Land dispute with neighbour

xxxpinkladyxxx

My mum's best friend (I'm going to call her T) sold her house last year. When she was selling up, her neighbour had mentioned about having her steps re-done. That was it.

A week before T moved, her neighbour was having her steps re-done. However, a while after the new owner had moved in, the neighbour had a wall that separates their front gardens knocked down and rebuilt which ended up taking some of the new owner's land.

The new owner is now taking T to court as he is saying that she was aware of this wall being built and gave permission for the wall to take some of her land. This never happened, T did not agree to this. As I said above, she didn't even know anything about a wall being rebuilt, just about these steps which have nothing to do with her property.

This new owner has 3 witnesses who say that T did know, that she had agreed to the boundary being moved and they are suing her. The witnesses are the builder (who built the wall), and the husband and wife who had the wall built (the neighbours). I would've thought that this counted as 2 witnesses being that 2 of them are married to each other but T's solicitor says it counts as 3. My mum can vouch for her friend that she never agreed to the wall being moved. Obviously she can't guarantee that she never said it because they aren't together 24/7 but she knows that T would never have agreed to this.

T's solicitor seems to think that she only has about a 30% chance of winning this case if it doesn't settle before it goes to court but in my mind, it just sounds like a whole scam! The neighbours are going to obviously say they told T because they don't want to get in trouble for stealing the land without permission and the builder probably doesn't want to get the blame for putting the wall in the wrong position.

There is nothing in writing to confirm that T said they could move the wall on to her property. There is no way anyone would agree to this surely without some kind of monetary incentive? Why would you let anyone move a wall on to your land, whether you are selling or not? So I'm just wondering if you think T has a good case seeing as all the other side has is word of mouth evidence and nothing in writing?

I_have_spoken

The new owner is now taking T to court

What sort of letter has 'T' received - a 'notice before action' or just a letter with the solicitor's letter-head?

xxxpinkladyxxx

The letter she received was from the solicitor. There's no court hearing yet so yep, a letter before action.

keithdc

I am little unclear about the legal basis of any claim- tort, contract, equity???

How much are they claiming?

xxxpinkladyxxx

This is what I don't understand. There was no legal agreement between T and her neighbours. It's all just hearsay. T's solicitor is saying that there is only a 30% chance of her winning but based on what I know (what I've stated in my post), there just doesn't seem to be any hard evidence to prove what they are saying. And besides which, I just would have thought with something like that, even if she had agreed they could move the wall onto her land, surely that wouldn't be enough and the neighbour would have needed to get something legally binding? I don't have any legal experience in this area but I'm wondering if T's solicitor is a bit rubbish.

They want £20k to settle or her solicitor reckons it could end up costing her about £60k!

keystone

xxxpinkladyxxx wrote: »

They want £20k to settle or her solicitor reckons it could end up costing her about £60k!

Fishing exped!! How big is this piece of land? I'm guess the projected suit is about failure to disclose. Let them spend money to take it to court. Its a civil issue. Its one persons word against anothers. In civil cases the decisions are based on "balance of probability" not "absolute proof". How can they show that T knew as the work was all done after she had gone? They an't all they can do is imply and as you rightloy say its all conjecture/hearsay anyway. The DJ will see straight through that I'm guessing. The other neighbour and the builder are ganging up against T because she is an easy target and it deflects attention from themselves where it is actually them that the new owner should be going after if they think they have a case. It was them that nicked it (alledgedly). I think T would be well advised to get a half hour free consultation wth another solicitor to be on the safe side.

Cheers

xxxpinkladyxxx

Thanks Keystone. This is really helpful I don't think the area of land is particularly big at all. I think it's just been moved slightly onto the new owner's property.

I_have_spoken

From what OP says, 'T's solicitor is as much use as a chocolate teapot, suggesting paying up!

Even if 'T' had formed a contract to sell the sliver of land at the same time as selling the main house, the buyer should only be entitled to compensatory damages, i.e. an award equal to the reduction in value compared to what they paid.

Unless it's a palace, £20,000 is way, way into the area of punitive damages, which are hardly ever considered for civil cases.

evoke

Why didn't the new owners stop the building of the wall in their land? The wall was built after the new owner had moved in. It's his/her responsibility at that point. T wouldn't have had any authority to have some of her ex-land stolen by her ex-neighbours.

The situation just sounds a little bizarre. It almost sounds like a scam.

What were the new owner's doing whilst the builder was building a wall that encroached on their land? During that time, T had no interest in the property. It was the responsibility of the new owners.

xxxpinkladyxxx

Thank you both.

I never actually thought about that. I have no idea what the new owner was doing while the wall was being built. I've told my mum's friend and she's going to speak to a new solicitor.

mttylad

As T had sold the property, any supposed permission then ceased and the new owners would need to give permission.

So it is the neighbours that need suing not T as they have not clarified their position with the owner of the property before continuing. How much land has been taken? It might be de minimis and not worth the money being asked.

Unless the neighbours have something on video or in writing then T can tell the new owners where to go.

And she needs a new solicitor.