boundary dispute

Debt_Free_Chick

Let me see if I understand

You turned your garden into a hardstanding/drive.

Your neighbour parked on it and then claimed that you had "stolen" some of HIS garden.

His claim is ???? not sure that the boundary is in a different place to where you think it is? Or that part of the garden that you think is yours, is actually shared between the two properties?

gingerwizard

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Let me see if I understand

You turned your garden into a hardstanding/drive.

Your neighbour parked on it and then claimed that you had "stolen" some of HIS garden.

His claim is ???? not sure that the boundary is in a different place to where you think it is? Or that part of the garden that you think is yours, is actually shared between the two properties?

Yes his point is just that,by his reckoning the garden/drive is partly his,but as i have stated before he never laid claim to it before and never tried to upkeep the grass when it was a lawn or attend it in anyway,i always have,only when i confronted him for parking there did he question it.I even pointed out that no property on the street as two front gardens,which is what he his claiming by contesting this,but to no avail.

System

contact the builder , i had a similar situation and they sent me a copy of the whole street clearly showing my boundry and which fences i was responsable for.

Debt_Free_Chick

gingerwizard wrote: »

Yes his point is just that,by his reckoning the garden/drive is partly his,but as i have stated before he never laid claim to it before and never tried to upkeep the grass when it was a lawn or attend it in anyway,i always have,only when i confronted him for parking there did he question it.I even pointed out that no property on the street as two front gardens,which is what he his claiming by contesting this,but to no avail.

If he is claiming that you jointly share this strip of land, then it will be on the deeds to HIS house AND YOURS.

You can probably get the deeds to his house via the Land Registry for £3 so you can see what they say.

I doubt it's jointly owned - either one of you owns it and the deeds for the other property contain easements giving that party certain rights; or he is plain wrong

If he is claiming that the boundary is in a different place, then I am less convinced that this is as easy to resolve as others might suggest.

It is practically impossible to translate the line on the title plan to a line on the ground. There is nothing to "anchor" the line to. You may have to pay a Land Surveyor to advise you - but don't do anything, unless he uses a solicitor - and then, see if your legal expenses insurance covers this.

The Land Registry has a guide about boundary disputes and some general information about the difficulty of establishing physical boundaries.

He may have misunderstood
He may be trying it on
He may just be a lunatic :rotfl: :rotfl:

gingerwizard

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

If he is claiming that you jointly share this strip of land, then it will be on the deeds to HIS house AND YOURS.

You can probably get the deeds to his house via the Land Registry for £3 so you can see what they say.

I doubt it's jointly owned - either one of you owns it and the deeds for the other property contain easements giving that party certain rights; or he is plain wrong

If he is claiming that the boundary is in a different place, then I am less convinced that this is as easy to resolve as others might suggest.

It is practically impossible to translate the line on the title plan to a line on the ground. There is nothing to "anchor" the line to. You may have to pay a Land Surveyor to advise you - but don't do anything, unless he uses a solicitor - and then, see if your legal expenses insurance covers this.

The Land Registry has a guide about boundary disputes and some general information about the difficulty of establishing physical boundaries.

He may have misunderstood
He may be trying it on
He may just be a lunatic :rotfl: :rotfl:

One of the first websites i visited was the Land Registry,and like you say title plans are by no means a definitive outline of physical boundaries,which again he his claiming.Would you advise not writing back to him?as that was going to be my next step,along with the letter i was planning to print off some legal stuff from the Land Registry and various other related websites just to back my argument up hoping that he sees sense.
He also in his letter as stated that if the trespass is not removed within 14 days he will instruct a solicitor to remove it without first contacting me.I feel that to be a bluff but part of me wonders if he would do that?As for your final points the second one is quite apt but then again the last one is too:D

System

you could also ask the bank who holds your mortgage for a copy of your deeds, rbs were very helpfull when i asked.:j :j :j

Debt_Free_Chick

gingerwizard wrote: »

One of the first websites i visited was the Land Registry,and like you say title plans are by no means a definitive outline of physical boundaries,which again he his claiming.Would you advise not writing back to him?as that was going to be my next step,along with the letter i was planning to print off some legal stuff from the Land Registry and various other related websites just to back my argument up hoping that he sees sense.[/url]

I wouldn't bother - you might just give him more ammunition to fire at you!

He also in his letter as stated that if the trespass is not removed within 14 days he will instruct a solicitor to remove it without first contacting me.I feel that to be a bluff but part of me wonders if he would do that?As for your final points the second one is quite apt but then again the last one is too:D

A simple "note the contents of your letter. However, I believe there is no trespass on your land and that the disputed land falls firmly within the boundary of my property".

Then let him go to a solicitor - but you have got legal expenses insurance, haven't you?

gingerwizard

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

gingerwizard wrote: »

Then let him go to a solicitor - but you have got legal expenses insurance, haven't you?

Yes i do have legal expenses cover,i need to find out exactly what that covers though.Thanks for the help,i feel like hitting my head against a brick wall with this at the minute,whatever happened to common sense?

skanger

Gingerwizard

Having owned a number of new build properties over the years I am afraid that it is very common for a section of what would appear to be your front garden is actually owned by your neighbour.

This comes about because of the 'fashion' of having open plan front landscaping i.e. no fences or boundry markers of any kind. A hard a fast rule for determining where your boundry ends and your neighbours begins would be to follow the rear gardens fence line in a straight line out to the street, I suspect you will find that about 3 feet of what you believed was yours falls the other side of this line. (on the flip side of course about the same amount on your other boundry which I presume you have assumed is your other neighbours is actually yours....)

Offsetting the landscaping in this way creates an athseticly pleasing view as the drives are all nicely edged by lawn with no nasty looking fencing or hard landscaping making the development look larger than it is.

Hope that helps......

Skanger

gingerwizard

Just as an update,having managed to find out all the solicitors stuff from the purchase of the house including the title and plan,which is 1:500 scale the most accurate plan yet,i am 100% certain that he his in the wrong here,it quite clearly shows that the garden/driveway is within my ownership as i first thought and was pretty sure of all along.No mention in the title of shared ownership either,i feel that confronted with this evidence he must surely back down as its based purely on fact and not guestimation.