Access mix-up leaves owners struggling to sell properties
NO PROOF OF ROADS SIGN-OFF CREATES LEGAL COMPLICATION
HOMEOWNERS have hit out at Nottinghamshire County Council and a developer after problems surrounding access made it “impossible” to sell their properties.
Robert della-spina, 47, lives in a property in Amarella Lane, Kirkby-inashfield, on the Portland Estate built by developer Bovis Homes.
Mr della-spina, who works with schools across Lincolnshire, says he has hit a brick wall trying to sell his home over issues surrounding highways.
The father-of-three, alongside his neighbours, have found no documentation to suggest the estate’s roads have been “signed off” by the county council.
This means developers Bovis Homes still own rights of access to their properties - making it “virtually impossible” for new buyers to own access rights to their new homes.
This has left the homeowners in a difficult situation, Mr della-spina says, because it puts them at risk of “getting sued” by new buyers and forces them into expensive indemnity policies to protect them in the future.
“We wanted to try and sell the property, because at the moment I work all across Lincolnshire,” he told the Post.
“But at the moment Bovis hasn’t handed the roads over to highways on Nottinghamshire County Council.
“In the Section 106 developer documents when we bought the house, it said this was going to happen.
“However, at the moment there are no documents to prove that the roads have been handed over to highways.
“The issue with this is that we have an agreement with Bovis from when we bought the house that we would have access to the property.
“If a new person purchases the property, they technically speaking do not have access to their own property and could be refused access.
“This causes all manner of litigation via solicitors, and the only way to mitigate this is by an indemnity policy against the fact of being sued.
“We only found out about this when a mate of mine sold his property, but luckily he sold it to his dad.
“However, his dad’s solicitors have added a clause that, technically speaking, means his dad could sue him over the rights of access.”
Adam Howarth, 34, is the neighbour who sold the property to his father and he explained more about the situation.
He said: “We encountered the problem when selling the house because it was coming up in searches showing that the roads hadn’t officially been signed off.
“I think it has actually been signed off but there is no paper trail to say so, making it very difficult when trying to go through the process of selling the house.
“We were struggling so my dad took the property on and said we will all deal with the access issues. This is why we’ve had to take out the indemnity policy through selling the house and it’s cost a lot of money.”
The homeowners have also encountered issues with a park promised to them on their estate, which has “only started to materialise” five years after Mr della-spina bought his home in April 2016. The Post attempted to contact Bovis Homes for a comment, but received no response.
However, Mr della-spina received a response from the company stating: “We have gone back to Ashfield District Council and have asked for details of any outstanding obligations.
“We have asked our solicitors to review what information may or may not be required to facilitate house sales. We expect an update shortly and will be back in touch once these are received.”
If a new person purchases the property, they technically speaking could be refused access.
Robert della-spina