Boundary Dispute

distantduck

Hello!

Not sure if anyone here can help but CAB are unavailable and I recall seeing similar questions on here so thought I'd give it a shot!

I own a terraced property behind which, runs a lane a little over 3 car widths wide. We purchased the property 6 1/2 years ago.

In 1983, the council increased the width of the back lane from 3.5m to 7m as it is now. The council also erected a new wire fence between the road and the recreation ground behind us.

When we purchased the property, upon inspection of the title deeds, our boundary was clearly defined as the hedge (not the fence). Rather than make the assumption (as I know these things aren't pin point accurate) I contacted land registry who also said that it looked as though our boundary is the hedge and not the fence.

We decided to pop up a shed temporarily between the fence and the hedge (for additional storage until our garage was built but that's by the by really).

We soon after received a letter from the council asking us to take it down as they believe the land is theres and our boundary is the fence, not the hedge.

There was some to-ing and fro-ing, visits from the council etc. They maintain that the land is there's although in all correspondence they seem careful to word it as "in our opinion". So not working with facts.

We still believe that the land is ours whereas the council believes it is theirs. So we're at a bit of a stale mate.

The last letter we received goes to great lengths to point out measurements, scaling the ownership of the land etc, saying that our boundary is 7m from the rear of our property.

I have today read (And been told during another call to land registry) however that the deeds are generated using "general boundaries". That they use hedges etc to determine the boundaries, not exact measurements which in my mind, makes the councils letter null and void?

Where do we go from here? I'm fully aware that going to court would be costly and perhaps more than the land is worth so if anyone has experience with this sort of thing and can advise on how to settle the matter as cheaply as possible that would be great!

I should mention, we don't want to build on the land, just flatten it to create a bit of extra/easier parking.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Very hard to get a picture of this in my head - can you post some images?

Ultimately though, whatever anyone thinks on here, if you're at a stalemate then the only way this is going to get resolved is through legal action. You could leave your shed there and continue to use it - the ball is then in the council's court and they will need to take action to get you to remove it.

14Westfield

You seem to be saying the council widened the lane, and took land from the recreation ground to do so.

If that is right then it is obviously their land.

For what ever reason they chose to widen this lane. Is it used for access to somewhere?

Ectophile

It's all rather confusing at the moment. There's a house, shed, road, hedge, fence and a recreation ground, but I can't fathom out what order they are all in.

A picture would be really helpful. But this site won't let newcomers post links. So you'd have to post it on an image hosting site, then hide the fact that you're posting a link, for instance by adding spaces to the address.

But at the moment, it sounds like you're doing the right thing. Just keep stonewalling the council, and let them try to prove you don't own the land.

rach_k

Would any of your neighbours check their deeds to see what they say? Presumably if you're in a terrace, their land will extend about the same distance as yours. Faced with 5 people waving deeds at them rather than just one, the council may back down.

stator

Post your deeds and the title plan, blanking out the address and name