Boundary issue - hedge

justjohn

go by the deeds ....for adverse possession he needs to have it in his deeds if its not in there its not his,,,

good luck on your land war
Solicitor time me thinks

If you decide not to use a solicitor , you must gain control of disputed land wouthout causing criminal damage.

Park a car on land , put fence up etc....you are not allowed to destroy anything. You are allowed to remove property without causing damage as long as you inform owner (well in scotland that is the case). Any property then remains in your care/safe keeping for removal by owner.

tired_dad

I would get legal advice. Do you have legal cover with home insurance?

Mortgage company and your conveyancer might be able to advise.

If you go official then this will have to be declared if you ever sell.

I would seriously consider putting up a fence as it gives instant demarcation. Also set up a cheap CCTV. This guy sounds like a bully who needs to be dealt with very firmly.

zzzLazyDaisy

justjohn wrote: »

go by the deeds ....for adverse possession he needs to have it in his deeds if its not in there its not his,,,.

This is correct.

The law on adverse possession changed in 2002 for registered land (which yours is). In brief, in order to acquire adverse possession the neighbour must make an application to the land registry to register his interest over your land - you would be given an opportunity to object. If you didn't object his interest would be registered, but of course you would nip it in the bud at that stage and anyway he almost certainly wouldn't go that far.

More info here.

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides/practice-guide-4

I would not advise cutting his slabs as that is criminal damage but there is no reason why you can't remove them and move them back onto his side of the boundary.

No reason apart from the fact that living next door to a disgruntled and possibly vindictive neighbour could make your life very uncomfortable and possibly make your house very difficult to sell at a future date as you are required to declare neighbour disputes.

tired_dad

Could he write to the chap giving notice of intention to erect fence in 6 weeks, requesting the offending slabs are removed by then and if not you will assume he consents to you removing them.

They could be removed intact and kept on your property. Take lots of pics etc to ensure slabs were given back in good order.

justjohn

i would advise zero tolerence regarding the use of your land. Do not back down and make sure deeds are in order.

Keep the law on your side.

Leif

tired_dad wrote: »

I would get legal advice. Do you have legal cover with home insurance?

Be careful, solicitors love boundary disputes, loads of money for easy work. Buy you are right, you do have to have to declare disputes (my late mother's house sold despite there having been a dispute). And clearly he is a bully.

justjohn wrote: »

i would advise zero tolerence regarding the use of your land. Do not back down and make sure deeds are in order.

Keep the law on your side.

I agree. I would make certain I knew what the law said on this issues, and where I stood. Assuming the earlier information is correct, I would write to the neighbour using recorded delivery (so you have a record that the letter was delivered), stating the current situation, mentioning your deeds etc, and stating that the neighbour is in the wrong, and that he is to remove the slabs. Find out if you are allowed to remove the slabs after giving notice, it might be that you can.

My experience of boundary disputes is that the process can be expensive, and the other party may simply ignore any agreement. But you must appear to act in the correct manner at all times, and have acted reasonably, just in case it does go to a court.

Or you can wait until he goes on holiday, remove them, and put up a fence/wall/solid metal barrier. Not sure if that is a good idea, but people do take that path.

justjohn

If you damage anything you fall foul of the law. Being a pain in the 4ss is a civil matter lol ....get him to instigate civil procedings or he will hopefully fall foul of the law. its cheaper lol

You could send him a letter requesting he remove his property from your land. However its unlikely he will, but looks good on your part.

You may also want to show him your deeds and ask him to check his own.

Again you must make sure your deeds are in order. If you are wrong the you could be in trouble. However if he has mentioned proscriptive possesion then he knows he is trying too blag the land.

i would probably remove the slabs,sling a fence up and install cctv.(preferably when they are out lol ). keeping the slabs and informing the neigbour too remove them within a set period. Thats after making the deed situation clear too the neighbour

Alfrescodave

If you haven't already done so, then I would strongly advise that you take many photos of the disputed area - these can be extremely helpful when discussing the issue with CAB/solicitors etc.

Make sure that your neighbour sees you taking the photos as it will show him that you mean business!!

keystone

The deeds will not normally allow you to establish the precise location of the boundary line to anything better than about 9 inches either way.

The paving seems to be committing a trespass and if it is so is Mr Branson's cable. Deal with it appropriately.

What is proscriptive posession? Are you mixing up prescriptive easement with adverse possession?

Cheers

DaveStaines33

Hello,

Many thanks for all of the replies. I have been in touch with my home insurer and they have said that they will pay up to £50k of legal expenses if I decide to sue. I have also contacted a surveyor. The neighbour continues to be evasive.

Also, my neighbour has been in my back garden again, through his fence - is there anything that I can do about this? He has done this a few times now, and I also caught him walking on my section of flat roof (his excuse was that he was "measuring his house for a cable") while I was having a lie-in. I thought that I was dreaming at first as one does not usually expect to find people walking outside their first-floor windows...