Unregistered patch of ground in the middle of our right of passage to our home .Will it affect sale of property.

We are living in our house 20 years this year, built on a site given by Father . We are considering selling this house and moving closer to our local town. We are worried about this unregistered patch of ground left to my brother in my father's will. I'm not quiet sure my brother will register this ground as it could come at a big cost it has not great value as it over grown full of bushes.

We do have a mortgage on our home with one of our pillar banks and didn't have any issues getting it 20 years ago but this has showed up in my father will. Any advice greatly appreciated

I'm not sure that I see what the problem is.

Your father gifted you some land. You developed it by building a house on it. You now wish to sell the land. So far, so good.

Your father bequeathed a seperate plot of land to your brother. Your brother has not registered this.

So what? How can this affect your land, or the sale of your land? What are you worried about?

My driveway is passing through this plot of land on the way to my house.we are living here since 2005 and got a mortgage on this property, My real issue is would a bank or engineer flag this as an issue to someone buying my house?????

When you say this plot of land is unregistered, do you mean:

(a) your brother has not registered himself as the owner — anyone looking in the land registry will see your father as the registered owner; or

(b ) the land itself is unregistered — anyone looking in the land registry won't find out anything at all?

And a separate question — is your right-of-way over the land documented in any way? When the land was gifted to you, did the documentation also mention the gift of a right of way over the adjacent land?

Any potential buyer with a competent solicitor will advise that the right of way be formalised. This may be something you have to pay for yourself to ensure a smooth sale, so consider it a cost of sale like your estate agent fees or solicitor fees. What you don't want to happen is that you go sale agreed, the buyer is unaware of the issue and the sale drags out and you lose the buyer. The same thing will happen with the next buyer and so on, and people will wonder why a property is sale agreed so long. Best to get it sorted now before putting it on the market. People buying and solicitors advising in rural areas are aware of this types of things so it is not something you can ignore.

misemoi said:

Any potential buyer with a competent solicitor will advise that the right of way be formalised.

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It may already be formalised. When the OP says that his brother hasn't registered the land, he could must mean that his brother hasn't registered himself as owner of the land follwing the father's death. The right of way may have been registgered as a burden on the folio in 2005 (as it should have been) and, if it has, we're good. The failure to register the descent of the land from the father to the brother doesn't matter.

But, I agree, if the right of way hasn't been registered, then get it registered. There will be difficulty in selling the OP's land before this is done. OP may have to offer to pay for the costs of getting this done; nobody else has any incentive to do it, and OP is the one who benefits from it being done.

The legal eagle told my brother it is one for long possession and a figure of 10k ....it could take years to solve ..I am hoping they is another way around this that for one will be much shorter time frame and less cost...the ground is worthless and goes back to my grandparents time , left to my father but never registered.Myself and my wife living at the end of this road since 05 and next to us is our home place.Time will tell ...Thanks for all of the advice much appreciated.

Hi Banemore
Is there a tax Issue driving up the cost of registering, Can you get a breakdown of the 10K...... Cost,

To answear the question,:
land never registered and looks like no name on it ever .The driveway is on the map , and we have a right of passage to our house but lack of ownership in this section in the map in yellow. Looks like its time to get working on it .
Thanks for the advice.

Banemore said:

The driveway is on the map

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That looks more like a moat

Hi Banemore.
Could you buy this tiny area of land from your brother?
Also have you got a different solicitor than your brother.

The only way to buy it , is have it registered as they is no name on deeds it's part of probate and yes we will engage with a separate solicitor in the next week and relook at options......

How many acres is in the unregistered plot in total,
What is the total value of plot for probate or if sold today,
if he was to assign it all to you as is how much is he looking for it,

The ground is of no use to anyone a river flowing in the middle, overgrown with bushes less than a acre of ground worthy in my opinion, it down to the fact if I sold my house the buyers lender my say no as they is no full clear access, yes a fully tared road but the line in the map is broken.If I taught buying it will solve it all ...I would in the morning but not straight forward....or so I'm led to believe from legal personal..

I was looking at it from a different angle ,
Your brother can leave it unregistered and it will not affect him unless he wants to sell, seeing it is worth very little why go to all the cost and effort to registered it for no return if he is holding it all his lifetime,
I suspect he also uses same road to access his house, If not post back and let other posters know,

Your late father Will has brought this to a head , I suspect there is nothing in the will in relation to the right of way to your house,

Now is the right time to get right of way sorted, seeing you are the one who will benefit from the plot getting registered you will have to pay most of the cost,
The plot of land may not be worth much but a proper right of way to your house is very valuable no matter when you sell,

if anything happened to your brother and the plot finishes up owned by someone else bigger mess down the road,

If your house is the only one using the road will it add value to your house when selling if you buy the plot and registered it,

Your are the one getting the most benefit from getting plot registered and having a clear title right of way to your house,expect it to cost you,

(Looking at it another way if your father had left you the plot in his will it will still cost you to register plot so you cant sell house with no right of way,)

Banemore said:

he only way to buy it , is have it registered as they is no name on deeds it's part of probate and yes we will engage with a separate solicitor in the next

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Banemore said:

week and relook at options....

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Be careful Getting another Solicitor involved at this stage may muddy the waters,
As a family ye need to workout who is going to pay cost or %of cost first of registering plot and register right of way,

two solicitors writing to one another will add cost on both sides,
two solicitors may give different advice to protect there clients and there own best interest and muddy the waters where agreement already exist re right of way,
Together ye may be able to bargain down the cost of registering plot or seeking other quotes to registering plot,

Just for the record I do know of a case where a plot of land in front of the ruins 2 houses was not registered one of the owner of one of the ruins wanted to build a house on the site the supposed owner of the unregistered plot would not sell because he had a very old photo of both houses dating dating back to the late 1800s he had no problem getting it registered and sorting out right of way to new house provided the fully covered cost involved in registering the plot,
Plot was less than one eight of an acre,

The cost may not be that big to register the land since, as the OP points out, it is of poor quality. I assume firstly that you have checked with Tailte Eireann to ensure it is definatly not registered.? That is your starting point

Tailte Eireann provide a guide as to what to do. You can do it yourself but there are additional forms if you do.

Get your brother to register the land and you pay his costs as no solicitor worth his salt will recommend to a prospective buyer that they are ok to buy a house that potentially they can't access. I would then buy the land off your brother and include the land in the sale of the house, otherwise you need to register a right of way.

This won't take years and the Tailte Eireann fees are based on the land valuation. Real cost is the solicitor but if you explain why you are doing it, that you will also use him for all the conveyancing down the line then you may be able to do a deal.

You have no choice here, the land has to be registered or you can't sell