A widow is unable to sell her home and move closer to her son after she discovered part of her living room doesn’t belong to her.
Linda Hoffman has been stuck in limbo for nearly two years over the land dispute as around 400 square metres of land at her property is not hers.
This includes a corner of her living room and garden space in the 73-year-old's home in Woodthorpe, Nottinghamshire.
Linda and her late husband bought a section of land from their neighbours in 2000 and built a property on it three years later, NottinghamshireLive reported.
The family have lived there ever since and knew that the footpath didn’t belong to them so they were forced to let workers go through the garden to access the railway bridge and do conduct checks.
But in March 2021, she learned that a section of the land doesn't belong to them either.
To make things even more confusing, despite struggling for answers for nearly two years, they still don’t know who actually owns the land, so can't resolve the issue.
They believe it might be Nottinghamshire County Council due to the proximity to the roads and old railway line, but this has never been confirmed.
Linda’s son, Bryn Hoffman, said that his dad sadly passed away in April 2020, and later that year his mum begun looking for a bungalow to move into closer to his home.
He said: "A bungalow came up and it was stunning, perfect location and round the corner from me. 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 said it had been a ‘difficult’ experience and because of the issue of ownership, Linda is unable to buy the bungalow and move out.
The family reckon the price of the disputed land is around £1,000 but still have no idea who they could pay to buy it and end the long running issue.
Bryn said: "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."
Linda said her solicitors initially warned her the process cold take a year, but it’s now approaching two.
Bryn 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 added: "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."
Nottinghamshire County Council have been approached for comment.
