It’s a long time since I studied land law at university (about 17 years actually), but working as I do in the legal press, sometimes family members expect me to know a bit more about the niceties of conveyancing procedure than I actually do.This cropped up recently when my mum’s friend Janet encountered a bump in the road when trying to purchase a brand new bungalow. I think the moral of the tale is that sometimes a small high street conveyancer can be an excellent choice if you want a lawyer who will do a very thorough job.

I’m afraid the details of the precise legal issues at stake are sketchy to say the least, because they came to me third hand via my mum, and in fact it illustrates how clients don’t always fully grasp all the legal aspects of their situation. But of course they do very much care how it affects them.

Janet is buying a new bungalow which is being sold by an architect, who designed it, and his builder partner. It’s the perfect property, which she has been searching for for three years, and she was all geared up to move in by Easter. Things seemed to be going well, so she decided to put a deposit down on some fitted blinds and wardrobes so that everything would be ready when she moved in. So far, so good.

But then her solicitor – from a high street firm in the West Midlands – spotted on the plans that there is a strip of land which goes right across the front of her drive, which does not belong to her. She cannot get in or out of her property without crossing this strip. Apparently it is known as a ‘ransom’, and it was kept by the guy who originally owned the house and garden which Janet’s bungalow was built on. He is now dead.

The architect’s solicitor is the father of the builder he is in partnership with. The builder assured the architect before they started to build the bungalow that this issue had ‘all been sorted out’.

But when Janet’s solicitor asked for proof that the seller now owned this strip, or that some agreement had been reached that she had the right to cross it to access her property, the other solicitor insisted it had ‘all been resolved’, but didn’t seem able to come up with the required documents to support this claim.

As I understand it – and I’m afraid the details of this are a bit hazy – some documents have now been produced, but the buyer’s solicitor is still concerned because he is saying ‘you can’t purchase goodwill’, which presumably relates to the right to cross the land. He is not satisfied that my mum’s friend will not encounter future litigation on the issue, and he has recommended that if she really does want to proceed with the bungalow purchase, she must take out an indemnity to cover her in the event of a dispute (again, I’m not quite sure how this works, but the premium is about £300 and apparently if all goes wrong she will be reimbursed to the value of the property).

Janet’s solicitor is simply not comfortable that things have been resolved to his satisfaction, but he has told her that if she had gone to another lawyer, they might well have passed it. She may well be wishing she had done just that – she would have moved in by now – but could have ended up regretting it later.

Personally, I was impressed that, despite being on a fixed fee, her lawyer has gone to considerable lengths to try and resolve the issue. His thoroughness has uncovered a matter that has ended up costing him a lot of time, for no extra fee, but he has been very diligent. Whether Janet would have received the same careful approach from a streamlined bulk conveyancing outfit, one has to wonder.

As things now stand, the architect’s lawyer is still insisting that it is a fuss over nothing, and has suggested that an independent solicitor be brought in to resolve the issue. It will be interesting to see what approach this third solicitor will take. Watch this space.