Can anyone comment on this boundary issue

Tyler_Durden_UK

Can I have comments / views on this boundary issue please. I've been in my current home 10 years. When we moved here our neighbours house (Property C) front drive / garden was all lawn with a few bushes etc. My house (B) was tarmac, and the neighbour on the other side (A) was also tarmac. Its only those 3 properties in that section. Each house has a side access alleyway to the back garden. This is show in the first image. Initially property C was all lawn / bushes as show by the green area, this extended onto 'my' side by about 36 inches. I've always thought this odd but never questioned it. A few years ago Property C block paved the front drive, put a concrete border around the strip of land and put plants on it. The people at Property C have lived there for almost 19 years
Recently due to another issue with Property C there has been a focus locally on planning permissions, boundaries and the like. A local man who actually drew up the plans for the 3 houses on my picture has said that the strip of land is actually mine. Neighbours opposite say the same, they have lived here from when the housed were first built. Apparently the little strip was on all the properties and so that when you parked your car on your drive and opened the door to exit that the door didn't over your neighbours drive.
I have downloaded my deeds and they shown my boundary being the red line I've drawn.

Note that neither Property A or B have the strip

Then :-



Now :-

grumbler

If the deeds show that this bit is yours then it's yours. It doesn't matter for how long your neighbours have been living here and for how long they they've been thinking it's theirs.

Silver_Shark

It matters how long your neighbour has been using the strip of land that extends beyond their boundary. If they have used it for 12 years or more without objection they may be entitled to claim ownership by law. First of all you need to speak to them and show them where the boundary lies and try to persuade them to return the land to you or failing that offer to sell it to them.

tacpot12

I'd recommend you talk to your house insurer's legal helpline. Your neighbours might be able to make a claim for adverse possession, and you need to know if they can do this, and what you need to do to stop them. The helpline should be able to give you advice on how to handle the issue sensitively. 

I would also suggest you get hold of a copy of their title plan from the Land Registry, and compare the two. If they both show the boundary as the same (as I expect they will), then it will make it easier to convince the neighbours that they don't own that bit of land. It might smooth things over if you offer to help them move their plants to another part of their garden  and pay to have the concrete border reworked so that it doesn't look a mess.

It is definitely worth trying to avoid a dispute with your neighbours, but you want to fix this issue before it becomes and issue when you sell your house (or your heirs sell it!) 

grumbler

Silver_Shark said:

It matters how long your neighbour has been using the strip of land that extends beyond their boundary. If they have used it for 12 years or more without objection they may be entitled to claim ownership by law.

They can apply, not claim.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession

Silver_Shark

Indeed, the neighbour could acquire the strip of land by adverse possession but that is a very costly business. Better to try and persuade them to return the land or failing that offer to sell it to them as I suggested..

grumbler

Silver_Shark said:

Indeed, the neighbour could acquire the strip of land by adverse possession but that is a very costly business.

No, they cannot at any cost - if the legal owner objects.

Davesnave

To acquire land by adverse possession it needs to have been used exclusively for a set period, and having some grass and a few bushes wouldn't provide that exclusivity.

This sort of arrangement existed on a posh estate where we once rented for a while. In practice, it meant I had to mow a strip of grass belonging to my neighbour's lawn and vice-versa on the other side with another neighbour, but we were all posh, so obviously shenanigans like trying to claim adverse possession didn't apply.

grumbler

Davesnave said:

To acquire land by adverse possession it needs to have been used exclusively for a set period,

When will people stop referring to the antique law that was (at last) radically changed 20 years ago ?!

Norman_Castle

Download property C's deeds, if they match yours the neighbour has a very poor argument for claiming the land is theirs.

Silver_Shark

I've been in a similar situation myself and my solicitor agreed although adverse possession was applicable the small piece of land was transferred by means of an affidavit to vary the title deeds. Just as effective and much less costly than the adverse possession route. Adverse possession applications are complex and not something I would recommend in this case. Speak to the neighbour and come to some arrangement and if that's not possible then ask for legal advice.