Boundary dispute

Slithery

@Topic63

You'd be better off starting your own thread otherwise it will get confusing as to who people are answering.

WeAreGhosts

princeofpounds said:

You may find it useful to visit gardenlaw's boundaries forum.

I do wonder how many people now bother with this forum ^ It seems very quiet these days, and I can't help wondering whether it's because some of the members are so sanctimonious that even the most basic of questions is met with a holier than thou attitude. 

but that's just my opinion ....

The_Warned

WeAreGhosts said:

princeofpounds said:

You may find it useful to visit gardenlaw's boundaries forum.

I do wonder how many people now bother with this forum ^ It seems very quiet these days, and I can't help wondering whether it's because some of the members are so sanctimonious that even the most basic of questions is met with a holier than thou attitude. 

but that's just my opinion ....

This forum is quiet because a large number of us dislike the new format, or even found it didn't work with our older operating systems, In my case, notifications stopped and I was locked out; hence a different identity.

But that's just my experience......

princeofpounds

You're right that gardenlaw is very quiet now. It's a big shame, as it was a great pocket of expertise. However, there are still a handful of posters and a couple of them are real experts, even if the conversations don't progress quickly. In addition, the information in the stickies and past threads are very valuable to anyone trying to educate themselves. So I still think it's worth directing people over there in parallel to any discussions here. 

If the bulk of the contributors have moved elsewhere, it would be great to know where that might be, but I've never come across it. 

annie206

Hello everyone, and thank you for all your replies. I thought I'd come back and update you all on the situtation (so far). So, I contacted a solicitor and they told me to try mediation first. As I've never had to do anything like this before, I was'nt sure how it worked, but I'm so glad we've taken this route. While I was contemplating which route to take, we decided to have some work done on our wall. This runs down the side of our house from the public footpath, is attached to our steps and stops as you reach the garden. It's this wall that the neighbours have attached their fence to, butted up against the end post. Its only a low wall, just 2 foot high in places and 4ft at it's highest. We decided to have a feather edged fence put on top of it to make it 6ft, to give us a bit more privacy and security. We booked the workmen for 2 weeks ago and they arrived with materials and tools at 8am. As soon as they started working the neighbour came flying out of her house screaming that the wall was hers. We tried to show her for the 3rd time the land registry document showing that the wall was obviously ours but she was having none of it. She rang her daughter straight away and she and her friend were here within minutes. The 3 of them stood screaming in my husbands face and called him some awful names, but he kept his calm and tried to explain to them all where the boundary was - again. The workmen just downed tools and listened to the whole thing. The final straw came when they said that our steps - our only access to our back garden, were also theirs, and they "would be taking them". I contacted the Mediator that day and explained everything, and then i sent him the land registry documents. What I didn't expect was his answer - he said "there is no dispute, you have a Determined Boundary, someone paid a lot of money for that". He then went on to explain what a Determined Boundary was. I can't tell you how over joyed and relieved I was. He offered to come out the very next day and talk to our neighbour, which he did. She tried to contest it by saying the wall and our steps used to belong to her, but he said unless she's had her garage moved then the they were never hers. She then offered to buy the strip of land off us so she could keep her fence, but he strongly advised us not to take that route as it could cause all sorts of problems in the future. We gave her 2 weeks to remove her fence but last week we received an email from her solicitor, asking us to wait until the end of this month before we take action, so they can look into it. The mediator has contacted her solicitor and informed them of the Determined boundary, as our neighbour obviously hasn't mentioned it. I am still waiting to hear off her solicitor, but basically, she has no case, her fence is in our garden and needs to be removed. We have also been advised that if she doesn't remove it by whatever date she's given, our workmen can take it down and place it in her garden. She also has all of our expenses to pay, and if she's not careful she'll also have a huge solicitors bill too. So that's it so far. Fingers crossed this whole matter will be over soon. A Determined Boundary - how lucky was that?!

eidand

Always happy to see bullies put in their place. quite chuffed for you, OP.

Mojisola

Glad it's worked out for you. For someone to have paid for a determined boundary, there must have been problems with the neighbours in the past. 

annie206

eidand said:

Always happy to see bullies put in their place. quite chuffed for you, OP.

It's been absolutely awful. Some of the abuse she's shouted at us has been dreadful. I was gardening one afternoon, on my own, minding my own business, when her daughter showed up. One of the many water features she has had packed up and her daughter was there to fix it. The neighbour shouted across the garden, for me to hear, "it must have been them b*****ds next door, ill keep a look out for them", I just packed my tools up and went inside. That's just one of many incidents, but it gives you an insight into what they're like. It's taken up 7 months of my life and made me quite ill at times, but thankfully, by law, we're right and she's wrong. And i've also come to the conclusion that they're all a bit thick and think they can get what they want by being a bully. I don't look at them as intimidating anymore, I just see them for what they are - a bit stupid x

princeofpounds

That's great - yes a determined boundary suggests there was a dispute in the past, but it's fantastic that you have one as it removes a lot of the argument. Good on the mediator for not sitting on the (virtual) fence too.

annie206

Mojisola said:

Glad it's worked out for you. For someone to have paid for a determined boundary, there must have been problems with the neighbours in the past.

Yes, apparently, the previous owners of our house had exactly the same problem with them over the same piece of land. This was cleared up with the Determined Boundary, which was signed in 2017 by the previous owners and our neighbours. Im guessing she thought she'd try again with us, thinking we're as daft as her and would'nt look into it. You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. I feel like i've had an angel on my shoulder - maybe my Mom x