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

Brian_Steele

I don't think your solicitor is directly at fault, as nobody official will have been to the site to compare it with the Land Registry maps, but the vendor's responses to the statutory conveyancing questions about boundary ownership and disputes should be interesting. If they gave incorrect answers, then they are arguably liable for selling you something that they had no right to sell.

Conversely, the length of time they had encroached on the neighbours is significant, as beyond a certain time (7 years?) ownership may have transferred. I think a quick call to the conveyancing solicitor for advice is in order, as they are unlikely to charge additional fees for a clarification of what went on during the transaction. You can take it from there, as to how to proceed.

marich

Picking fights is not a nice way to get to know your new neighbours . It is obviously an issue for them and you have seen their right to the land , so do the decent thing and come to an agreement with them as to where the proper boundary really should lie .

Sharing the cost of the new fence will give you some input into what kind of a fence you will be living with - as well as being an investment into what kind of neighbours you will be living with . You will know them for years , let them know you are decent people and keep it that way .

There's enough fights in life without having them on your own doorstep !

danthemoneysavingman

I wonder why they didn't resolve this with the previous owner? You've gotta wonder too, haven't you??

tuk585

Does everybody expect the solicitor to come round and check the site against the plans? I seem to remember that they give the buyer the plans and ask them to confirm they are correct, so not really the solicitor' fault on this occasion.

BTW, I put solicitors in the same class as estate agents, politicians etc. and have had lots of bad service from them ....

dime81

Sounds like a real annoyance, so here's my 2p:

The easiest and cheapest way would be to check how much you are losing and if it's not that big an area, agree amicably with the neighbour about moving the fence. You could ask the estate agent (or another independent one that didn't market it first time) how it would affect the value if moved.

Unless you specifically instructed your solicitor to check the physical location, or there was some other reason for them to suspect the fence was in the wrong place (e.g. the seller said there was a dispute) they will not be responsible for this. They have no duty to check the physical boundaries.

If it is a substantial amount you are losing, you should think about taking legal advice. This will probably be costly and you should compare this against the value of what you are losing on the land.

Under certain circumatances, you can count the seller's time in the property towards your claim for adverse possession (squatters' rights), so there is a chance you can apply to be registered and get the plan boundary moved to where the fence actually is - but there are a lot of other conditions to this which you should get advice on. Plus your neighbour will have the chance to object, so you will want to think carefully about having to live next to them if you follow this option.

xyzzy_2

No way should you be liable. She should have resolved it with previous owner. Probably argued about it with them for years, and now trying it on with you!

joolsg_2

If the fence has been in the wrong place for years you will have acquired rights to the land by adverse possession ( prescription). Your neighbour has presumably not raised the matter before or you would have been notified by the vendor. If the vendor knew of the dispute you have the right to sue them. Hold your ground and refuse to hand back the land claiming you own it by adverse possession. The neighbour will then have to bring legal action.

Fenris_W

The neighbours claim doesn't ring true. How has she suddenly found out that the fence is in the wrong place and how does she know it has been wrong for years?

Go over to the land registry site and buy a copy of their registry entry. It will show how long they have been in the property.

Once you move the fence you will give up any accrued adverse possession rights and the neighbour may well know this.

Do nothing without finding out the facts. Also, it might be worth investing in a digital voice recorder and recording every conversation to do with this. You don't need to tell anyone you are recording them, not even on the phone. (different for a business or organisation).

stevem999

Love the way everyone is laying into solicitors saying they should have picked it up in the conveyancing. Does anyone actually know how that would have happened? I suspect some of you have bought a house at some point and may have noticed that the solicitor does not come to the house you are buying to give it the once over! They use a combination of plans, verbal information from the buyer, written information from the seller and any valuation/survey to determine any risks or issues that the buyer (and the lender) need to be aware of.

If the seller doesn't make any sort of declaration of boundary disputes or alterations and the prospective buyer doesn't see anything wrong with the boundary of the property, then the solicitor can have no idea there is something wrong.

Solicitors (not the unqualified case manager paper pushers that most lenders use nowadays) are highly trained professionals who charge for their time and make their clients as aware of issues as they can, but they don't have crystal balls.

And before you say it, I'm not a solicitor.

sandrajean1955

I've asked someone who knows a bit about this sort of thing & they say that adequate checks should have been done to see if the land that was bought was legally owned by the sellers. As the new peoples property (fence) is on the land owned by next door the new people must remove it but would NOT be made to replace it. If the people next door want a fence to divide the land then they should pay for it otherwise it's quite legal for it to remain unfenced. If the solicitor was not 'engaged' to check boundaries then they're in the clear but if they were paid to do a search/check on boundaries then the issue is theirs.

I think the neighbour knew about this & waited till the house was sold before doing anything about it. I'd be inclined to get the neighbour to mark out where their boundary ends, I'd make sure it was EXACT and make them do it again if not. I would then remove the fence & let them get on with it (unless you really want a fence to divide the land). Sorry you haven't had a very good start in your new home.