Boundary Issue

Nikki

Hi, would like some thoughts on a possible boundary issue. We have lived in our current property for 4 years. Next to us is a plot of land which up until recently was owned by a billboard company, the land is now sold for development. The land has been unused and not been maintained for over 30 years (it is a pretty big plot), we refered to it as a copse. There is a gate between us and the billboards, the gate is attatched to our front wall and closes against the billboards. We were left the key to the padlock on the gate by the previous owner, so we thought it was ours or a possible shared access. The strip of land behind the gate was maintained by the previous owners and by us since - we have 2 windows on this side of the house. The majority of the physical boundary has disintergrated, but there are fence posts still in place, they sit in line with the edge of the first billboard. Now the new owners, have some measurements for the width of their plot and have marked out where they think the boundary should be, which is not where the old boundary posts are. They are measuring from the wall of the property on the opposite side of the copse - the wall is in disrepair and bowed due to conifer roots pushing it out. They even had the cheek to plonk one of their markers in the middle of my path. I keep getting ' well on the land registry, it shows'. Now as far as we see it, we were shown the garden with boundaries as is and that is what we bought. When we contacted the Billboard company last year to come and cut back their ovehanging mess (and dangerous dead trees), the land manager that came said she didn't even know the land was there and had to look for it on google earth, yet it was land registered by them in 2003. I think the new owners want to avoid a dispute and a huge delay to any building plans they have, but I also get the impression they think we are just going to conceed defeat as they are professional developers 'in the know' and we are just ignorant homeowners!! It is not huge amount of land but it is the difference between us being able to maintain the side of our house or not, no one has ever challenged this boundary previously.

philip1988

Have you checked your deeds as they will indicate where your house boundaries are.

Nikki

Yes, all it shows is the building plot (1920) before our house was built(1923) and isn't representative of the plot as it is now. We gained land when the river was re- routed in the early 70's.

Land_Registry

Take a look at our online FAQs around boundaries to get an understanding of the most common issues which arise and how the land register information can assist.

You can check your own registered extent and that of the neighbouring land either online or by post - see FAQ around obtaining information from us.

That information will give you an indication of the extent of each title although the FAQs explain the limits associated with establishing the exact position of boundaries. However what they should do is enable you to match your own understanding with that of the situation on the ground and assist with agreeing a boundary line with the neighbour/developer.

Note - reading your later post I would recommend seeking legal advice as if you are now occupying more land than is registered then you would need to consider the legalities behind claiming that land etc. We have online guidance (Practice Guides 4 and 5 depending on circumstances) to cover that also although it is a very complex area of the law and the guidance is written with legal professionals in mind.

Nikki

We are not occupying more land than is registered, the extra land we gained when the river was re-routed is all above board and legally ours. LR was updated when this change happened and well before we bought it. I was just saying that the building plot in our deeds is different to what is now registered.

Hintza

Get some sort of fence up where the old fence posts are.

cyclonebri1

Nikki wrote: »

We are not occupying more land than is registered, the extra land we gained when the river was re-routed is all above board and legally ours. LR was updated when this change happened and well before we bought it. I was just saying that the building plot in our deeds is different to what is now registered.

tHAT'S A REAL PITY BECAUSE IF YOU WERE FOR THE LAST 12 YEARS, AND HAD ACTIVELY USED IT, IT WOULD BE YOURS, 'scuse the caps.;)