Which title deed info do we go with? Right of Way dispute

[Mrstea]

Hello,
I’m hoping for a little help because we want to build a little garden office at the back of our garden, but there’s a small access point to the neighbour’s garden that means we’d have to make it smaller than we’d want.

when we bought our property in 2018 we were told there were two right of way paths for the neighbouring house (we’ll call it #21). One is at the front of the garden and goes from theirs to ours and down the side alley. The other is around 10ft down at the back of the garden (it’s a small garden) and goes down a right hand path to the same back of house path and down the side alley. When we saw our title deed it only had the front right of way listed and it noted a 1958 conveyance and 1922 agreement between the two properties. It doesn’t mention the back right of way at all and isn’t drawn on the title map either.

We have since had a new neighbour move in and thought this might be a good opportunity to ask if we could get rid of that back access but she says she wants it just in case she could afford to build a structure in the back in the future. I asked the previous owner of #21 if there was any restrictions on which way the door needed to swing or how big it needed to be and if the path needed to be where it was. She shared her title deed and the historical 1958 conveyance which has the path clearly marked. However, we noticed that hers is dated 1994 where ours is dated 1995. Does this mean that ours is actually the correct file and there is no back right of way? I’m curious as to why the two are different in the first place. Do we have a case to say that it’s not actually a right of way because our deed doesn’t have it but does recognise the front one explicitly and mentions the historical agreements. Surely if the back one was still there it would mention that one too.
I wondered if since the previous owner of #21 used it for 26 years if it could be claimed anyway or would that not be the case with a new owner.
Any advice is appreciated. My new neighbour is an agricultural property solicitor and I don’t want to be misinformed if we have a slightly awkward chat. I also want to remain friendly so would prefer to be knowledgeable and not confrontational. If it came down to it we’d rather remain friendly good neighbours than have a court situation etc.

[des8]

A right of way over your land should be registered in the A section of your file and the C section of your neighbour's file.
The right of way referred to in the Title Registers would initially have been created by a Conveyancing Deed that might be available for purchase.

Although your ex neighbour has shown you what was her file, it might be worth obtaining an up to date copy of your neighbours file to see what that says. It is available for £3 plus £3 for a plan copy here https://www.gov.uk/search-property-i...-land-registry

Deeds availability https://www.gov.uk/get-information-a...opies-of-deeds

[Mrstea]

A right of way over your land should be registered in the A section of your file and the C section of your neighbour's file.
The right of way referred to in the Title Registers would initially have been created by a Conveyancing Deed that might be available for purchase.

Although your ex neighbour has shown you what was her file, it might be worth obtaining an up to date copy of your neighbours file to see what that says. It is available for £3 plus £3 for a plan copy here https://www.gov.uk/search-property-i...-land-registry

Deeds availability https://www.gov.uk/get-information-a...opies-of-deeds

Thanks for this. I've just obtained the latest file for my neighbour and hers has both rights of way. Ours still only has the one. Which one is correct then?

[Mrstea]

A right of way over your land should be registered in the A section of your file and the C section of your neighbour's file.
The right of way referred to in the Title Registers would initially have been created by a Conveyancing Deed that might be available for purchase.

Although your ex neighbour has shown you what was her file, it might be worth obtaining an up to date copy of your neighbours file to see what that says. It is available for £3 plus £3 for a plan copy here https://www.gov.uk/search-property-i...-land-registry

Deeds availability https://www.gov.uk/get-information-a...opies-of-deeds

Also, I have a copy of the original Conveyancing Deed which has both right of way paths through it.

[Mrstea]

Should I check if there's more documents with the OC2 deeds thing? Such as a Deed of Extinguishment (the deed used to terminate the right to use a private right of way or a Deed of Variation?

[des8]

Unless you can find proof that the easement has been extinguished, you will have to accept it is still in existence, and there has been an error in not noting it on your registry file.

If your neighbours don't use the right of way perhaps you can negotiate with them, if not to extinguish it then to move it to allow you to build the office you want.

[Mrstea]

Unless you can find proof that the easement has been extinguished, you will have to accept it is still in existence, and there has been an error in not noting it on your registry file.

If your neighbours don't use the right of way perhaps you can negotiate with them, if not to extinguish it then to move it to allow you to build the office you want.

Okay thanks. We've asked her if she would like to remove and she said no, she'd like to have it in case she wants to build something herself back there in the future (which is her right, so I'm cool with that). I just wondered what I need to prove that it's been extinguished (if it has) then. Is there a place where these documents are stored? Or would it be referenced in one of our title documents? If there has been an error on our registry file should I apply to get it updated so future owners don't have to go through this?

[des8]

I actually think now, ( having discussed your situation with others and read more!) that you might be able to ignore that easement.

On the first registration of your land, the Land Registry would only record the easement if it was apparent from the deeds , or are disclosed .
When you purchased the servient land , the easement was not protected and you are probably not bound by it.

It was up to the beneficiary of the easement to register a caution against first registration to protect that easement.
It would seem that whilst they acted for the front easement they were not concerned about the back one.

Perhaps you need to have a chat with a solicitor prior to talking to your neighbour to ensure you have correct advice (and not rely on idiots like
me )

[Mrstea]

I actually think now, ( having discussed your situation with others and read more!) that you might be able to ignore that easement.

On the first registration of your land, the Land Registry would only record the easement if it was apparent from the deeds , or are disclosed .
When you purchased the servient land , the easement was not protected and you are probably not bound by it.

It was up to the beneficiary of the easement to register a caution against first registration to protect that easement.
It would seem that whilst they acted for the front easement they were not concerned about the back one.

Perhaps you need to have a chat with a solicitor prior to talking to your neighbour to ensure you have correct advice (and not rely on idiots like
me )

ha! well that in itself is really helpful to know. I can understand it's not a straightforward case so if I were to chat to my neighbour now it hopefully wouldn't look confrontational as it is a legitimately confusing. . I'll speak to the solicitor who helped us buy the property a couple of years ago. He may still have something on file (perhaps the deeds?) and can help advise from there. I'll let you know the outcome!