Chris Meyer, 30, planned to sell his three-bedroom Carlisle flat to a buyer for £76,000 three years ago.

However, his plans were thrown into disarray after he discovered his next-door neighbour owned the flat he lived in.

Now he has been struggling to get all affected residents – some of whom are home-owners and some who are tenants – to work with the Land Registry on a resolution to the problem.

Mr Meyer explained to the Carlisle News & Star: “Basically, I live in number 8 and thought I had bought number 8.

“But Land Registry documents show that I actually own Number 9. The man who thought he’d bought Number 7 actually owns my flat. It’s the same for 10 of the 15 flats.

“It’s a complete mess. Not surprisingly, my buyer pulled out.”

He said the law firm that dealt with the purchase of the property “said that it was up to me to check the documents but I paid them to do the conveyancing so that nothing like this would happen”.

He added: “That’s why you get a solicitor for these things. I just want somebody to fix this problem.”