18mo after moving into new build, told our garden fence temporary, will now lose 31.5msq

getmore4less

What sort of fence was/is it? 
Did it ever change from site start to completion? 

Round our way site boundaries tend to be high open metal panels to secure the sites during the build.

Only near completion do the final fences get installed more in keeping with finished estates post and rail for major boundary if a property is adjacent, post and panel for the minor ones between property.

caprikid1

"It might be worth considering what a reasonable amount of compensation night be. If it is not exhorbiant then I imagine there is a fair chance the developer will accept it to make the problem go away. Best to take some legal advice first though."
For the developer it could be the difference between building and not building a house.

sevenhills

moneymattersnatter said:

When we purchased, the house was nearly constructed. Our choice was made on the strength of its garden size. Now that the other developer needs to start building on their car park, the fence needs to be moved 40cm into our garden for the other house to fit.

We lose planted beds. Our furniture will no longer fit on our now exceedingly decadent Indian stone patio. 

Storage units placed comfortably down the side of the house will no longer be able to be used.

Its unfortunate to lose some of your garden and things may have to be moved, but 40cm is not a lot to lose.

2nd_time_buyer

caprikid1 said:

"It might be worth considering what a reasonable amount of compensation night be. If it is not exhorbiant then I imagine there is a fair chance the developer will accept it to make the problem go away. Best to take some legal advice first though."
For the developer it could be the difference between building and not building a house.

I suspect that is the case and you have a fair bit of leverage - the land is worth more to them than it is to you...
However, they have much deeper pockets than you and there is always a chance that you could lose. Either way I predict ultimately the fence will be moved.
IMO the minimum requirements for compensation is that you will be able to look at the fence on a morning without feeling bitterness

moneymattersnatter

AdrianC said:

Have you spoken to the conveyancer from your purchase?
Was that conveyancer "recommended" by the developer...?

Have you got hold of the actual plot map as kept by LR?
How is the boundary marked on there?
What dimensions or datum points can you work from?

Would you be willing to post the map, and some photos of the current fence's location?

I haven't spoken to the Conveyancer or Solicitor yet - I'm scared to! I want to make sure when I do I sounds super prepared and sadly, I can't find the land registry docs, so will keep looking!  I do have these and am happy to share.
I've also got the contact details of local (independent!) conveyancer and solicitor, so will call them as soon as I've found the Land RegistryWill keep looking. The posts are cemented in, if that helps? 

HampshireH

sevenhills said:

moneymattersnatter said:

When we purchased, the house was nearly constructed. Our choice was made on the strength of its garden size. Now that the other developer needs to start building on their car park, the fence needs to be moved 40cm into our garden for the other house to fit.

We lose planted beds. Our furniture will no longer fit on our now exceedingly decadent Indian stone patio. 

Storage units placed comfortably down the side of the house will no longer be able to be used.

Its unfortunate to lose some of your garden and things may have to be moved, but 40cm is not a lot to lose.

It absolutely is if you have paid to landscape your garden on it. Different if it was dead space but OP has said they have paid out to landscape their garden encorporating this space

moneymattersnatter

sevenhills said:

moneymattersnatter said:

When we purchased, the house was nearly constructed. Our choice was made on the strength of its garden size. Now that the other developer needs to start building on their car park, the fence needs to be moved 40cm into our garden for the other house to fit.

We lose planted beds. Our furniture will no longer fit on our now exceedingly decadent Indian stone patio. 

Storage units placed comfortably down the side of the house will no longer be able to be used.

Its unfortunate to lose some of your garden and things may have to be moved, but 40cm is not a lot to lose.

It's 40cm along the whole boundary, which we've invested over £20K to model. It means our patio will now no longer be able to have a bed. It means we will not be able to comfortably use our £2K+ garden furniture.  It's eye watering to know we've spent all that money on the garden now! All money I'd have kept if I new we'd be down to one income in a global pandemic!  And it *feels* like an extra non-consensual fcuk after a string of really nasty legal battles. So yeah, not much land to let go of in principle, but we've built our home's outdoor environment off, what we thought was our fence, in keeping with the property deeds, after paying professionals to assumingly sort all this out before hand.  It's 🤪 to me that we're even facing this?! 😂

HampshireH

Did they plant the border bushes at the front as they too go up to the space fenced off or was that planted by yourselves after? That would have been a pretty big change if it had had enough time to establish. Did they intend to hack away at the bushes too?

AdrianC

moneymattersnatter said:

AdrianC said:

Have you spoken to the conveyancer from your purchase?
Was that conveyancer "recommended" by the developer...?

Have you got hold of the actual plot map as kept by LR?
How is the boundary marked on there?
What dimensions or datum points can you work from?

Would you be willing to post the map, and some photos of the current fence's location?

I haven't spoken to the Conveyancer or Solicitor yet - I'm scared to! I want to make sure when I do I sounds super prepared and sadly, I can't find the land registry docs, so will keep looking!  I do have these and am happy to share.
I've also got the contact details of local (independent!) conveyancer and solicitor, so will call them as soon as I've found the Land Registry. Will keep lookinThe posts are cemented in, if that helps? 

So it's the boundary between R122 (you) and A1 (currently unbuilt, and in use as a carpark), right?

What width is the passageway between you and the fence currently?

From the look of the passageway photo, I'd guess that 40cm is just about to the outside of the wall retaining that flowerbed, and to the front face of the goal.

moneymattersnatter

HampshireH said:

Did they plant the border bushes at the front as they too go up to the space fenced off or was that planted by yourselves after? That would have been a pretty big change if it had had enough time to establish. Did they intend to hack away at the bushes too?

They planted it! And the trees. 

UPDATE: My husband has been on the phone to our Home Insurance, we are TOTALLY covered. Really disappointed that it takes a man getting angry about a situation when my initial call this morning seemed to be a complete fob off. 
So... We have an allocated solicitor and have been reassured we are in a strong position 😀 
We've been advised to informally summarise the conversation we had yesterday (I'd already said to them that I wanted them to go away and give us options and time frames) but I had to take a work call & my husband didn't confirm when they would come back to us. So, we need to put a time parameter on when we need those options by. They will then formally act on our behalf dependent upon those option. 
They said this is a HUGE error on their part but I can't explain how relieved I am that we now have professional legal cover. 
Worst case scenario is that the fence is on the other developer's land, then we may be sued for trespass?! 
The plot thickens...