Neighbouring property being sold, but boundary needs to be agreed

saver_ali

I’m posting this to try and help an elderly, recently widowed friend. 

Over 60 years ago, my friend purchased a small farm, along with a close friend. The two of them split it - each of them had a semi-detached cottage with a small fenced private garden, and their own fields for grazing. The yard area and farm buildings were rather open plan - they split the buildings between them and had their own sections of yard, but with no fence dividing them. You couldn’t draw a completely straight line through them anyway. Both parties have had pretty much free access over each other’s land.

Over time, each party maintained and renovated/rebuilt their own buildings, barns etc.

In order to get a mortgage in 1965, a plan was registered with the Land Registry, and a line was drawn roughly down the middle of the land, but unfortunately it wasn’t done accurately. It was based on the line dividing the two cottages, which is offset to the remaining acreage. The line even goes through some of my friend’s farm buildings.

Obviously they should have been more careful at the time, but things were different in the ‘60s, they were very young and they all had a very good relationship.

The neighbouring friend passed away, her husband remarried a couple of years ago, and he and his new wife now wish to sell their half. My friend said that they needed to formalise the boundary before the property could be marketed, but the neighbours went ahead anyway, without saying anything, and the property is already under offer. (The couple didn’t have children and the sale is being driven by the family of the new wife, who have no historical knowledge of the previous arrangements.)

The estate agent knows there is a boundary issue, but didn’t make this clear to the prospective purchaser, and just keeps saying that it can all be sorted out using easements, but this is more than just a case of allowing access.

My friend has consulted a solicitor, who has advised her to try and come to an agreement amicably and then formalise it.

There is going to be a meeting next week with all parties (vendor, estate agent, my friend and the prospective buyer). We believe the buyers’ expectations have been set incorrectly, which could make things difficult.

My friend would like to go into this meeting knowing where she stands. 

If they can’t find an amicable agreement, would my friend have to formally register a dispute in some way, in order to stop the sale while the boundary is sorted out? Would she have to formally claim adverse possession of the land and buildings that have been treated as belonging to her and her late husband for over 60 years? Does she need to erect fences to do this? Obviously that would be likely to inflame the situation at the moment, although in the longer term it would make sense to fence the boundary wherever it is agreed to be.

As a second question, has the estate agent acted negligently by marketing a property in full knowledge that there was a boundary issue, without making that clear to prospective purchasers, and perhaps misleading the neighbours into thinking the sale would be straightforward in order to get the business? 

Any constructive comments and suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you.

canaldumidi

The first step is to get agreement between the two owners regarding which buildings/outbulding should belong to who, and where the boundary (however wiggly!) should ideally go.

If you can't amicably agree that,you have problems.

Assuming you can, there is a process for amending Land Registry boundaries. See

https://www.gov.uk/your-property-boundaries

It is then a question of whether the two current owners go through this process (delaying any sale) or postpone it till post sale and leave it for the new owner and your friend to do. The buyer, however, may be unwilling to Complete with the boundary question unresolved.

There is more detailed information here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/land-registry-plans-boundaries/land-registry-plans-boundaries-practice-guide-40-supplement-3

saver_ali

canaldumidi said:

The first step is to get agreement between the two owners regarding which buildings/outbulding should belong to who, and where the boundary (however wiggly!) should ideally go.

If you can't amicably agree that,you have problems.

Assuming you can, there is a process for amending Land Registry boundaries. See

https://www.gov.uk/your-property-boundaries

It is then a question of whether the two current owners go through this process (delaying any sale) or postpone it till post sale and leave it for the new owner and your friend to do. The buyer, however, may be unwilling to Complete with the boundary question unresolved.

There is more detailed information here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/land-registry-plans-boundaries/land-registry-plans-boundaries-practice-guide-40-supplement-3

Thank you. That makes for very interesting reading, and does explain the process if they can reach agreement. 

Should they not reach agreement, it seems that my friend can’t stop (or delay) the sale then, as it’s up to the owner if they want to go ahead, assuming their lender is happy to approve a mortgage. 

canaldumidi

I suspect that no decent conveyancer would advise their client to continue with a purchase, nor allow any mortgage lender they represent to lend on a property with such unresolved boundary issues eg "The line even goes through some of my friend’s farm buildings."

But that assumes of course that the conveyancer is made aware. Conveyancers only get to see the deeds and plans - they don't visit the property so often aren't aware of the fact that a boundary is not where the deeds say it should be, or even, for example, that there is a building owned/occupied by a neighbour sitting halfway across the boundary!

So it is up to the buyer to point out the issue to his conveyancer - and not all buyers do.......

saver_ali

@canaldumidi you would have thought the vendor would have a responsibility to declare there was a dispute on the questionnaire they have to fill in, unless it doesn’t actually qualify as a dispute unless my friend takes legal action.

canaldumidi

saver_ali said:

@canaldumidi you would have thought the vendor would have a responsibility to declare there was a dispute on the questionnaire they have to fill in, unless it doesn’t actually qualify as a dispute unless my friend takes legal action.

saver_ali said:

.....

My friend has consulted a solicitor, who has advised her to try and come to an agreement amicably and then formalise it.

so that does not sound like a dispute. Having said that, you're right that when completing form TA6 the seller should declare the ambiguity in the boundary. Sample TA6 here:

Download a specimen TA6 form (PDF 793 KB)

saver_ali

canaldumidi said:

so that does not sound like a dispute. Having said that, you're right that when completing form TA6 the seller should declare the ambiguity in the boundary. Sample TA6 here:

Download a specimen TA6 form (PDF 793 KB)

Thanks very much for all your comments. It looks like there are several places in the TA6 where the neighbour should disclose the boundary situation, and if my friend writes a letter to them about it then they would be required to disclose that too.

theoretica

It would probably help matters if your friend could get accurate and detailed maps of the two properties - or google satellite view might be good enough and work out what she proposes as a boundary line following reasonably closely the current land registry line - and which bits really matter to her and where she might give way to the neighbours.  Some bits are probably obvious and fairly straight forward - along fence lines, not through buildings...  Some bits may be particularly difficult and worth thinking about including and formalising rights of way - eg if there is only one gate into the yard and they both need to use it.  I think the aim here is to turn this into a paperwork exercise in clarification and not a dispute or something that will stop the sale.

saver_ali

@theoretica thank you for that suggestion My friend would certainly come across as more organised/credible at the meeting next week if she has plans to show everyone. I can get a satellite screen shot.

I’ve also just magnified the land registry plan, and realised that the boundary line doesn’t even divide the two houses accurately. A corner of the neighbours’ house is shown as belonging to my friend, so we can show that it is clearly unreliable. 

canaldumidi

As so often theoretica, a much more helpful response than mine!

saver_ali

canaldumidi said:

As so often theoretica, a much more helpful response than mine!

You were both very helpful, and I’m extremely grateful! 😀