveyancer assigned to deal with Mrs G's case. The paperwork revealed that there was an area of land not owned by the developer on which they'd built the access road to the block of flats, meaning the developer was not legally able to grant rights for the owners to use the road.
The conveyancer immediately carried out a search at the Land Registry and was able to find out who the owner of the land was. Details were sent to the developer's solicitors requesting them to rectify the issue by contacting the owners of the road.
Liaising with Access Legal from Shoosmiths, the developer's solicitors had a legal document drawn up granting both the developer and all owners of the flats the right to use the road in future. This meant that a legal right of way was granted to Mrs G, enabling her to access her flat.
The case then proceeded to completion, and Mrs G was moved into her brand new flat safe in the knowledge all legal issues had been checked by Access Legal from Shoosmiths.
Who handled the case?
This case was handled by conveyancer Jodi Laver, who has extensive experience dealing with all aspects of conveyancing, in particular, complex leasehold transactions.
Comment on the case
Having noticed there was a major title issue with this development, I looked into it straight away and raised all the necessary enquiries up front with the developer's solicitors.
I then followed this up with a phone call to the solicitors to explain why I'd raised the issue and find out what they were going to do about it. By doing this, time wasn't wasted by the developer's solicitors trying to deny there was an issue, and it could be resolved as quickly as possible.
The most surprising thing was that seven other flats had already been sold, but not one other purchaser's conveyancer had spotted this problem, which could have caused real problems for the buyers.
By getting everything right with the title when the property is first built means the client should have no problems in the future, either during their ownership, or when they come to sell.
Client testimonial
"Access Legal from Shoosmiths proved that not only it is extremely approachable and proactive, but also has great legal expertise. All round it's a great firm and I'd would recommend it without hesitation".
