Clarifying Property Boundaries / Garden Measurements

fruitandnutty

Hi all,

We have just purchased a property (maisonette), and upon looking at the lease showing what we are responsible for (etc), it looks like the downstairs property owners have a larger garden than they should.

The lease shows the garden area split 50:50, however, the downstairs garden length is 10.9m, whereas ours is 8.25m (same width). The problem, however, is that the lease doesn't state measurements. I would like to know whether we have a valid claim or not, but before starting anything, is there anywhere I can obtain measurements from?

The Land Registry website isn't clear on what they offer, so if anyone has any input, that would be great (as I would like to clear this up before building a shed!)

Thanks in advance,

Fruitandnutty

G_M

I'm unclear what you mean:
* is the garden rectangular?
* does the lease Plan show a line down the middle with your flat owning one side (and the other flat the other side)?
* if so, how come the garden lengths are different? Is the garden in fact longer on one side than the other?
* where do you get "the garden area split 50:50"? from the Lease? The Lease Plan? Or the Land registry Title and/or Plan?
* what is the exact wording (please quote)? What is the exact demarcation on the Plan(s)?

fruitandnutty

Hi G_M,

Thanks for your response. In reply to your questions:

* is the garden rectangular? Yes, garden is rectangular.
* does the lease Plan show a line down the middle with your flat owning one side (and the other flat the other side)? The lease shows the following image (Image uploaded here: imageshack.com/a/img910/4025/SSkqww.png)
* if so, how come the garden lengths are different? Is the garden in fact longer on one side than the other? I'm referring to the length of the neighbour's garden compared to ours. We are the top floor flat, they are the bottom floor; gardens as marked in the image above.
* where do you get "the garden area split 50:50"? from the Lease? The Lease Plan? Or the Land registry Title and/or Plan? The lease doesn't explicitly state 50:50, but from the image it looks this way - see upload above.
* what is the exact wording (please quote)? What is the exact demarcation on the Plan(s)? No measurements or wording to this effect in the lease - hence I wished to clarify exact measurements, but not sure where I would find these...

Thanks

G_M

Since there is no reference to 50/50, you can forget that.

The Plan is clear (and no, the garden is NOT rectangular: bottom floor garden includes an extra bit beside the stairs). The garden is split sideways, with downstairs owning the area closer to the property and upstairs owning the area at the far end of the garden.

The downstairs flat has a larger garden than upstairs : 10.9m plus the extra bit by the stairs compared to 8.25m

Since you seem to have 'invented' the 50/50 reference you can only go by the Plan which is unambiguous.

fruitandnutty

If it helps, I believe the gardens should be split so that the length of each is 9.57m (so moving their fence back); but wanted to see whether the lease was legal grounds to do this (as it looking like a 50:50 split is one thing, but it actually being stated what the lengths are is different!). If this is the case, I shall be notifying them of my intentions to do this within a few days.

fruitandnutty wrote: »

Hi G_M,

Thanks for your response. In reply to your questions:

* is the garden rectangular? Yes, garden is rectangular.
* does the lease Plan show a line down the middle with your flat owning one side (and the other flat the other side)? The lease shows the following image (Image uploaded here: imageshack.com/a/img910/4025/SSkqww.png)
* if so, how come the garden lengths are different? Is the garden in fact longer on one side than the other? I'm referring to the length of the neighbour's garden compared to ours. We are the top floor flat, they are the bottom floor; gardens as marked in the image above.
* where do you get "the garden area split 50:50"? from the Lease? The Lease Plan? Or the Land registry Title and/or Plan? The lease doesn't explicitly state 50:50, but from the image it looks this way - see upload above.
* what is the exact wording (please quote)? What is the exact demarcation on the Plan(s)? No measurements or wording to this effect in the lease - hence I wished to clarify exact measurements, but not sure where I would find these...

Thanks

fruitandnutty

G_M wrote: »

Since there is no reference to 50/50, you can forget that.

The Plan is clear (and no, the garden is NOT rectangular: bottom floor garden includes an extra bit beside the stairs). The garden is split sideways, with downstairs owning the area closer to the property and upstairs owning the area at the far end of the garden.

The downstairs flat has a larger garden than upstairs : 10.9m plus the extra bit by the stairs compared to 8.25m

Since you seem to have 'invented' the 50/50 reference you can only go by the Plan which is unambiguous.

Thanks for that. I have counted the 10.9m from the line marked taking this into account. The extra bit by the stairs has been ignored and assumed theirs.

Is there anywhere that would show the exact dimensions?

G_M

fruitandnutty wrote: »

Thanks for that. I have counted the 10.9m from the line marked taking this into account. The extra bit by the stairs has been ignored and assumed theirs.

Is there anywhere that would show the exact dimensions?

The Plan shows the exact measurements so unless it is contradicted elsewhere (eg in the lease or Title) that is what you must rely on.

Thrugelmir

fruitandnutty wrote: »

If it helps, I believe the gardens should be split so that the length of each is 9.57m (so moving their fence back); but wanted to see whether the lease was legal grounds to do this (as it looking like a 50:50 split is one thing, but it actually being stated what the lengths are is different!). If this is the case, I shall be notifying them of my intentions to do this within a few days.

Perhaps this is something you should have resolved while purchasing the property. As I assume the dividing fence is well established. Not something that's recently been erected.

fruitandnutty

Have just found copy of the Land Registry Title Plan.

Split is correct at present, so I made an incorrect assumption.

Thanks for your help everyone.