Boundary issue after buying property

Shermo

My partner and I recently bought a new property which is a corner plot and has reasonable sized garden. One of the main reasons for picking this house over others we viewed was due to the size of the side / rear garden but about a month after buying the house and talking with the neighbours we have found out that a large portion of the land isn't legally ours.

Apparently our house and the rest of the row of houses in the cul-de-sac that back onto some common land owned by the council moved their fences about 3.5 meters. This means that our total garden area is around 500 meters squared instead of 350 meters squared.

Apparently this happened around 17 years ago by the owners previous to the ones we bought from and all the houses got a letter from the council in 2001 but never followed up on it.

We are trying to figure out what we should do really as we were mis sold the property being led into believing the garden was about 40% larger than it actually is (the sellers made a big point in showing how large and lovely the garden was).

Also we can't help but feel that the surveyor should have picked this up or the dispute with the council being picked up with the local authority searches?

Any advice?

poppysarah

Did you not get shown a land reg plan by the solicitor?

Shermo

Yes of course, but given that the encroachment equals about 2mm on the drawing and the plans only show the plot without the house, it is very difficult to tell that anything is wrong (until somebody tells you the fence has been moved).

Mojisola

Shermo wrote: »

Apparently our house and the rest of the row of houses in the cul-de-sac that back onto some common land owned by the council moved their fences about 3.5 meters. This means that our total garden area is around 500 meters squared instead of 350 meters squared.

Apparently this happened around 17 years ago by the owners previous to the ones we bought from and all the houses got a letter from the council in 2001 but never followed up on it.

I would want to see the letter from the council. Do any of your neighbours have a copy?

Shermo

The neighbour we spoke to was kind of clear in that he would deny all knowledge of the letter if anyone asked as he didn't want to stir things up with the council. Not sure if he still has a copy, I would assume he does though.

We haven't asked other neighbours yet as we kind of want to find out what the legal situation is before angering all our neighbours with a boundary dispute they appear to all be involved in too.

silvercar

Do you evidence for this? Or just the word of the neighbour?

I remember vaguely 12 years being a time when something can belong to you if no-one has objected, so I wonder if the 2001-2014 timespan means that it is yours? gardenlaw.co.uk forum is a good website for boundary issues.

As for taking action, what is the difference in value?

Also a surveyor can't be expected to know the boundary lines. Your seller's solicitor should maybe have notified your solicitor. I suspect they will claim there is no dispute because there was no objection to the sellers using the land as their garden.

annie123

Not the surveyor, the solicitor, estate agent and seller.

The solicitor would have been provided with the details from the estate agent, and should have compared it with the outline on the title deeds.

The EA is also duty bound to provide accurate details, but if they had no reason to suspect then they would be in the clear. If however they have been trading in the area for 18 years or so they may well ahve had this issue come up with other sales.

The sellers have a legal obligation to provide accurate information, both to the EA and their solicitor who should have passed on any information to your solicitor.

With out knowing the wording of the letter and the situation at the time etc it's difficult to advise further.

1st step, check your facts about this are correct, speak to the council.
2nd step then contact your solicitor with the information and wait for his reply.
3rd step Speak to the Law Society about the matter and proceed as advised.

It will be long winded but you should get monies refunded if you really were duped.

Mojisola

silvercar wrote: »

Do you evidence for this? Or just the word of the neighbour?

I remember vaguely 12 years being a time when something can belong to you if no-one has objected, so I wonder if the 2001-2014 timespan means that it is yours? gardenlaw.co.uk forum is a good website for boundary issues.

This could be the case unless the letter from the council gives the house owners permission to use the area.

Permission can be withdrawn at any time in the future and adverse possession can't be claimed if you are using someone's land with their permission.

Shermo

We were reluctant to bring the issue up with the council as they would likely deny the 2001 letter as it's not in their best interests I would guess given it was more than 10 years ago (adverse possession). Also we really don't want to upset 6 other neighbours by poking the council into looking in to the matter further.

I guess we could try some of the other neighbours to see if anyone was willing to give us a copy of their letter, but that assumes it was the same thing sent to all parties.

Catti

Just ask your solicitor to clarify what plans they have and what they were told. Please bear in mind that they couldn't be expected to know the boundary was shown incorrectly without being asked specifically about it either!

lincroft1710

So the fences were moved around 1997, council sends a letter 4 years later and has done nothing further for the past 12/13 years. TBH I'd let sleeping dogs lie and carry on and enjoy my new home.