Boundary dispute adverse possession

Elizabeth_T_2

Twenty years ago, I replaced some hedging on my property but my old neighbour ( now deceased) said it was ok to plant some shrubs just beyond my boundary and on his property, I have no paperwork or anything to support this permission but I was led to understand it was now mine. Now the owners of the property, who have lived there about ten years want to remove my well established bushes as they say they are on their land. I have told them if they are removed it would be criminal damage and I would involve the police and possibly the courts and that I am entitled to claim adverse possession. I am reluctant to involve the law as I imagine costs would escalate but I believe I am in the right here....and so does my neighbour.....the rules on adverse possession are not that clear...any suggestions would be really helpful 

Comms69

Unfortunately you fail the adverse possession test straight away, you did so with permission. 

The owners are perfectly entitled to remove the bushes. and return them to you. That is not criminal damage. 

eidand

Wow, the entitlement, someone does one person a favour and that person wants to steal their land. 

jimbog

Elizabeth_T_2 said:

Now the owners of the property, who have lived there about ten years want to remove my well established bushes as they say they are on their land

They are not the only ones saying it's on their land

Elizabeth_T_2 said:

 to plant some shrubs just beyond my boundary and on his property

Missy79

Even if you could claim that the new owner hadn't given you permission, the time required for an adverse possession claim is 12 years.

davidmcn

Elizabeth_T_2 said:

I have told them if they are removed it would be criminal damage and I would involve the police and possibly the courts and that I am entitled to claim adverse possession.

Wouldn't it have made more sense for you to get legal advice first?

cattie

Is it really worth creating a huge problem between you & neighbours over using  part of their land? By raising a dispute you have to make solicitor aware of this should you ever want to sell your property & many people will think twice before wanting to buy a place where there's been a dispute between neighbours.

If you wanted the land to be yours, why on earth didn't you offer to buy it off neighbour prior to planting shrubs?

The_Warned

Elizabeth_T_2 said:

. I have told them if they are removed it would be criminal damage and I would involve the police and possibly the courts and that I am entitled to claim adverse possession.

It will be embarrassing for you to eat humble pie here and admit your mistake, but it would be best to do that before the situation escalates and you lose the good will of your neighbour. It seems they have been very patient with you.

Had it been me you'd threatened like that, a digger would have arrived within the hour, the shrubs removed and  placed carefully on your land, and then I would have discussed the finer details of your spurious claim with you.

SameOldRoundabout

The_Warned said:

Elizabeth_T_2 said:

. I have told them if they are removed it would be criminal damage and I would involve the police and possibly the courts and that I am entitled to claim adverse possession.

It will be embarrassing for you to eat humble pie here and admit your mistake, but it would be best to do that before the situation escalates and you lose the good will of your neighbour. It seems they have been very patient with you.

Had it been me you'd threatened like that, a digger would have arrived within the hour, the shrubs removed and  placed carefully on your land, and then I would have discussed the finer details of your spurious claim with you.

Totally agree. The sheer sense of entitlement in your post is staggering. You didn’t buy the land, you weren’t even given the land. You were allowed use of it for some shrubs (who knows why). They’re well within their rights to dig them up and probably set fire to them as you have no proof they are yours or you were allowed to plant them!

steampowered

Adverse possession is much more difficult to claim than you think. The law has moved on a lot since a few decades ago.

You cannot claim adverse possession if you were using the land with the land owner's consent. In this case you were using the land with the land owner's permission. To put it another way - until the neighbours asked you to remove the shrubs, your use of the land was not "adverse". 

If the land is registered, I also suspect you'd trip up on the process as you wouldn't be able to get a contested adverse possession claim through.

See paragraph 2.3 of the land registry's guide at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-registered-land/practice-guide-4-adverse-possession-of-registered-land#adverse-possession-the-essentials.

In the circumstances, you are not entitled to remain on the neighbour's land, and the owner is entitled to ask you to leave.

[Deleted User]

Elizabeth_T_2 said:

Twenty years ago, I replaced some hedging on my property but my old neighbour ( now deceased) said it was ok to plant some shrubs just beyond my boundary and on his property, I have no paperwork or anything to support this permission but I was led to understand it was now mine. Now the owners of the property, who have lived there about ten years want to remove my well established bushes as they say they are on their land. I have told them if they are removed it would be criminal damage and I would involve the police and possibly the courts and that I am entitled to claim adverse possession. I am reluctant to involve the law as I imagine costs would escalate but I believe I am in the right here....and so does my neighbour.....the rules on adverse possession are not that clear...any suggestions would be really helpful 

So basically you want to steal their land, and feel entitled to do it because you planted some shrubs.

I would not threaten legal action. You would lose and have to pay their costs. It will be cheaper to just move your plants back on to your land.