Whose boundary??

super_saint

Hi

I am posting on behalf of my elderly mother.  She has lived alone in her 3 bed detached house for last 15 years since my dad passed away.

Shortly after moving in i commented that i found it strange that neighbours down stairs toilet window faced directly into my mum's path along side her house (see 1st pic below) - nothing more was said at the time.  15 years later & 3 sets of neighbours later ( no neighbour has ever queried), my mum has been in discussion with new neighbours who have said they are building a new conservatory - my mum is now anxious that plans will dig up that the area along side her house is only half hers.

Any idea what the legal stance is here?  Solicitors nor estate agents mentioned the land when she bought the house & therefore has always assumed it was hers - however looking at the deeds it would appear the fence separating the gardens is on neighbours land ?

Any help greatly appreciated

Looking at below pics, the boundary would appear to be where paving slabs on left meet the border but the original fence in back garden is attached to neighbours house & assume original concrete posts were but in by original builders.

djp64

My sister's house is exactly the same as this except that it is one of the neighbour's living room windows that faces onto the path down the side of her house.  (The window is frosted).  The plans show ownership of all of the path and land on the other side of the gate fence as belonging to my sister.

If your mum doesn't have the title plans from when she bought the house you can download them for £3 from Land Registry.  This will hopefully show the position of the land and the 2 houses and maybe put her mind at rest.

Davesnave

There is nothing odd about the window or anything we can see which indicates where a boundary might lie. It doesn't appear the neighbour accesses their garden this way, however, or that they have a right of way for this purpose.

If your Mum believes the neighbour owns part of this land, why is she storing all that stuff on it?

Clarification will no doubt be easier if you download the title documents and plan from the Land Registry. That will cost £6. Make sure you are on the Land Registry site by using this link as there are copycat sites that charge much more.

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

UnderOffer

So the neighbours conservatory isn’t going to affect any of the land on the side, surely it’s just being built at the rear of the neighbours house?

All those bins and storage belong to your Mum?
Like others have said, check the title plan which will show a red line around her land and determine the boundary, certainly doesn’t look like that pathway and gravel area is shared. 

getmore4less

Where does the fence buried under that vegetation go at the house end, is it on the corner or is is offset a bit.

any indicators at the front

Also look like any access seems to have gone replaced by a solid fence 

sheramber

 Could it be that the neighbour owns the bit down the side to allow  access  for any repairs to the house wall/roof but the garden boundary is per the existing fence.

swingaloo2

Presumably there must be some ROW for the neighbour to be able to access the window for cleaning/maintenance?

Jeepers_Creepers

Not necessarily.

We all have 'rights' to access a neighbouring property for such things, if it cannot be accessed any other way. Just because there's a window there doesn't mean there's also a strip of land.

For cleaning, open the window and reach out. For maintenance, you ask the neighb nicely to allow access. If they refuse, you may need to enforce this, but that would be rare.

Davesnave

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Not necessarily.

We all have 'rights' to access a neighbouring property for such things, if it cannot be accessed any other way. Just because there's a window there doesn't mean there's also a strip of land.

For cleaning, open the window and reach out. For maintenance, you ask the neighb nicely to allow access. If they refuse, you may need to enforce this, but that would be rare.

Or, as in the case of someone I know, when access was refused, a threat to change the windows from obscure glass to plain did the trick!

sheramber

my mum is now anxious that plans will dig up that the area along side her house is only half hers.

How long has your mother known that?  


Since the OP says the deeds show her mother only owns half of it   a ROW is not necessary.

The question seems to be that the fence in the back garden is lined up to the house , which is inset from the middle of the path.

however looking at the deeds it would appear the fence separating the gardens is on neighbours land ?


Solicitors nor estate agents mentioned the land when she bought the house 

A solicitor doesn't visit the site so would have no knowledge of where fences were. The estate agent only relays what the seller tells him. He does not check deeds.

Download the neighbours deeds and see what they show.

princeofpounds

Two days and still no post of the one thing that might actually give us a real indication - get that title plan from the land registry and post it.