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

diversrock

My neighbour had this problem, but the person selling the house sorted out the fence before he sold it, so I think that the person who sold it is at fault - get a hold of them, and get them to pay your share...

hellienellie

Her fence , her mistake ! If she wants it back then it's up to her to pay for any legal costs and work done . It seems very convenient that this has come up when you moved in ! I would be interested to know if she had asked the previous owner to contribute to the cost ?

karie

Mojisola wrote: »

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.

Hiya... is 'you buy what you see' an agreed statement or turn of phrase?

The reason I ask is that my partner and I have a similar problem.
We have lived in our house for 3 years and our next door neighbours moved in about a year ago (the neighbour who was there when we first moved in went into a care home). So we are not the new neighbours.... But the new neighbours are suggesting the boundaries between our two houses are wrong and they own sone of our driveway and garden...

Their land registry plans back this up but our land registry plans differ. Also they are hand-drawn, about 70 years old and our house was built after theirs so didn't exist when their plans were drawn!

My position is that:
Boundaries change over time
Old land registry docs alone may not be reflective
The boundaries were like this when we bought (3 years ago)
The boundaries were like this when they bought (1 year ago)
The previous neighbour lived there for 50 years and the people who previously owned our house lived here for about 50 years too ... so any changes to boundaries happened a long time ago


All views gratefully received!

Mojisola

There's a lot of useful info here - https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3149

I would keep stating the facts in your list.

Are you in contact with the previous owners of your house? If you could get them, or other neighbours, to write a letter saying that the boundary has been in its present position for at least X years, hold on to that in case the new people pursue the issue.

Thrifty13

If, as you say, they are right with the boundary being wrong, ask them why they did not have it changed before. I do not think you should pay for it as it would be a simple measure to mark it out. What constitutes the boundary mark: a fence, a hedge... and whose is it? If it's yours, then you should move it. If it's theirs, then they should move it.
Before this is being done, then I believe you have recourse against both your and their solicitor for not pointing it out as it could have stopped you purchasing the property. Either way, I don't think you have to part with any cash. Perhaps you should seek advice on a no fee 30 minute consultation with a different solicitor!

karie

Mojisola wrote: »

There's a lot of useful info here - https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3149

I would keep stating the facts in your list.

Are you in contact with the previous owners of your house? If you could get them, or other neighbours, to write a letter saying that the boundary has been in its present position for at least X years, hold on to that in case the new people pursue the issue.

Unfortunately the previous owners of our house have since died.
However I could get something in writing from our old neighbour as we still go to visit him and he has his wits about him! I could potentially get something from another neighbour too but don't want rumours to fly...
Good advice though!

tallgirld

I would not pay a penny. My attitude would be you can have your garden space but at your cost not mine.

I think the neighbours taking the mick!

Cabbagewhite

Legalities aside, you only have to read the papers to see that border disputes cause huge upset and they may be your neighbours for years. Google 'Tony Alliss shot' to see where this can end up. If it is only a small bit of ground not worth the hassle. What I would say though is why should you pay for them to move a fence which must be on their land, further over to what is still their land?

I expect the owner of the border is marked on the deeds, but it is still quite unusual to have responsibility for actual fencing in the deeds. You do not have to fence if you don't want to (but can't allow trespass by your animals, children, etc). If your neighbour doesn't like it they can put a fence up themselves on the edge of their land. Been through all this ourselves, due to the incompetent local council selling off council houses but varying the borders on the deeds. Not worth falling out over.

If it was me I would agree, but would not pay anything. Say the purchase/move has left you seriously skint, can't afford go through solicitors, but don't want to fall out with them. If they want to move it they can, but they must pay including making good afterwards.

tarajayne

Hi, we went through this in November, but we were the sellers. It was made very clear to us by our solicitor that we would be breaking the law to knowingly sell the house without changing the boundary as we would be selling something that didn't belong to us. So we paid the £40 and had the form sent to the land registry and they sorted it and phoned us once completed so we could exchange. I still have the form in my emails if you need the name of it. We had to get the original land registry plans, then change the boundary in red, then we signed it, and the neighbours to agree, but most important the plan must be to scale. Then you send in the TP form which again you both sign and have witnessed. You do not need solicitors to do this so it's £40 plus postage. I know the people selling should have done it but you don't want boundary dispute problems as you have to declare it if you ever sell so £20 for a quiet life I guess.

TP1 form which you can download from their website, and I still have a copy of ours if you need to know what we put on it.

Edit, it wasn't the solicitors fault, they only get the plans to look at and send them to the buyer to check the boundary lines. I remember my husband having to get through the brambles to check our new house out. And as somebody has pointed out if your house is mortgaged you do need permission of your mortgage company. I think it was a DS3 or something? I contacted their legal department and they gave the release form without charge as it was only about a foot or so down half of the garden.

moxxy-girl

No , you shouldn't pay- you were unaware and they will gain. If it means that much to them let them proceed on their own.