Garden Boundary - Adverse Possession Question

PennineLady

Hi everybody :-)

I hope somebody can give me some advice regarding our garden boundary. We’re thinking of putting the property onto the market and would really like the boundary issue resolved first.

In a nutshell, here's the situation. Both our and my neighbour’s Gardens are about 50 ft long. Mine is 19 ft wide & my neighbours' is 21 ft wide and was separated by a flimsy wire mesh fence. That's how it's always been for at least 40 years and all has been good!

Anyway, on checking deeds (possible house sale) I see that the gardens should have actually been shared/split equally at 20ft each. Up until now this has not been a problem and we were happy.

However, the neighbour has just erected a new large wooden fence and for some reason he has moved it back to the proper boundary line of 20ft. This is all well and good but it leaves a foot gap on my side and all the paving and landscaping I'd done previously is no longer flush with the fence.

To make things worse, there are big & ugly concrete mounds at the bottom of each fence post. He won't level them off or break them down because he says they are actually on his land due to Adverse Possession. So, not only are we not allowed to do anything about the concrete, we're apparently not even allowed to touch the foot gap.

My question is, if my neighbour has erected a fence on the proper/correct boundary, has he automatically given up the right of adverse possession of the foot of land which is now correctly back on my side?

Any advice would be appreciated,

Debi

dimbo61

So why did he move the fence and lose 1ft of land all the way along the fence border ?
Not only are you left with the ugly old concrete fence posts but a dangerous hazard for anyone in your garden.
Get someone in with a digger or garden handyman to dig out the old posts.
Plant a row of new slow growing small trees or bushes in the gap between the new fence and your paving.
Maybe wait till the spring time or tackle one post at a time and say it's gardening on your side 

GoogleMeNow

PennineLady said:

Hi everybody :-)

I hope somebody can give me some advice regarding our garden boundary. We’re thinking of putting the property onto the market and would really like the boundary issue resolved first.

In a nutshell, here's the situation. Both our and my neighbour’s Gardens are about 50 ft long. Mine is 19 ft wide & my neighbours' is 21 ft wide and was separated by a flimsy wire mesh fence. That's how it's always been for at least 40 years and all has been good!

Anyway, on checking deeds (possible house sale) I see that the gardens should have actually been shared/split equally at 20ft each. Up until now this has not been a problem and we were happy.

However, the neighbour has just erected a new large wooden fence and for some reason he has moved it back to the proper boundary line of 20ft. This is all well and good but it leaves a foot gap on my side and all the paving and landscaping I'd done previously is no longer flush with the fence.

To make things worse, there are big & ugly concrete mounds at the bottom of each fence post. He won't level them off or break them down because he says they are actually on his land due to Adverse Possession. So, not only are we not allowed to do anything about the concrete, we're apparently not even allowed to touch the foot gap.

My question is, if my neighbour has erected a fence on the proper/correct boundary, has he automatically given up the right of adverse possession of the foot of land which is now correctly back on my side?

Any advice would be appreciated,

Debi

The neighbour cannot claim land by Adverse Possession if it is registered to you.  Adverse Possession can only be successful where land is unregistered.  In any case, if he had tried to claim it, Land Registry would have written to you to for your views/objections.  If he claims he adversely possessed the land many many years ago, the current Title Plan would have been updated to the changed boundary.

If the fence, which is now in situ, matches the Title Plan held at Land Registry, then that is the boundary and would not raise a query with any potential purchaser who may have queried why the Title Plan didn't match what was "on the ground", bearing in mind that Title Plans cannot be totally accurate.

In this case, I think you are in the fortunate position of the boundaries now matching the Title Plan and that the extra "foot" of land in your garden is yours as it was always supposed to be.  Therefore you can do whatever you like with that land, including breaking up the concrete.  If the neighbour objects, ask him to provide you with evidence that the land was adversely possessed.

Soot2006

Couple of ton bags of gravel and pour it onto the foot gap to hide everything/make a clean edge?

ProDave

I would just take down the old wire fence, tidy up the 1ft strip and plant a border of shrubs along it, they will grow and hide the ugly concrete.

TripleH

I'd do as per Soot2006 and/or ProDave.

If you're looking at selling 'decorate' to make it look nice but don't put a lot of effort making it look established.

What I think is more important is to get the most up-to-date title deeds to see what they say as that will confirm if the land is yours when you come to sell (and so you have an answer ready if potential buyers ask rather than scrabble round 2 days before your chain collapses trying to get an answer.

canaldumidi

Has the neighbour applied for adverse Possession? If yes, have the Land Registry written to you yet as the registered owner to see if you object? If yes, how and when did you reply?

Sounds like the neighbour has not made a claim for AP but is trying to say the land is his anyway. But for an AP claim to succeed he needs to use the land continuously as his own. Cutting it off from his garden with a fence demonstartes he is not using it as his own any more!

The fact that he's put up a fence on what you believe to be the correct boundary simply adds weight to your argument that everything your side of his new fence is yours. So landsacape as you wish, as cheaply as possible.

Of course, this could turn into a neighbour dispute that you'd have to declare to any potential buyer......

TheJP

OP your title is misleading. You say adverse possession but what has really happened is the neighnour has decided to replace the fence, looking at the deeds realised the boundary was out by 1ft and rectified this. You are now complaining that you have more land but its ugly. What are you asking/do you want as a solution?

JGB1955

The neighbour had 21 feet  but now has 20....and you're complaining about being given back your land?

PennineLady

TheJP said:

OP your title is misleading. You say adverse possession but what has really happened is the neighbour has decided to replace the fence, looking at the deeds realised the boundary was out by 1ft and rectified this. You are now complaining that you have more land but its ugly. What are you asking/do you want as a solution?

Thanks for your reply,

I'm wanting to landscape the extra land (which apparently was always mine) and flatten the concrete mounds which surround the new fence posts which extend into my area by about 8 inches but neighbour says I can't touch them.

Section62

TheJP said:

OP your title is misleading. You say adverse possession but what has really happened is the neighnour has decided to replace the fence, looking at the deeds realised the boundary was out by 1ft and rectified this. You are now complaining that you have more land but its ugly. What are you asking/do you want as a solution?

JGB1955 said:

The neighbour had 21 feet  but now has 20....and you're complaining about being given back your land?

I'm not sure either of you have understood the OP.

The neighbour has moved the fence but is still claiming ownership of the 1 foot strip by adverse possession.

The OP is asking whether or not the neighbour has a leg to stand on.

I don't see that as a complaint about anything.  The just need to know whether they are entitled to clear up the mess the neighbour has left behind.


My response would be that they should take lots of pictures showing the fence in the new location.... then get gardening asap.