Copy of Deeds (Need to check boundary)

anotheruser

How do I get a copy of the house deeds?

We're only about 4 years into our mortgage so I assume the mortgage company has them.

Can I get a copy to see who needs to take responsibility of a fence?

I had something from the land registry via the council showing the property boundary but there's no T's or anything so I assume this isn't what I need.

Cheers

davidmcn

Didn't your solicitor send them to you while you were buying? (assuming you bought at the same time as your mortgage started)

The deeds won't necessarily say anything about the fence.

daveyjp

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry

However it is rare to have a specific detail about fence responsibility.

Tom99

The Land Reg title might say you need to erect an keep a fence along the boundary marked with a T.
However that is not a guarantee that it was your predecessors who erected the fence you see now. It is quite possible your neighbour erected the fence so the fence belongs to them not you.

anotheruser

Hmm.

The neighbour is renting.

The landlord said the previous owner of my house put the fence up and thus I should fix it.

I predict it's a landlord trying not to spend money.

The fence is actually on the neighbours side of the boundary, which is a small albeit crumbling wall, which clearly (following line of sight) goes between the properties following to where the wall separating the houses is.


I've just looked through the "Property Information" which has a tick next to "Seller" under "owns or accepts responsibility of the boundary to the left of the property".

I guess the (sellers) solicitors at the time would have checked this, but is there a way I can check for myself?

SmashedAvacado

Tom99 wrote: »

The Land Reg title might say you need to erect an keep a fence along the boundary marked with a T.
However that is not a guarantee that it was your predecessors who erected the fence you see now. It is quite possible your neighbour erected the fence so the fence belongs to them not you.

If the obligation was on a predecessor then it would not be binding on the current owner without a requirement for a deed of covenant.

Tom99

anotheruser wrote: »

Hmm.

The landlord said the previous owner of my house put the fence up and thus I should fix it.

I've just looked through the "Property Information" which has a tick next to "Seller" under "owns or accepts responsibility of the boundary to the left of the property".

I guess the (sellers) solicitors at the time would have checked this, but is there a way I can check for myself?

Looks like the fence belongs to you. The sellers solicitor would not check that information.

Mojisola

anotheruser wrote: »

The landlord said the previous owner of my house put the fence up and thus I should fix it.

The fence is actually on the neighbours side of the boundary, which is a small albeit crumbling wall, which clearly (following line of sight) goes between the properties following to where the wall separating the houses is.

If the fence is on the neighbour's side of the boundary wall, why are you even thinking about repairing it?

Even if the previous owners of your house put the fence up (although if they did, surely they would have put it up in their garden?), that doesn't mean you have to keep it repaired.

AndyTails

anotheruser wrote: »

Hmm.

The neighbour is renting.

The landlord said the previous owner of my house put the fence up and thus I should fix it.

I predict it's a landlord trying not to spend money.

The fence is actually on the neighbours side of the boundary, which is a small albeit crumbling wall, which clearly (following line of sight) goes between the properties following to where the wall separating the houses is.


I've just looked through the "Property Information" which has a tick next to "Seller" under "owns or accepts responsibility of the boundary to the left of the property".

I guess the (sellers) solicitors at the time would have checked this, but is there a way I can check for myself?

So the neighbour (i.e. landlord) says it's your fence and your responsibility. Your vendor said it was his (and now your) fence and responsibility. They seem to agree, so I'm not sure why you're questioning it...

The only sticking point seems to be that its on next door's land. What I suspect happened was the old fence (owned by your neighbour landlord) was damaged. Neighbour landlord didn't want to pay to fix it. It didn't bother him - he wasn't living there and didn't have to see it. It doesn't sound like there's any covenant requiring him to maintain it; even if there was the covenant normally just says "maintain the boundary" not "maintain a 6ft wooden fence on the boundary". The previous owner of your house said "It's an eyesore and annoying me. I'll replace it and hence take maintenance responsibility, but I'll erect it in the same place as the current one, if that's OK Neighbour landlord?". Neighbour landlord said "Ok with me", so that's what they did.

It looks to me like you have responsibility for it. There's probably some implied right-of-access for you to maintain it, seeing as it's not on your actual property.

Mojisola

AndyTails wrote: »

It looks to me like you have responsibility for it.

Unless there is something binding in the deeds, no owner has to put up or maintain a fence or wall on the boundary.

It usually ends up with the person who wants a boundary feature the most paying for it.

G_M

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/QuickEnquiryInit.do