Boundary dispute, advice please.

Sideways

Hi folks

I’m looking for some advice and guidance with a boundary issue I might have.

I believe the current boundary line at the end of our garden ends before it should do. Beyond the hedge there is a strip of land allowing my neighbour access to a communal car park area. I suspect this strip of land belongs to us. Beyond this is a fence and a privately owned field.

I have looked at a drawing given to us when we purchased the house ten years ago and it shows our boundary going all the way to the field boundary. In short, our neighbour may have taken a strip off the bottom of our garden for his convenience.

Problem is, I cant prove it because I have nothing that gives me dimensions, how long my garden should be etc. It was like this when we moved in and it never occurred to us to question it before.

My neighbour is a bit of a recluse, not someone we feel we can approach to discuss it with and I suspect he will ‘kick’off’ if we tried to do something about it.

What should my next move be? Speak to a solicitor who specialises in boundary disputes? Have I left it too late? As my neighbour has been using the land for over ten years does this automatically mean that it now becomes his land under some old law?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

macman

Talk to him. He'll 'kick off' a lot more if he gets a solicitor's letter without any prior attempt to even discuss the matter.
Boundary disputes are best resolved without recourse to lawyers, unless you have very deep pockets.

MX5huggy

What outcome do you want?

elsien

Anything on the land registry or deeds that may give a better idea of the original boundaries ?

Sideways

macman wrote: »

Talk to him. He'll 'kick off' a lot more if he gets a solicitor's letter without any prior attempt to even discuss the matter.
Boundary disputes are best resolved without recourse to lawyers, unless you have very deep pockets.

Under normal circumstances you are absolutely right macman and I wouldn’t hesitate to speak to him first. Unfortunately we have learnt the hard way that he is not to be reasoned with.

Sideways

MX5huggy wrote: »

What outcome do you want?

It would be good to reclaim the land for our garden which is quite small, this extra land would add around 20% to its size.

Sideways

elsien wrote: »

Anything on the land registry or deeds that may give a better idea of the original boundaries ?

I can purchase a large and detailed plan online, I was planning to do this but wanted to wait for some advice from MSE first.

macman

Sideways wrote: »

Under normal circumstances you are absolutely right macman and I wouldn’t hesitate to speak to him first. Unfortunately we have learnt the hard way that he is not to be reasoned with.

So what have you got to lose by trying?

bluebird

Its worth making the purchase of the large detailed plan then if the neighbour complains you can show him the plan.

Mojisola

Sideways wrote: »

I believe the current boundary line at the end of our garden ends before it should do. Beyond the hedge there is a strip of land allowing my neighbour access to a communal car park area. I suspect this strip of land belongs to us. Beyond this is a fence and a privately owned field.

I have looked at a drawing given to us when we purchased the house ten years ago and it shows our boundary going all the way to the field boundary. In short, our neighbour may have taken a strip off the bottom of our garden for his convenience.

In practical terms, you've probably left it ten years too long. By not doing anything about it before now, legally I think it would be deemed that you had accepted the position on the ground.

When you buy a property, you buy what you see. If, years later, you try to claim land from a neighbour because of drawings on plans, you won't have a very strong case.

If your neighbour can show he has kept the owners of your property off that piece of land for twelve years or longer, he will be able to claim ownership of it.

https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk is a very useful site for getting information about these kind of problems.

MX5huggy

Sideways wrote: »

I can purchase a large and detailed plan online, I was planning to do this but wanted to wait for some advice from MSE first.

I think you may be disappointed by the Land Registry plan, but as its only £4 or so just buy it.