Land use by Neighbour... what to do?

Keell

That didn’t go well. Apparently the solicitor has advised him that as the mortgage company were not aware that the disputed piece of land was ours during sale it won’t matter! And selling should be easy! I’m not so sure! 

-taff

Huh? How does his solicitor know what your mortgage company were told?

Get your plans out, show him it's yours, tell him YOUR mortgage company is well aware, if his isn't, have they been given the right plans?

He is completely trying it on.

gwynlas

Legal opinions vary that is why there is a court of appeal. Your solicitor presumably acted for your mortgage company working on boundaries as shown. Your mortgage company are therefor aware of the land as the valuation would have been based on the  same parametres. Fence off your land so that he cannot use it. If it would enhance your land eg by straightening boundary on a dog leg plot then allow him to purchase it at a price achieved by valuation, your mortgage companies agreement and him covering all legal costs. 

Mickey666

-taff said:

Huh? How does his solicitor know what your mortgage company were told?

Get your plans out, show him it's yours, tell him YOUR mortgage company is well aware, if his isn't, have they been given the right plans?

He is completely trying it on.

I'd guess that the mortgage company isn't explicitly aware, why would they be?  They probably had a valuation survey done and I'd bet the surveyor never even walked to the end of the garden, never mind check out a bit of area behind the garage.  I know the technicalities but in practice I'd bet this bit of area would make no difference to the house value.

Yes, he is trying it on, but he also seems to have been doing so for 13 years.  That alone would give him grounds to make a claim for adverse possession, though without more details of the previous owner it'd difficult to know if he could succeed.  But he could certainly try, and that would need defending if he did.

Would the OP be prepared to sell the land to him?  Would he be prepared to buy?  That might be a way to resolve things and not end up with neighbour warfare for the forseeable future.  If so, I'd be tempted to just let him fence the area off to enlarge his own a garden a little bit and not bother to involve the mortgage company at all.  If they don't know they won't care and the only time the issue might arise if in case of a mortgage default and repossession where they can't recover their entire outstanding mortgage amount - and how likely is that to happen in practice.  Yes, the boundaries will be slightly wrong on the title plan, but that's far from unusual as these plans are not deemed to be definitve in law anyway and can actually move over time, which is why there are people such as specialist boundary surveyors who can be called upon to arbitrate in cases of boundary disputes.  These are messy situations and there's the hard-hitting by-the-book legal process or there's usually a 'softer' pragmatic process.

Lots of expert information on https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/boundaries.html

mrschaucer

Sounds like a bully.  Time to stop being nice.

Rosa_Damascena

Keell said:

Thanks... wish me luck

Good luck!

You'll get luckier still when you assert yourself, and you will be glad you did. 

Eta: just read the rest of the thread. Your neighbour is not a nice person. Be civil in return but also firm, what's yours is yours and he can whistle.

The adverse possession claim - does that still stand? I wasn't sure whether the law changed recently.

mollycat

IMHO only :......

This small bit of garden is the "inch".

What will your future self think of your present self 5 or 10 years down the line when trying to be "nice", or appeasing this person, may well have resulted in him taking the "mile".

TLDR...My guess is this is someone taking the pi££ out of their new neighbour. 
Be assertive, and good luck.

Keell

Thanks everyone.. we have left it with him going to the solicitor tomorrow- just worried he will and can take action to try and claim it if we decide not to sell. 

Norman_Castle

Keell said:

That didn’t go well. Apparently the solicitor has advised him that as the mortgage company were not aware that the disputed piece of land was ours during sale it won’t matter! And selling should be easy! I’m not so sure! 

Presumably your mortgage company saw the plans which included this land and not the fence placed inside your boundary as its location there was more suitable than at the bottom of a steep slope.

Do you have any contact with the previous owners? They may be able to advise on time scales and exactly what has happened in the past.

gozaimasu

Adverse possession; it's been more than 12 years so it's his if he wants to get it legally. Only you can take steps to legally reclaim it before he does this.