Boundaries

3mph

I am a Chartered Land Surveyor and have spent my whole professional life refusing to have anything to do with boundary disputes. Any enquiries my staff pass onto others who specialise in it. I have seen costs escalate to ridiculous levels with no winners other than the professional advisors. There is nothing certain about boundaries other than the possibility of a huge legal bill.

Davesnave

3mph wrote: »

There is nothing certain about boundaries other than the possibility of a huge legal bill.

Yes, but the context is important.

If the disagreement is about whether a garden boundary is 20cm this way or that, there may be nothing to play for worth winning. However, in this case, its a whole driveway which has been claimed.

Some years ago, when a relative of mine obtained planning permission, his neighbour used a false claim on a small part of the land in an attempt prevent development. It cost something like £6k to challenge the claim, and it might have cost more if the neighbour hadn't backed-down, but in the context of a new build, challenging the claim was worthwhile.

Land_Registry

Legal advice required for sure around adverse possession. Key point likely to be the '11 years after.....' point as that reads as if the neighbour was flagging up the issue ahead of the 12 year period elapsing.

As others have posted a successful claim can rely on such issues being uncontested and/or without the land owner's consent. In the case of the letter it may be viewed that the landowner was essentially telling the neighbour we know you have taken the land and whilst we are happy to leave as is we expect it back as and when....'

A conveyancing solicitor will be able to advise on next steps/possible outcomes

moneyistooshorttomention

..and I'm guessing the word you'd use in talking to that conveyancing solicitor is "misrepresentation".

It does sound like the vendor knowingly misrepresented to you exactly what land you would own.

I wonder if you can get a copy of those letters the landlord next door refers to - particularly one of the letter your vendor sent back to them acknowledging it's not their land? Could be valuable evidence.

Ozzuk

As others have said, print off your deeds and their deeds. If I'm serious about a property then when viewing I print off the deeds and have the vendor confirm what is included - £3 can save a lot of headache later and I can walk away if something doesn't look right.

People rely on their solicitors to catch everything - but they rarely view the property themselves so are reliant on what the vendor tells them and what the buyer reports back. Certainly sounds like the vendor misled you - did they say anything about the land and did you check the deeds?

Davesnave

I think it would be better to wait for more input from the OP before speculating about adverse possession, or anything else.

Something like a driveway should be easy enough to ID from the title plan.

While I appreciate that few people might make claims like this neighbour without some good reason, my own experience teaches me that some people's memories and behaviour can, at best, be described as 'unreliable.'

As for misrepresentation, that would depend on what the title plan shows too. If it clearly shows the driveway belonging to the neighbour, in what way would that have been misrepresented? Nothing else counts. Proving what someone may have said after years have elapsed will be a very uphill task!