Would a resolved boundary dispute put you off buying?

Nixer

A small update (that's probably not too useful but hey ho):
We don't have the court order yet, but the solicitor has told us that the court action was brought by our vendor and which of the neighbours it was against, but we still don't know what it was about or how it was resolved.

We've told him that we are extremely concerned and considering pulling out and he is doing some digging for more info. I think he is sending us something, possibly the court order, today. The neighbour in question has been there a long time if nethouseprices etc. is correct so it is the same person. Our vendor moved there in 2004 and left in 2012 (house has been empty for a while). We were told she was selling as she can no longer drive for medical reasons, and there was a car left at the property that had obviously been there for a while (covered in dust and leaves). So she probably stayed around 2 years after the court thing finished.

Solicitor seemed to think not worth talking to said neighbour as they would probably say it was our vendor's fault but I think we would more be looking for reassurance that the matter was resolved to their satisfaction. I believe my current neighbour knows the people who lived on the other side at the time (since moved), so we might be able to get an alternative perspective but will wait for more info before considering that.

I will update the thread when I have some more info, thanks to everyone for reading as I am climbing the walls with stress at the moment!

Ivana_Tinkle

I would definitely want to meet the neighbour involved! Of course they'll say it was the vendor's fault, but you'll get a much better sense of whether that's true by speaking to them.

Bufger

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

I would definitely want to meet the neighbour involved! Of course they'll say it was the vendor's fault, but you'll get a much better sense of whether that's true by speaking to them.

And first impressions are everything. If the neighbour seems to be reasonable and fair but your vendor was the loony then you may be making a new friend before you even move in.

moneyistooshorttomention

I would say that the existing neighbour is probably the "loony in the bin" - rather than your vendor.

A woman on her own and leaving a car neglected sitting there in place for a couple of years afterwards is something I would interpret personally as "The neighbour was the problem and vendor ran out of emotional energy dealing with Problem Person".

But...who knows....I have a Problem Person neighbour myself and they are the one neglecting their place to smithereens these days. So that isn't an infallible rule of thumb as to just who is the Problem Person out of two neighbours.

I wish you luck in solving this - as we all know that Problem Neighbours can continue their selfish/unreasonable ways at the "new kid on the block" and it is a difficult situation to be in for the "innocent" party involved.

I would imagine that sheer logic will quickly reveal exactly which of the two people involved is the one who is at fault if you examine the matter closely (eg plans reveal that it looks as if Neighbour B is trying to steal a bit of Neighbour A's garden). My own scenario with Problem Neighbour is that I was the one who was here first and then Problem Neighbour moved in and did something that would (for very clear reasons) upset anyone with any sense and foresight so it is far from surprising that it upset me too.

Hope it all resolves successfully for you.

Nixer

Don't think the car was there a couple of years, it was there at first viewing (last Nov) and looked to have been there perhaps a few months. It was gone a couple of months ago. I mentioned it only to illustrate that her given reason for leaving (unable to carry on driving) could well be true, but it's just a guess at this stage. Hopefully as you say, things will become more clear cut when we see the court paperwork.

andy.m_2

I would run a mile, disputes that go on as far as court are deep seated and clearly both parties thought they were correct or one would have backed down prior to proceedings.

The new neighbour might be as nice as pie to you and first impressions might be great, but imagine if it was they that lost, they would see this as a great opportunity to right what is in their eyes wrong.

This will not end well for you, pick another house.

ValHaller

andy.m wrote: »

I would run a mile, disputes that go on as far as court are deep seated and clearly both parties thought they were correct or one would have backed down prior to proceedings.

May be one of them actually was right?

andy.m wrote: »

The new neighbour might be as nice as pie to you and first impressions might be great, but imagine if it was they that lost, they would see this as a great opportunity to right what is in their eyes wrong.

This will not end well for you, pick another house.

Too early to call either way on whether to walk from this one. Not until OP sees the court order and understands what the complaint was about.

Because this house has this issue over it, it may be that it is priced to sell and represents an opportunity if the dispute is laid to rest.

andy.m_2

clearly one of them was right, certainly in the eyes of the court.
Depending on the issue, is inversely proportional to the bloody mindedness of them both.

Nixer

Ok I now have the deed of settlement (dated towards end of 2010).

The situation is that the 2 houses are served by a driveway up from the road. After about 2 car lengths the driveway has a turning to the left which serves "our" house, and the remainder continues up to the neighbour in question. "Our" house is further forward in its plot than the neighbours' and its rightmost edge runs close to the boundary. So its rightmost wall is alongside the driveway that goes upto the neighbours' house.

The deed sets out various obligations 1)to do with the boundary and responsibilites for fencing 2)to do with both parties' access to the boundary area and cost obligations for repairing shared drainage 3)something I don't completely understand about the eaves of "our" house being allowed to overhang the boundary 4) right of way of "our" house over the shared portion of the driveway (which is on land that belongs to the neighbour) and joint responsibility for its maintenance, plus clarification of the exact route.

The important bit seems to be the boundary and there is a specific bit listed in our vendor's obligations about removing a fence that currently stands on the Boundary Land (which is supposed to be marked on the plan, but isn't, so we will need that sorted out) within 28 days of the deed and not putting any structure on that land that might interfere with the neighbour's ability to use that driveway (and an example is given of a heating oil tanker being able to access the driveway). The vendor's other obligation is to maintain a fence between 2 points. The neighbour has an obligation to maintain the fence between 2 different point. There is one bit of boundary that no one has obligation to maintain. When we viewed there was a piece of string between two fence panels and we wondered why. That bit seems to correspond with the bit no one is responsible for.

So it looks as if the vendor put up a fence that was where it shouldn't be, possibly preventing access to neighbours' by wide vehicles, refused to take it down and took the neighbour to court. We're fairly sure that the fence was no longer there, it certainly looked wide enough to get a tanker up the neighbours' drive when we viewed it.

It looks also as if there may have been disagreement over the route of the right of way, I'm guessing this because the deed clarifies the points that the route falls between. So possibly our vendor did something wrong there too, don't know - there's nothing in the deed that says anything other than clarifying the route. Can't see how neighbour could be at fault as it is their land.

I'm not clear whether the other stuff (about shared costs for drainage and the eaves overhang) is in the deed because of argument about those things or whether they were included "just in case".

I think we need some more info about what led up to the vendor taking the legal action so we will ask solicitor. As things stand it points slightly towards our vendor being unreasonable but I think we would like to try and get an idea of whether it was wholly her at fault.

dimbo61

So you have a shared driveway with your neighbour ?
How many cars do you own? 1 or 2 and do you have teenage kids who will want a car in a few years?
How much room do you have to park the car/s ? on the driveway without blocking the access to your neighbours house ?
Shared access can also cause lots of problems as parking can be a big problem