Flying freehold problem?

Stevieboy118

We have a mid-terrace cornish unit (build post WW2 as "temporary" housing), we have a set of solar panels on our roof that run pretty much up to the boundary line between ourselves and our neighbours (housing association property).

The housing assoc. is now fitting a new roof to their property and after some investigation it turns out the party wall between our home is actually 8"-10" on our side of the boundary line, and they're asking me to take some solar panels down as they are covering their roof.

That is to say, the exterior boundary (painted walls, painted mansard tiles, front garden wall, rear garden fence, exterior wall insulation) doesn't match the internal boundary between the houses.

So either our garden wall/fence is built 10" into their garden or their house is built 10" into our house, if that makes sense. OR these buildings pre-date the tape measure and they were thrown up quickly as they were only supposed to last a few years and nobody cared about boundaries at the time as they were all council stock anyway.

I've checked the plans from the land registry and there is no marking for a different interior/exterior boundary, just a straight line from the front of the front garden through the building to the back of the back garden.

I've got no real problem with lifting a couple of my panels (once the sunny season is gone, they've got another 40 odd roof replacements in this street alone so it's not like i'm holding up the work schedule) but can i insist on my fixings going back into the same place (i can even move them to one side by 5"-6" to keep the new roof membrane intact and it won't effect where the panels sit) once the work is done? Or can they turn around and say "get orf my laaand" and cause hassle if i want my panels reinstated?

Thanks.

G_M

Seems to me there are 3 possibilities. There is unlikely to be a definitive legal document specifying which is correct, so you need to decide which you would LIKE to be correct, and then respond appropriately:

1) the garden fences etc are on the boundary. Thus the property dividing wall is within your boundary and you could claim part of the house next door is within your property. They should cease trespassing internally!

2) the property dividing wall is on the boundary. Thus the garden wall is on their side of the boundary, and YOU are trespassing on their garden. You should move the fence (assuming you own the fence, back to your garden (which will get smaller).

3) the boundary is not a straight line. The garden fence is on the correct boundary, and the property wall 9which is inset on your side) is also on the boundary. Since the Land Registry Plan shows a stright line, this seems unlikely, but you could claim the LT Plan is wrong. Sometimes they are!

If 1) is true, you can leave the panels on the roof as they are, but the HA should not replace the roof tiles beneath them since the roof boundary aligns with the garden fence, not the building wall.

If 2) is true, you cannot leave the panels on their roof unless they grant permission. Who knows if they will, or at what price.....

3) as 2) above

DandelionPatrol

G_M wrote: »

Seems to me there are 3 possibilities.

Actually, I think the answer to this has nothing to do with garden boundaries.

Pragmatically, the boundary on the house is defined by the position of the party wall. I suggest going into the loft and poking something down the tiles right by the party wall and seeing where it comes out to get a better fix on where the boundary is. It seems to me that there are 3 possibilites

1. That what is poked through shows that the panels are over the boundary
2. That what is poked through shows that the panels are less than halfway across the party wall and not therefore infinging the other property
3. That the panels are entirely o OP's side

stator

Yes I think the boundary would be considered three dimensional based on the partitions in the house. If the panels are above your roof space then no question it's your roof. If they are above neighbours roof space then get them moved. Unless there is no partition in the roof space and you can walk into neighbours side?

Stevieboy118

Right, i've made another post with images to show the problem but i'm obviously a spammer and the forum software is blocking me.

Could i PM the post to somebody who can post it here for me?

stator

Post the URL of the image without making it an image and someone else will embed the image into a post for you

eg just put something like

www. imageplace .blah?image=1234

Stevieboy118

Couple of quick pics to show what has happened.

http /i.imgur.com/q103qKw.jpg

Grey is the double skin party wall, brown are the wooden roof beams, blue is the support rail for the panels, yellow is the rail support, red is the "apparent" boundary.

The yellow support bracket can be moved back to my half of the party wall and still be supporting the rail.

A snap through the roofing felt, the panels come a few inches passed the support bracket you see.

http /i.imgur.com/PYXIPSql.jpg

Finally an old streetview image of the houses, green is the apparent boundary, red is where the interior wall is located.

http /i.imgur.com/Fiwm1OUl.png

Hope that clears up my rubbish description.


*** urls are butchered to the level it would let me post them! Thanks! ***

NYM

Don't try to post the image...just type them with a space between the http: to circumvent the forum block...

Stevieboy118

Done. Thanks, caught myself out grabbing the pre-built links from the image hosting.

DandelionPatrol

Stevieboy118 wrote: »

Couple of quick pics to show what has happened.



Grey is the double skin party wall, brown are the wooden roof beams, blue is the support rail for the panels, yellow is the rail support, red is the "apparent" boundary.

The yellow support bracket can be moved back to my half of the party wall and still be supporting the rail.

A snap through the roofing felt, the panels come a few inches passed the support bracket you see.



Finally an old streetview image of the houses, green is the apparent boundary, red is where the interior wall is located.



Hope that clears up my rubbish description.

Necessary editing done for images to be included

stator

I think it most likely they will ask you to keep all the structures for the solar panels entirely on your own side. If you had replaced any of the tiles in the 'disputed zone' you could demand them back. I'm afraid I don't think you have any rights in this situation other than the safe return of your property.