Land dispute with neighbour

keystone

If its only encroached a few inches at the farthest point which is more likely than not with the builder just working backwards away from the house and not really looking where he was going the intrinsic value of the land is prolly about £ 10.00.

Evoke makes a very very good point - teach me to skim read I missed that. Let them do their worst. All T needs is evidence of the date her buyer moved in and the date that the work was done for the DJ to throw them out on their ears.

Is T's existing sol the same one that did the conveyance for her? If so what's he frightened of?

Cheers

xxxpinkladyxxx

I'm not sure who her solicitor is to be honest. And I'm not sure how much land is involved but I don't think it's much. I feel so sorry for my mum's friend because her husband died not long ago, she doesn't have any children, all of which both the builder and her ex-neighbour are aware of so I think she is just an easy target for them.

ValHaller

xxxpinkladyxxx wrote: »

I'm not sure who her solicitor is to be honest. And I'm not sure how much land is involved but I don't think it's much. I feel so sorry for my mum's friend because her husband died not long ago, she doesn't have any children, all of which both the builder and her ex-neighbour are aware of so I think she is just an easy target for them.

If she is using the same solicitor who did her conveyancing for the sale, I think she should get another solicitor PDQ.

Unfortunately the conveyancing solicitor will be eyeing up their professional indemnity insurance and suggesting that T settles rather than risk themselves being hit for a professional indemnity claim. Plus conveyancing solicitors are no good at litigation. If T does not capitulate and she is still with the conveyancing solicitor, you can expect the conveyancing solicitor to refer the matter to their insurers and after this point, T will receive a strange letter telling her than they can no longer act for her or communicate with her.

A useful starting point may be the legal helpline of her insurers at the time of owning the property in question

As for the actual case itself, it seems to me that the former neighbours have committed a trespass and would not have a leg to stand on if T's buyer took them to court. But as they have ganged up against T, that issue will not be tried in a court so it becomes very difficult to see how the issue could be teased out.

However as it is a matter of an alleged transfer of land rights, this requires a deed to either transfer the land or to give an easement. T would be well and truly caught if such a deed had been given, but the lack of a deed is quite damning to the neighbours case.

I would suggest that if it does go to court, T's solicitor should move 'no case to answer' on the grounds that the route to resolution is that T's buyer should be pursuing the neighbour to remove the wall in the absence of any deed and that the neighbour should be suing T if they feel that T has misled them over permission to build.