A family has been embroiled in a land dispute that has prevented them from selling their home due to a small space which doesn't belong to them.
Linda Hoffman, 73, discovered that around 400 square meters of land situated in her property technically doesn't belong to her. The space covers a corner of her family's living room and part of the garden.
Linda and her husband bought some land from her neighbours in 2000, hoping to build their own property which they eventually did by 2003 - they have been living in it ever since. While the family knew the footpath didn't belong to them, they received "a shock" when they discovered that a portion of the land also didn't belong to them in March 2021, Nottinghamshire Live reports.
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The family are still struggling to find out who actually owns the chunk of land, with little to no answers. While they believe it could be owned by Nottinghamshire County Council, they are still waiting for answers over the ownership.
Linda's son, Bryn Hoffman, said his dad tragically passed away in April 2020. After this, his mum began searching for a bungalow closer to his home.
"A bungalow came up and it was stunning, perfect location and round the corner from me," he said. "We put the house on the market and got a buyer, and it was all going through."
"Then it popped up through their solicitors that there's a section of the land that doesn't belong to my parents which is the bank next to the road, the footpath down the side of the house to the bridge and the very edge of the house, the corner of the living room basically. Nobody knew, my mum didn't know and my dad isn't there to ask."
Linda said: "Thankfully I’m a strong person but it’s just draining. I was ringing the land registry day for a month and every time I spoke to someone I got a different story.
"Why couldn’t they have just said they own it and this is how much they want for it. I’ve had to pay a lot of money for a solicitor."
Linda described how "difficult" the whole ordeal has been since they got planning permission to build on the land and has no idea two area, rounded up to a combined 400 square meters, didn't belong to them. Because of the issue, Linda is unable to buy the bungalow she was hoping for.
The family have estimated that market value for the piece of land disputed is £1,000. Bryn stated: "All this has been dragging on for nearly two years. My mum has spent a fortune on a solicitor, and we found out that Adverse possession was the best way to go.
"She also made a cash offer to buy, just to give them some money for the land to get it done and I don't think they even responded. Last Christmas we said there's no way we will be here next year, but here we are."
He added: "We found out very recently that the application for adverse possession, as we have been looking after that land for 20 years, and there's nothing you can do with it, it's a footpath and a bank, you couldn't build anything, has been rejected.
"They said their legal team would be in touch with our solicitors, which was about five weeks ago, and we still haven't heard anything about what the reason is. We are still no closer and it's Christmas again.
"Last week the buyers understandably said they can't wait any longer and have pulled out, so that's where we are." Bryn explained that the whole situation is "frustrating" and that his mum has lived in that house for two decades, and his dad was very well known and would open the house and garden up each year for the National Garden Scheme and raise money for charity."
He continued: "It's just been shocking, and an abysmal experience. There's no reason that this couldn't have been resolved before this."
A spokesperson for His Majesty's Land Registry has since stated: "In 2021-22, we saw an extremely high level of property transactions as the property market bounced back after Covid-19 restrictions and stamp duty and land transaction tax holidays fuelled demand. HM Land Registry received around 1.8 million more service requests in 2021 than in 2019.
"That increase did affect our processing times, including the time taken to initially consider Mrs Hoffman’s application. We have apologised to Mrs Hoffman previously and do not hesitate to repeat that apology.
"HMLR cannot proceed with an application until it complies with the relevant statutory formalities. Unfortunately, the initial delays were exacerbated by defects in the applications originally lodged on behalf of Mrs Hoffman. These meant we had to cancel some of the applications and request replacements."
They continued: "The replacement applications have since been submitted and considered by HMLR. Mrs Hoffman’s applications involve adverse possession, which is a highly technical area of law. Consequently, once the applications are in order, HMLR is bound by certain statutory timeframes.
"We cannot deviate from these. We have also received an objection to one of the applications. When we receive such an objection, we cannot complete the application until the dispute has been resolved."
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