Footprint of apartment doesn’t match up to the lease plan
Land Registry rules relating to boundary plans do not guarantee them to be accurate and reflect exactly how the property or land appears on the ground. This is called the “general boundary rule”.
Land Registry Practice Guide 40, paragraph 2.3, is most relevant to your issue. This section provides information on how the Ordnance Survey depict certain features and describes how Land Registry prepare title plans based on Ordnance Survey information.
Paragraph 2.3 states this: “The way features are shown on an Ordnance Survey map will depend upon the scale of the map.”
For example, a feature such as a small jut or porch of a main building may not be shown at all on a 1:2500 scale map.
If the plans are based on OS scale 1:2500 scale the bay window in the apartment may not be shown at all.
The Land Registry plans will be prepared upon a first registration application and the plans then supplied. Due to the way Ordnance Survey represent features will result in the bay or jut not being shown.
If the plans had been prepared on a larger scale of 1:1250 this may still not be sufficient for Land Registry to show the bay window or jut feature.
If the original lease plan did not actually show the bay window or jut then the information set out in Land Registry Practice Guide 68, Section 5.2.1.1. may apply to your situation. Practice Guide 68 deals with the situation whereby the Transfer (Lease) plan differs to the physical features as they appear on the ground.
Section 5.4. deals with leases and covers the current situation and the remedy is set out in section 5.4..2.
If the original lease plan did not include the bay window a Deed of Variation is required with the correct plan annexed to it.
This Deed is deemed a surrender and re-grant of the original Lease with the new plan being the amendment. The new plan will need to be of a sufficient scale enabling Land Registry to correctly define the footprint of the apartment as it appears both on the ground and on the plan.
This issue will need to be referred to and dealt with by the seller’s conveyancer.