registering agreement between neighbours on TP1

I share a sewage pumping station with my neighbour which for the last 15 years has had a informal arrangement to pay half each on any repairs. I am now selling my property and have formalised the agreement on costs  in a written contract.
see attached document of agreement.

Due to the situation I have not had sufficient time to register the agreement on my deeds with an AP1 but the buyers solicitor is of the opinion the agreement is 'not sufficient' for registration and that both I and the neighbour need to have the agreement drawn up by a solicitor (at a substantial cost). The agreement is in the same format as advised by the land registry website for boundary agreements and I believe the solicitor is wrong that is insufficient to be accepted by the land registry. 





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Shaun - a couple of things spring to mind here as it's rarely a registration issue that needs addressing as you have to be sure that the deed is both legal and does what is required in law. The registration aspect comes after that so we cannot advise you on whether it is sufficient in law and I very much suspect that is what the buyer's solicitor is getting at.
You are also, it seems, trying to formalise how the pumping station is maintained and access permitted etc to do so. That doesn't read like a boundary agreement and is perhaps something you would really need a deed of grant/easement which would then include provisions/covenants perhaps re what happens in X or Y circumstances
If you prefer to try and register the deed you have drawn up then you would apply to note same against both titles using form AP1.
However I would strongly recommend discussing the agreement/arrangement with your conveyancer as whether it's 'sufficient' is a legal and not registration issue

Adam,
surely this is not an easement as both parties benefit from either party accessing  the equipment for maintenance and repairs (especially in an emergency pump failure situation). Where, in law, an easement has dominant and servient parties with the dominant receiving benefit.
 

Shaun - that's where your legal advice needs to come in as what do you both actually need to formalise. Is it an agreement, a deed of covenant or an easement or a mix of both.
If you decide you want to create the deed as mentioned then you then need to ensure it is a legal deed (dated and executed correctly) and then decide how to protect it on the register for both titles

Adam, I see it as an agreement, Does an agreement have to be classed as a covenant? or can it be just a stand alone document of evidence of agreement that is held with the deeds? as this was the original intention when the agreement was made.

Shaun - there are a variety of ways to formalise matters but that all depends on what the end result looks like. Many legal deeds include provisions, agreements, covenants and/or easements and the legal skill is formalising what's needed to provide the end result you need.

You can certainly create your own deed but does it actually do what you both want it to do? That's the real legal Q and the one I would recommend that you seek legal assistance with.

If you want to create your own deed and call it a Boundary Agreement then providing it's executed correctly and dated we can simply note it on each title as applied for. But I suspect the solicitor is really trying to say that it's not sufficient in law to achieve what you actually think it covers and I would strongly recommend that you do seek legal assistance/advice to ensure the deed does exactly what you want it to. 

We can't advise you on the law but our PGs 8 and 40 sup 4 explain how a deed must be executed and how a boundary agreement can be formalised