Neighbour has part of my garden

marvin

Not sure if the right forum but....

I purchased my council house 2 years ago and My neighbour has part of my front garden. The fronts are open plan so no fences in the way unless one has been put up by the owner. It is obvious what the natural boundary is as is the plan that comes from the registry.

I put a line across the area the other day just to see what it went through and its part of their lawn a flower bed etc.

the total is about 78 sqft (3 foot wide by 26 foot long)

Is there an easy way to reclaim my property? Or is it a case of solicitors?

Is there a site that does a template letter for this type of thing?

PoorDave

First logical step would be to speak to them about it face to face. Have you done that already?

I think this route is more likely to resolve the situation amicably

clutton_2

talk to them - talk to them - why oh why are soooo many folks scared of talking to their neighbours

it you dont know quite what to say - thats another matter

i suggest you download your house plans from the landregistry website first of all £3 - and then the border hopefully, will be obvious, - then you will have something "official" to back you up.

why has it taken you 2 years to realise he has taken part of your garden ?

Geenie

As already stated, try the amicable route first. But I know of someone who bought a house a few years back, and then realised that the neighbour had encroached into their garden by several feet to grow veg once they studied the deeds properly. But because these people had used that land for over 20 years or more, were entitled by some law to keep it, and the new owners couldn't claim it back. The previous very elderly owners hadn't realised what was going on. So check carefully what is yours and act sooner rather then later would be my advice.

Premier_2

Looks like PoorDave and others have beat me to it!

PasturesNew

Did you not notice while you were a tenant that the boundary was wrong? You said "it's obvious". I'd have brought it up with them at least at the point when I was buying the house.

silvercar

I have heard comments that the deeds on ex-council houses can be a bit ropey. When the properties were first built as council homes there was never an intention that they would one day be sold, so the need for accurate deeds wasn't there. As they were sold off, deeds were drawn up, in some cases they missed off details, often in regard to shared services eg water pipes, access eg back gardens of terraces, but also in regard to boundaries.

lil_me

You need the accurate deeds first, one for a property next door to where we used to live was given initially and it was completely wrong, it left no access at all for the property we lived in, so they guessed it was incorrect and got it sorted.

Talk to the neighbours, if they're looking after it and no fence is up, I wouldn't be bothered personally. I hate gardening.

silvercar

It is obvious what the natural boundary is as is the plan that comes from the registry.

I don't think the land registry take responsibility for the boundaries on their deeds.

I put a line across the area the other day just to see what it went through and its part of their lawn a flower bed etc.

Suggesting that it is not drawn in the right place on the deeds.

the total is about 78 sqft (3 foot wide by 26 foot long)

..and should probably have been drawn 3 foot further over on the deeds.

How wide is 3 foot on the deeds, the width of one thick red line?

Loretta

A lot of older properties are not exact messurements even on the deeds. If you were already living there why wasn't this sorted out when you bought it?