Boundary question

lstar337

Surely the OP could just take the land back, then it would be up to the neighbour to prove there was any "agreement" and since the deeds clearly show it belonging to the OP, the neighbour would have very little case.

Would probably lead to a falling out with the neighbour though.

All the cases of land grabbing I see on here, and all the advice given, leads me to believe that basically if somebody wants to steal a bit of your land they can, and they will probably get away with it. Nobody ever wants to fight it because a) The costs involved and b) It will show as a neighbour dispute and mess up any chance of you selling the property.

All seems like a complete farce to me. I hope nobody ever steals land from me, as I now know there will be nobody to back me up!

JimmyTheWig

While I don't disagree with you, lstar337, remember that in this case the OP didn't knowingly buy this land from his predecessor.
When he went to view the property it looked like this land belonged to the neighbour.
When he put in an offer for the house he assumed that this land belonged to the neighbour.
For the first four years of living there he thought that the land belonged to the neighbour.

cyclonebri1

lstar337 wrote: »

Surely the OP could just take the land back, then it would be up to the neighbour to prove there was any "agreement" and since the deeds clearly show it belonging to the OP, the neighbour would have very little case.

Would probably lead to a falling out with the neighbour though.

All the cases of land grabbing I see on here, and all the advice given, leads me to believe that basically if somebody wants to steal a bit of your land they can, and they will probably get away with it. Nobody ever wants to fight it because a) The costs involved and b) It will show as a neighbour dispute and mess up any chance of you selling the property.

All seems like a complete farce to me. I hope nobody ever steals land from me, as I now know there will be nobody to back me up!

Totally agree here, you go with the deeds or what is planted at the Land registory.

Claim/fence the land back and put the onus on the other party to prove something changed hands or was agreed.

Above all claim it back, possession being 9/10ths and all that.

lstar337

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

While I don't disagree with you, lstar337, remember that in this case the OP didn't knowingly buy this land from his predecessor.

In my opinion, he bought what was stated in the deeds. Otherwise the deeds are pointless.

Why bother with a record such as the deeds, if you are simply buying what you see when you look at the property?

Imagine the conversation

"Here are the deeds to your new home sir, but don't pay too much attention to them as they do not incorporate the various verbal agreements that may or may not have happened in the past. In fact who knows what you have bought, as it wasn't written down anywhere."

mumps

lstar337 wrote: »

Surely the OP could just take the land back, then it would be up to the neighbour to prove there was any "agreement" and since the deeds clearly show it belonging to the OP, the neighbour would have very little case.

Would probably lead to a falling out with the neighbour though.

All the cases of land grabbing I see on here, and all the advice given, leads me to believe that basically if somebody wants to steal a bit of your land they can, and they will probably get away with it. Nobody ever wants to fight it because a) The costs involved and b) It will show as a neighbour dispute and mess up any chance of you selling the property.

All seems like a complete farce to me. I hope nobody ever steals land from me, as I now know there will be nobody to back me up!

We had this situation when we bought our house. We got our solicitor to write to the neighbour pointing out that if this wasn't resolved it would result in a neighbour dispute which would be a problem if either of us wanted to see, and giving the impression that we weren't planning on staying long. That was a possibility at the time. The neighbour hated us, moved into an all white area and my husband's colour didn't make us popular. She removed the fence double quick. I suppose that wouldn't always work but it just cost us a letter, we couldn't speak to her as she wouldn't speak to us.

cyclonebri1

lstar337 wrote: »

Surely the OP could just take the land back, then it would be up to the neighbour to prove there was any "agreement" and since the deeds clearly show it belonging to the OP, the neighbour would have very little case.

Would probably lead to a falling out with the neighbour though.

All the cases of land grabbing I see on here, and all the advice given, leads me to believe that basically if somebody wants to steal a bit of your land they can, and they will probably get away with it. Nobody ever wants to fight it because a) The costs involved and b) It will show as a neighbour dispute and mess up any chance of you selling the property.

All seems like a complete farce to me. I hope nobody ever steals land from me, as I now know there will be nobody to back me up!

It's the old "claim the land and make active use of it law", can never remember what it's called, but I often wonder what happens in these cases when the property that's had a chunk nicked changes hands at about that time, it puts a lot of importance on the claimer being able to prove when it first "became his".