Land Registry took over my property

[Pmc365]

I own a holiday home which I inherited from my father 30 years ago when i was very young. It is in a rural location not worth a huge amount and is unusually for the area an unregistered title. I have the original Deed of Conveyance with map,vacated Mortgage Deed, and Deed of Assent, which I drafted myself years ago.

My father bought a site next door from a local farmer in the 1970s. I have a file of solicitors letters from the time but no deed of transfer. The site next door is about an acre. It is registered to person since the 1930s obviously now dead. The local farmer my father bought the site from is probably too dead. Long storey short I have no paper title just adverse possession/ Statutory title to said site.

The house and small front and back garden, which I have paper title , is separated from the site by a block wall ( which I thought a small section may have been mysteriously partly knocked and hastily rebuilt about two years ago. I don't know who did this).The unoccupied house next door is being sold. More than likely they did this. I don't know them.
Shockingly I now notice that the Map attached to the folio of this next door site was altered in the last few years to TOTALLY INCORPORATE exactly the house front and back garden which I have unregistered title to.

I think I have an old map of this registered site to prove map boundaries were altered. I also have the original land cert of this site in the name of a man since the 1930s.

I called to the land registry to see how this happened. I was relieved to hear there were no recent dealings on the folio to alter the Map i.e. i took this to mean a 3rd party hadn't effectively succeded in claiming adverse possession of my house. Nobody is in possession of house and I infrequently visit it.
I know Land Registry Map originally respected the correct boundaries of my house and it's gardens but the Land Registry changed the map. It was changed to incorporate the ENTIRITY of the house and it's front and back garden PRECISELY It's as if it was deliberate it's so precise. I might understand a mapping error if in went in to my unregistered title a small bit and the fact Map was totally altered.

I called into the Land Registry and was treated very badly. They put the blame on me saying I had to register the title and this wouldn't have happened if it was registered title. They thought I knew nothing. I said I didn't have to register it as unregistered title is perfectly acceptable and a buyer would do so if I sold it. I asked when the Map was changed, why and by whom. I was told they didn't have such records( really?)and they didn't know I was the owner of the house and I would have to prove I was the owner and that I would be getting no information as regards the registered title ( which has subsumed my house!) as I wasn't the registered owner of it. You couldn't make it up. One of them mentioned an " o.s. update" and another person there said he didn't know what this was. They couldn't have been more unhelpful. (Waterford Land Registry in contrast were very professional on the phone)

I thought I was treated very disrespectfully. One of them said if I was concerned with a fraud I should complain to so and so. My response was that I was unaware of any fraud as I had been told by the colleague there were no dealings on the folio. They offered no solutions and I was quite distressed after the encounter. The service is absolutelu appalling. I would be treated better by shop staff than that office.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. I want to sell the whole lot. It's nothing but a headache. I was in a panic initially but have calmed down. It's not a life or death situation

 

[TomEdison]

Do not faff around on this. Instruct a solicitor immediately. This is not the kind of thing that is going to be resolved with phone calls to the land registry.

Yes, it will cost you money. But it would be a false economy to try to save legal fees in relation to the defence of your title. The solicitor may have better luck establishing who caused the map to be changed and seeking to get them to bear, or share, the costs of getting it rectified.

(The obviously candidates are the owners of the folio to which your property has been annexed. At the very least, this couldn't have happened without them knowing about it; it's quite likely that they in fact initiated it.)

 

[Pmc365]

Thanks for the reply. the paper owner of the adjacent folio was registered about 1930 so long since dead. My father bought it (adjacent site)in the 1970s but no documents were executed I.e. Land Registry Deed of Transfer.
The Land Registry map was changed by the land registry alone as there were no dealings or transactions on the folio since the 1930s. The map was altered in last five years. I think I have an old map of this folio which respects my unregistered title I.e. Registry of Deeds title.

 

[ClubMan]

You should heed @TomEdison's advice:

Instruct a solicitor immediately.

 

[Pmc365]

Thank you for your input I had hoped not to involve Solicitors. To try to rectify it myself by:
1. Prodicing original Deed showing attached map and
2. produce a old Land Registry Map attached to the adjacent folio which issued in 1980s to show the recent changes.

I think it is a mapping error. Why would the Land Registry amend the Map of an adjacent ancient title to incorporate my Registry of Deeds property of their own volition. The Land Registry said there were no dealings on the adjacent Folio. I hope I'm correct in understanding from that that the Land Registry did this Map change themselves.

 

[TomEdison]

Thanks for the reply. the paper owner of the adjacent folio was registered about 1930 so long since dead. My father bought it (adjacent site)in the 1970s but no documents were executed I.e. Land Registry Deed of Transfer.

Wait. Are you saying that the unregistered property of which you are the owner has been annexed to the adjacent registered property, of which you are also (entitled to be registered as) the owner?

Your fathers' decision to buy the adjacent registered property but not be arsed to get the transfer registered probably complicates this. However the map came to be altered, the Land Registry won't alter it again without contacting the owner of the affected folio — the folio from which the land is now to be subtracted. If that's actually you, you're going to have to register yourself as owner of that folio before you can sort the other matter out.

Seriously, solicitor, now. You're not going to get this sorted out easily, or without professional support.

I think it is a mapping error. Why would the Land Registry amend the Map of an adjacent ancient title to incorporate my Registry of Deeds property of their own volition.

They wouldn't, so far as I know. Somebody initiated this change to the map. That doesn't have to have been done in connection with a dealing.