Question about fence ownership..

Land_Registry

As you mention this subject is much discussed on MSE

The registered title was never intended to define the exact position of a legal boundary or who owns or is responsible for a fence/boundary. But the registered information can help, even if as in most cases it makes no mention at all re the boundaries.

As such things are nearly always a matter of discussion and agreement between neighbours gathering in any available information helps as a starting point.

Registered details, seller info when buying and general knowledge of who has done what and when and why in the past all go in the mix along with what each neighbour actually wants or how far they are interested for example.

Lots of threads suggest putting a new fence up inside the old one and the reasons given are quite valid. However it can trigger problems and in many ways also helps to explain why the exact legal boundary is so hard to establish - the physical feature often used to denote a boundary often move/change etc

It can also cause issues when say a new neighbour moves in removes the old fence and starts treating the new one as the legal boundary - a few inches can be of enormous importance to some neighbours.

So the best advice I can give is to identify who the legal owners are, identify and share any available information and understanding and then agree a way forward. If the legal owners are unclear or unavailable then as in the case of the deceased neighbour's property then that may take a lot more effort to achieve for obvious reasons but still worth doing.

Our Practice Guide explains boundaries from a registration perspective but as mentioned that is not the sole source of guidance on the subject

Johnhowell

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

In all the houses we've owned the title deeds and plans have been no use whatsoever in determining fence ownership. Title plans are far too small scale to identify boundaries accurately, let alone fence position. The red line supposedly delineating our boundaries would be about a metre wide on the ground. Is it the inside of the line or the outside? I don't know.


(Edit: I'm talking about houses 100 + years old here. I suppose more modern deeds and plans may contain sufficient detail)

Manxman,
The red line is drawn inside and touching the boundary of the plot of interest.


The Land Registry registered Title plans are generally of no use to determining responsibility of the boundary feature. Land Registry do not transfer such information from submitted deed plans into their system. You need the original deeds to see the "T" or "H" marks. Sometimes the Land Registry registered Title Register may state "copy filed" against clauses so the historical document could be purchased.


Good Luck
John

PasturesNew

Stick a fence up of your own, right against that other fence. You've been told that fence is probably not yours, so you might as well put your own up. Even if it did turn out to be yours you'd be losing what .... 3-4" of plot width? Not anything to lose sleep over.

So that's it, job done. Leave the existing fence as is and commission your own/new fence to be fitted on your side of it, tight against it. Done and dusted.

I'd wet myself over a 12-20' potential loss... but inches ....? Life's too short. And it's probably not your fence anyway.

CleverNaomi

There is nothing stopping you from putting up a fence on your side of the boundary. However make sure that there is enough space between the boundaries so the neighbours won't try and dispute that it is on their land.

It is common for landowners in this situation to put up a fence or even a hedge on their side of the boundary to void any further neighbourly disputes.

Remember legally you cannot fix/replace their fence if they claim it is theirs as you could be trespassing!

You said the lady lost her title deeds? Well you can request another copy from the land registry where you should be able to see where the boundaries lie. If it is not specified or you believe there are errors in the deeds, you can contact the land registry to get it rectified!

A blog by GNB Software titled 'Who is responsible for Fence Repair' is really useful for explaining the fence ownership pilava in a simple way and is where i have got most of my information from. Might be worth taking a look as it has diagrams and also talks about adverse possession.

Gloomendoom

CleverNaomi wrote: »

You said the lady lost her title deeds? Well you can request another copy from the land registry where you should be able to see where the boundaries lie. If it is not specified or you believe there are errors in the deeds, you can contact the land registry to get it rectified!

Good luck with that. When I scaled up the boundary plan from the Land Registry to full size, the boundary line was three to four feet wide on the ground.