Previous owners name on deeds

I have just discovered that a site we bought in the 80s that is now part of our garden is not registered on lands direct.ie in our name. It is in the name of the farmer's son that bought it from( the farmer is deceased). I'm waiting to hear back from the solicitor's firm that carried out the transaction but just wanted to know what my position is re costs etc to get it rectified if it was the solicitor's office that would have made the mistake.
Thank you

Well, you'd need to know how the error arose.

But the commonest way for something like this to arise is that, before you bought the property, a fence or boundary marker of some kind was put up, but not along the actual boundary of the lot. When you came along, you naturally assumed that the property you were buying extended as far as the boundary fence. You didn't get a surveyor to check this (or, you did, but he made a hames of it).

If something like that has happened, the solicitor is not to blame. He has probably never seen the property or its boundary fences, and has no way of knowing that that the site you thought you were buying did not correspond to the site covered by the title deeds.

You may have a claim against the surveyor (if you retained a surveyor). Or you may have a claim against the vendor, if they made any misrepresentations about the property or took advantage of any misconceptions that they knew you had.

I can't see you having any comeback 40 years later no matter who may have made an error

Mrs Vimes said:

I can't see you having any comeback 40 years later no matter who may have made an error

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Ooh, yes. I failed to spot the 40 years bit.

Sorry I maybe didn't explain it very well. There were 2 separate sites , we bought 1 built our house and then a year after bought the second site in a separate transaction . So the firm of solicitors did not put our name on the title deeds.

In worst case an adverse possession claim may work ?

You more than likely have the paperwork to prove you purchased the land 40 years ago, and the solicitors firm who did the purchase on your behalf probably has records too. But it is in your interest to regularise the situation and therefore it is probably you who will have to pay the cost of rectifying it.
The farmers son probably took ownership after the death of his father and the transaction was conducted with due process so he should not be penalised for something that was not done correctly when he was a child. But his fathers solicitor may have made the error.
Who knows what the solicitors file will unearth, it may be the last transaction they have on the file was a request to you for a signature or information or final payment and the lack of same may have resulted in the final transfer of ownership steps not being taken. Now I am not saying that there is any fault on your side but who know what the records will throw up.

If as you suspect it was an error on behalf of your solicitor then of course you can ask them to rectify the situation free of charge but they will still incur costs in doing so as well as the farmers son solicitor so unless their insurance are willing to pay I think it is you who will foot the bill to ensure the ownership is finally transacted.

Thank you for the replies, as far as I remember the same firm of solicitors acted for both of us, so hopefully it will be straightforward.

Shelby219 said:

as far as I remember the same firm of solicitors acted for both of us

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Rarely a good idea due to the obvious conflict of interests. In fact, that's why it's generally prohibited these days: