boundary dispute

gingerwizard

First up i dont know if i have posted this in the right place,apologies if not.
I wonder if anyone has links to or maybe has letter templates to reply to someone who his questioning my right to have turned what was my front lawn into a driveway,without encroaching onto any of there boundary,basically lawn out and drive in.
To start from the beginning i have lived in a new build on a new development since the day it was built,i purchased the plot when there was nothing but a plot there,at no point during all stages of the purchse to handing over the keys did the developers mention that my front garden was in fact shared or part shared with next door not that anyone would imagine it to be so,but that comes later,bieng a two car family parking was a nightmare so we decided to take the front garden out and replace it with a driveway,that was october last year and no questions were asked,not that they would.
Part of the problem is,for a start he rents the property out and therefore hasnt lived in it,he never mentioned anything about it till he parked on it one day,as the people who he was showing round had blocked his driveway off,which i got rather upset by,he then questioned if i was right to carry out the work in the first place.Now i have copies of the land registry title plan which i showed him at the time,but they are very approximate and not a definate plan so he was still questioning it,emotions ran high and that was that,he did mention he would get his solicitor to write to me,this never happened,months have passed and yesterday i recieved a letter from him,not his solicitor i hasten to add, claiming trespass.
Now i did a bit of research at the time on various related websites about this,just so i could speak confidently with knowledge to him,and i did this again after recieving the letter,i am 100% sure i have done no wrong and that he hasnt a leg to stand on,but the letter i wish to send him needs to refelect this without sounding bullish,hence the request for letter templates.
I find this all rather pointless to even have to justify what i have done,the nieghbours on the street who like me have been here since the start are shocked that he would lay claim to shared rights.As i said to him at the time,i never had him offer to cut the grass when it was a lawn,which he didnt reply to.Any help would be greatly appreciated even if its just suggestions around wording and what to include in the letter as there is so much information out there.

Doozergirl

I don't quite understand. Your neighbour parked on your drive which you converted from what was your front garden and he is claiming that you are trespassing on his land?

Im definately missing something Could you explain the situation - ie. how the houses sit next to each other and where said drive is?

Have you looked at your title deeds? It should be quite clear whether the property is freehold and if there are any rights of access or if land is shared. Developers are usually pretty good at marking the boundary, even if it is just with a different coloured brick on a driveway.

adandem

gingerwizard wrote: »

First up i dont know if i have posted this in the
at no point during all stages of the purchse to handing over the keys did the developers mention that my front garden was in fact shared or part shared with next door not that anyone would imagine it to be so,but
quote]

Normally, a conveyancing solitor would have picked this up when you bought the plot/property. Most contracts are very watertight these days? Your title deeds should be very clear too

darich

gingerwizard wrote: »

Now i have copies of the land registry title plan which i showed him at the time,but they are very approximate and not a definate plan

gingerwizard wrote: »

just so i could speak confidently with knowledge to him,and i did this again after recieving the letter,i am 100% sure i have done no wrong and that he hasnt a leg to stand on,

Isn't this a contradiction?
If you are sure yoiu haven't done anything wrong then the best course of action may be to ge a solicitor to write to him now rather than do it yourself. You may inadvertantly say something in the letter that he or his solicitor could hold against you.

If, as you say the plans are vague then why shouldn't he fight it and how can you be so sure?

The deeds should show a plan that will be accurate to 200-300mm so there may be arguements about whose wall that is but not whose driveway.
Is your house symmetrical with his?
is your drive/garden in front of, or beside your house?
is your house detached or a semi, with his?
There may some clues for you if you want to avoid a solicitor just now or at least strengthen your case if you go to one.

good luck

gingerwizard

Doozergirl wrote: »

I don't quite understand. Your neighbour parked on your drive which you converted from what was your front garden and he is claiming that you are trespassing on his land?

Im definately missing something Could you explain the situation - ie. how the houses sit next to each other and where said drive is?

Have you looked at your title deeds? It should be quite clear whether the property is freehold and if there are any rights of access or if land is shared. Developers are usually pretty good at marking the boundary, even if it is just with a different coloured brick on a driveway.

The property is freehold,the houses are semidetached and there is a shared access pathway/steps to the side of the house for access to the rear garden,however this isnt a straight line,which is his thinking, for if it was it would go down a third of what was my front lawn and is now my driveway.So now my drive is side by side with his,with edging inlays laid between which i believe to be a kind of boundary marker,this was put there by the developers and hasnt been moved and that is quite clear to see.

gingerwizard

darich wrote: »

Isn't this a contradiction?
If you are sure yoiu haven't done anything wrong then the best course of action may be to ge a solicitor to write to him now rather than do it yourself. You may inadvertantly say something in the letter that he or his solicitor could hold against you.

If, as you say the plans are vague then why shouldn't he fight it and how can you be so sure?

The deeds should show a plan that will be accurate to 200-300mm so there may be arguements about whose wall that is but not whose driveway.
Is your house symmetrical with his?
is your drive/garden in front of, or beside your house?
is your house detached or a semi, with his?
There may some clues for you if you want to avoid a solicitor just now or at least strengthen your case if you go to one.

good luck

Thanks for raising the those points and just to answer some of your questions.

The title plan is 1:1250 scale and can be upto a 1.0 metres out according to the land registry website,which is why i say its approximate
The house is not exactly symmetrical to his as mine,is his more set back, by about 6-8 feet.
The driveway/garden is in front of the house but overhangs the side of the house by about 3/4 feet towards his side.
The houses are detached from each other.

paddy's_mum

Posting a picture or plan is always a help in matters such as these. You may also care to visit the 'gardenlaw' website to see if anything there fits the scenario you now have.

gingerwizard

paddy's_mum wrote: »

Posting a picture or plan is always a help in matters such as these. You may also care to visit the 'gardenlaw' website to see if anything there fits the scenario you now have.

Thanks for that,been to the gardenlaw website and the ask4help site as well,without digging deep i didnt see anything,then again i guess no two cases are identical just may share common ground to a certain extent.I am loath to sort this out via a solicitor,as that would be rather costly,even if i am correct,which is the reason i would rather write to him firstly and persuade him to see reason,i'm afraid i may have to go down the officious route with this though.To me and others on the street its madness and no one who knows the layout agrees with his point of view,bottom line is he didnt like me confronting him over parking on my 2nd drive,if he had apologised or asked in the first place i would have let it go,he has been many times before to his house and never said anything or parked there,so why question it now?my theory is he cannot accept he was in the wrong to park there in the first place and is trying to save face,could prove to be costly though.

darich

What about asking the developer/house builder?
They may have plans showing their intentions for boundaries and while it may not be the legal boundary, it may be enough to dissuade your neighbour from arguing/fighting.

susieb

I would also be wary of going to a solictor as if you ever come to sell, you will then have to declare the fact there was a boundary dispute.

Debt_Free_Chick

If you have legal expenses insurance, wait for the letter from his solicitor then see if your LE insurance will take it on. Most will, but it depends on the terms of your policy. Might be worth a call now to see if this would be covered?