Advice needed on boundary fence

swiftybird

I have just received a letter from the owner of the communal land to the back of my property. I have discovered, by looking at the land registry, that a previous owner put up or replaced a fence encroaching onto their land by approx a foot. This must have happened at least 10 + years ago as when I purchased the property there were and still are, 3 very established trees about 20ft tall, planted in front of the fence my side. Now because I have recently cleared and tided up the area which was overgrown and erected a new fence, in the exact same position as the previous one, a long standing resident has noticed the encroachment and put in a complaint to the communal owners thinking that we had actioned the encroachment.

How do I stand legally as I did not unfortunately notice this on the land registry when purchasing the property.

Thanks

princeofpounds

It depends how long the encroachment had been in place. The term you need to google is 'adverse possession'. If you intend to try to keep the land it's likely one side or the other will elevate it to lawyers/court to decide on this specific issue.

Having proof of when the old fence was erected would have been very useful, but is unlikely. The trees might be of help however to determine an age.

swiftybird

Thanks for your help on this matter. I have the support of my neighbours regarding the encroachment as they have all said that
the owner previous to the one I purchased the property from i.e. 14 years ago was the one who erected the fence and planted the trees.

They are very unhappy with the fact that I may have to take the trees down and re-instate the original boundary should I be made to.
I hope with my neighbours support it will be sufficient proof to help my case.

ic

Do you have legal cover on your house insurance? That foot of land could be very expensive if not.

daveyjp

You can't measure a foot from an LR plan. At 1:1250 a pen line is a minimum of 1.25m wide!

paddy's_mum

My advice ... move the fence back to where it ought to be.

Why? Because for the sake of one foot of land, it's just not worth perhaps years of stress, bitterness and trouble while also paying out huge amounts of money to solicitors to pursue an avoidable boundary dispute. The only winners are the legal profession.

You might care to read Jon Maynard's Boundary Dispute web pages for more information and to help you decide whether you want to hold onto your "case".

Let the neighbours who value the trees fund their own battle with the rightful landowner!

pararct

Once the supposedly aggrieved party receives their own legal advice and then acts upon it I would do nothing. As has been pointed out the LR plan is hardly enlightening and the trees and neighbour evidence suggest long time placement.
The aggrieved party has lived with it up to now without letting it bother them once they are made aware of how much it could cost them to recover this small strip with no guarantee of success they may quietly drop it.

Even if they don't and you are willing to compromise it may be possible to negotiate that the neighbour pays for the removal of the trees and reinstatement of the fence just to make the issue 'go away'.

You will not incur any legal costs until such time as you employ a solicitor, if you have the insurance legal cover then all is well anyway, these things usually end up getting out of control when you have 2 parties that refuse to see each others point of view and one will continue to escalate the process through appeal usually against their legal advice, the other being forced to defend their position. Provided you keep a cool head you should be able to navigate this to a natural conclusion without too much cost.

Out of interest who is the owner of the communal land? The Council?

swiftybird

The communal area belongs to the original builder of the property back in 1964. The local council agreed with them to maintain the grass and keep it tidy. Although when I purchased my property 18 months ago it had not been maintained behind me as the fence had fallen over with the weight of brambles etc. I will struggle to bring the fence back onto the boundary as the LR states because the trees have been planted right on it, as the orignal owner (would you believe a local councillor!) 14+ years ago took down the builders fence and replaced it with the trees. He then must have decided to re-erect a fence and put it behind them so the trees were in his garden. The only way I can fence this boundary is to remove a lilac tree and 2 fir trees or I will have to erect the fence well within my boundary due to the size of the trees, (I only have a small courtyard).

My neighbour directly behind me is chomping at the bit to contact the original builders, but I have asked her to wait for the outcome of a visit from the builders so called inspector?