Angela Brown
Daniels LLP Solicitors WE finished paying for our house last year. Since then I’ve written several times to the building society asking them to return our title deeds. They can’t seem to find them. How will we ever be able to sell our house? BANKS and building societies seem to lose people’s title deeds on a regular basis. These days home buyers register their properties at the Land Registry and lenders no longer require the deeds. If you have evidence that your building society was in possession of yours, you should ask them to pay for the process of registering your property at the Land Registry now – which will enable you to sell your house eventually. Get your solicitor to write to them. I HAVE made a will leaving everything to my children. What would happen if one of them died before me? Would their share go to their family, or would it go to the surviving beneficiaries? WHAT happens depends on exactly how the will was worded and whether you have included a substitution clause. Usually people stipulate that if a child dies it would pass to their own children, their surviving children or to somebody else entirely. If the will just says equally between your children, Section 33 of the Wills Act 1837 may apply which deems that you wish for your child’s children to inherit. For avoidance of doubt – as there could be several different outcomes – you should get your will checked by a suitably qualified solicitor.
NO DOGS POLICY
WE own a property on a mobile home park. Our dog died recently and we have been refused permission to replace it: under park rules this is ‘at the absolute discretion of the park owner’. It appears he doesn’t want dogs, but he bought this site when it already had dogs in residence. I presume he could seek eviction if we broke the rules, but since we own the property how would this work? YOU will have to check your lease to see what happens. Presumably you would have to move your home to another site. Did the new owner buy the park when you were already there with your previous dog? If so, he may not be entitled to impose a new set of rules on you. The rules you signed up to will also be contained in your lease agreement.
ROUND THE BACK
I LIVE in a terraced row, and there’s a passageway that used to be for bringing coal to the back of the house. Do I have a right to use it? No-one seems to own it – it doesn’t seem to be marked on anyone’s deeds. IF the passageway is adjacent to your house it’s possible that you own it, and if this is the case you don’t need a right of way to use it. Usually the owners of all the houses in the row have rights of way to gain access to the backs of their houses. If these rights are not specifically mentioned in the deeds they have probably been established by long usage years ago. Just keep on using it but don’t try to stop your neighbours in the row doing likewise.
Call SAS Daniels LLP Solicitors on 0161 475 7676 or 01625 442100. Visit www.sasdaniels. co.uk. If you have any legal questions, write to Weekly Law and You, MEN Media, Mitchell Henry House, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton, OL9 8EF, or leave your query on the legal advice line 0117 964 4794.