d-i-y buying land from your neighbour

[dennis]

I doubt if that is true. If you buy stolen goods then you do not own them whatever paper you have. The real owner can claim them back at any time and may even be able to sue for damage/wear.

[Richard]

A difference which way?

[owdman]

IANAL! (I had to look up the meaning). The last house I bought before this had a bit of land on the deeds and with the land registery which was also on my neighbours ditto. They had occupied it for years so when I sold up I simply left it out and effectively ceded it to them. So the LR was wrong - but how could they be right - they depend for information from buyers/vendors/solicitors/architects/surveyors etc all of whom can get it wrong and the LR do not make checks AFAIK.

cheers Jacob

[Nigel Molesworth]

If your neighbour is selling his house he will want to make sure everything is tied up neatly as soon as possible. In this case it may be better to employ a solicitor rather than do it yourself.

[Andy Hall]

We're not going to start another of *those* threads are we? :-)

[Brian Sharrock]

No experience myself: but have knowledge of a neighbour's problem ... Yonks ago two neighbours decided to build garages for their 1938 houses. The houses were at right angles to each other (each around a corner). The neighbours decide on an equitable share of the works and one householder surrendered part of his garden for two garages to be erected. Both neighbours happy, Everybody happy; until the executor's sale ....!

Uh, Uh, turned out the neighbours hadn't actually transferred the land.... the sale of the house was delayed for several months while the solicitors for vendor and vendee(?) sorted out the title. Happily the neighbour cooperated and 'agreed' the transfer of title - which is now described at the Land Registry as 'parcel of land adjacent and to the west of ...', but it could have got nasty [A claim for adverse possession was being prepared ...]

[Richard Faulkner]

Neither

For the same reason as we use solicitors to convey property.

[Owain]

Land is not "goods" however and lots of land law is different. For example, ordinary consumer protection laws do not apply to the sale of land or the buildings on that land.

Owain

[Rob Morley]

But licensed conveyancers are generally cheaper, and they're specialists ...