Latest news with #easement
RNZ News
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- RNZ News
New owners discover property has no legal vehicle access
Arrow signs on asphalt road showing direction of movement Photo: Olga Yastremska / Leonid Yastremskiy / 123RF Purchasers of an Auckland property that turned out to have no legal vehicle access have won their appeal against a ruling the salespeople who sold it to them had done nothing wrong. The purchasers, whose identity has not been revealed, took their case to the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal. They bought the Auckland flat in 2021 and moved tenants in. It was one of three flats, all of which had a street address of number seven. They shared a driveway from the road that was also access for two flats at number five. At the time of the purchase, none of the three units at number seven had a right of easement over the common land of number five, which would have allowed them to use the driveway. The salespeople, Kim Rule and Bruce Rule of Barfoot & Thompson Royal Oak, argued they were not aware of the issue. There was no physical impediment to the driveway being used. It was not until the following year that a real estate agent selling another of the flats alerted the purchaser to the problem. The solicitor for the owner of flat two had written to the agent highlighting the problem. The purchasers wrote to the Real Estate Authority and explained the situation. They received a response saying a manager had reviewed the titles and there was nothing to indicate the property did not have access. The solicitor for the owner of flat 2/7 wanted to start the process of formalising access to the driveway, with each owner paying a third of the costs. This would also involve an application to council for consent. Barfoot & Thompson again said there was nothing on the titles indicating a problem and nothing had been disclosed by the vendors at the time. The purchasers complained it would cost a lot to remedy the situation and they had been misled by the advertisement highlighting a garage on the property. The salespeople told the Real Estate Authority the documents relating to the property did not make it clear any further investigation was needed and there was no suggestion of hidden or underlying defects. "They did not misrepresent the property and could not disclose what they did not know," the tribunal noted of their argument. "The issue was discovered on the marketing by another agent of flat two, as someone told that agent an ex-surveyor considered there may be a problem with the driveway. The vendors of flat one were dumbfounded on learning this. In 50 years of the property being bought and sold, the problem had not been discovered. Even the purchaser - who is a real estate agent himself - did not see anything wrong with the title and had the benefit of twice visiting the property. " The authority's committee found the licensees acted with appropriate skill and care, and the defect was likely to have only been apparent to a surveyor. But the tribunal said it did not accept that it was "virtually impossible" for the licensees to identify the issue when physically viewing the property, or that only a specialist could be expected to do so. "Indeed we find that a reasonably competent licensee would have identified the significant risk posed by dual access to the properties at both number seven and the neighbouring number five. "It seems to us that a dual single entry (for two sets of properties with different street addresses), of itself, raises an obvious issue for a licensee, being 'Over whose property is the driveway entrance?'" The tribunal said a solicitor would not be expected to identify the problem from the documents, but it should have been noted when the property was viewed. "Accordingly, we find that the licensees should have specifically raised the vehicle access issue in the first place with the vendors. "Unless satisfied with the vendors' response, supported by evidence, they should have warned the purchasers of the potential problem. Since it is now known the vendors were unaware of the issue, the licensees were required to make disclosure to the purchasers. "Despite the photographs of the entrance and the aerial view being available to the [Real Estate Authority] committee, it did not even consider whether the licensees might have identified the potential problem from a physical viewing of the property. The sole focus of the committee was whether the licensees had diligently reviewed the relevant documents. "The committee also wrongly found that the defect would have been apparent only to a surveyor. We have found the defect would have been discovered by a reasonably competent licensee." The tribunal said a decision about penalties and compensation would be made at a later date. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Slough Borough Council and councillor dispute delays land sale
A property dispute between Slough Borough Council and one of its own councillors has disrupted the sale of council authority wants to sell a patch of grassland on Hatfield Road near the town it had to withdraw the land from auction after Iftakhar Ahmed claimed he had right of way over it into his back garden on Merton says he has had "exclusive access to the land" for several years but the council disputes that. The land, opposite Hatfield multi-storey car park, was listed for sale in an online auction in the council withdrew it from sale after Ahmed applied to the Land Registry for a prescriptive easement over the would establish that he had a legal right to cross the land because he had done so openly and continuously for several years without the owner's permission. In a statement submitted to the Land Registry, Ahmed said the land "had been used and enjoyed by myself and all other occupiers, guests and licensees of the above property" since submitted to the auctioneers also show that Ahmed tried to buy the land from Slough Borough Council in 2006, before he became a his request he said he had used the land while visiting a friend who owned the house on Merton Road in 1979 and had carried on using it after the buying the home himself. 'No agreement' Ahmed told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the land was "poorly maintained by the council" and that it had been "occasionally used by the homeless and drug dealers in the area".The council disputes the councillor's claim to have a right of said images captured on Google Street View between 2009 and 2024 show that "during most of this 15-year period there is no gate, either pedestrian or vehicular" to the back of Ahmed's house.A spokesperson for the council said: "Neither councillor Iftakhar Ahmed, nor any other party, has any rights of access over this council-owned land (as confirmed by documents held by HM Land Registry)."It said that it "did not engage in any meaningful discussions" on Ahmed's 2006 request to buy the land "nor was any agreement reached".The spokesperson said Ahmed has "again expressed an interest in buying the land" but that to do so he must take part in the auction. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
