Real-life MMD: Should we pay to shrink our garden?

Ebenezer_Screwj

The boundary fence obviously belongs to your neighbours as well as the portion of land, you do not have to contribute towards moving it.

AnturCynhyrfus

The Land Registry will tell you who is responsible for which borders. It could be all yours, all theirs or a joint responsibility. Check this, as if it's all theirs then you have absolutely no legal requirement to contribute.

If it's not all theirs then I'd follow some of the other suggestions in this thread and contact your solicitor as I would have thought that this should have been identified in the conveyancing.

meurigjones

I wouldn't dream of contributing to the cost. If she wants to increase the size of her garden, then the cost should be met fully by her.

This could however create a couple of problems: Relations from that point on could well be strained, and you would probably have no input on what type of fence or hedge they erect.

Good luck!

smff

Hi we had a similar issue but with the rear boundary, If you can show that the fence has been in the same place for 12 years you legally have right to the land, and whilst cannot get a full legal title can get partial title.

As you have only lived there a short while I would suggest you could go on the map sites to see how long the boundary has been in situ or ask your neighbour to prove when it was moved. But in my non-legal view get your Solicitor to sort it as he should have spotted it and pay nothing to your neighbour.

debtdesperado

Do not go to a solicitor and start stirring up a boundary dispute unless you truly have money to burn! Boundary disputes are expensive, and often pointless, particularly in a case like this where you say it's obvious that the boundary is wrong.

Before you go pay to go a solicitor (and you say that you have checked at the land registry, so if the error is that obvious on the plans then a solicitor will only be an expensive way of confirming what you know), I would consider how much garden you will lose. If it is a substantial amount, I would then get some estate agents round to value the property with the smaller garden.

If the value is less than the current market value with the bigger garden, you may have a claim for negligence against your solicitor if they did not point this out when you bought the property. You solicitor would be liable for the difference between the valuations. They are the correct party to pursue, and they will have insurance which will cover claims like this.

In terms of your neighbour, I wouldn't take it out on them. Saying that you won't pay anything is fine, but being more collaborative will have two big advantages - firstly, you will get a say over the fence in terms of appearance, height etc, and you will also be able to have a say in where the fence is located, ie you and your neighbour can agree where it goes. Plus in general, what is the point of falling out with your neighbours and being awkward? It will cause you massive amounts of stress, and them, and to what end? I would agree to contribute something (not necessarily half) and sit down and discuss it.

Ultimately it's not worth fighting for something which isn't yours anyway, and saying you won't contribute may result in a horrible fence that is more of an eyesore.

steve_LB

No way on this planet should you ever think of paying anything towards this.
Firstly, you are not asking for this work to be done, so if they wish to move or even replace this fence just refuse to pay, however you may not legally be able to with hold permission for them to do it.

Secondly even if you were liable to pay a percentage of the cost you would almost certainly be able to pass the cost on to your solicitor, as you have paid them to pick this kind of thing up for you.

If you think about it you will probably suspect that the last owners of your property no doubt also refused to pay, and they have waited for someone else to move in and hopefully be a "simple touch".

PLEASE DON'T BE.

Good luck and all the best for your new home.

Regards Steve.

Mojisola

smff wrote: »

Hi we had a similar issue but with the rear boundary, If you can show that the fence has been in the same place for 12 years you legally have right to the land, and whilst cannot get a full legal title can get partial title.

As you have only lived there a short while I would suggest you could go on the map sites to see how long the boundary has been in situ or ask your neighbour to prove when it was moved.

This is good advice.

Throw the problem back at the neighbour to prove when the fence changed position. Unless it was relatively recently, they have no right to ask for it to be moved back to the line on the map. The longer they have accepted the fence where it is, the weaker their legal position.

For all you know, the fence was like that when they moved in next door and the principal of "you buy what you see" comes into play. This also applies to you - you bought the garden as it stands now.

If they really felt they had a right to the extra bit of garden, they would have raised it when the house went up for sale. They're putting pressure on you as the new incomers hoping that you'll cave in before taking time to think about the issue.

paolojf

AnturCynhyrfus post #13 says "as if it's all theirs then you have absolutely no legal requirement to contribute".

Even if it's your fence, there is no legal obligation to even have a fence. You could leave the land open if you wanted to do so. The neighbour, if they wanted a fence, would then have to erect their own but completely on their side of the boundry line, not on it.

ernie-money

Money is obviously an important issue, but what about neighbourly relations..? I wouldn't want to cough up loads of money for losing a bit of my garden (it sounds insane), but falling out with a new neighbour when you've only just moved in can also have implications. Will you ever need them to accept parcels when you're out, feed the cat, or just generally be a friendly neighbour...?

fatal1955

What price good relationships with the neighbours? If you can afford what they are asking it might well pay dividends in the long run to make a contribution to the costs, though perhaps, since you are losing part of your garden, you could haggle for your share to be less than 50% of the cost.