Boundary Dispute

Jenig

When we purchased our property in 2018 we took out indemnity insurance as the estate where the house is has a number of restrictive covenants. In our first winter in the property the boundary fence blew down in a storm and with the agreement of the then owner next door we arranged for a new fence to be constructed following the line of the one that had blown down. We gained a new neighbour in early 2021 who has accused us of taking 10 centimetres of her garden when this fence was built. She offers no proof of this and is generally a very unpleasant person. We'd like to know, if she brings some kind of formal action against us will our indemnity insurance be of any help. 

user1977

It depends what risks the insurance covers - what does the policy say?

But unless the boundary was already a known issue then I doubt it will have been covered.

newsgroupmonkey_

Wow! The neighbour is looking to make their house unsellable over 10cm?

You might want to point out to them that if they make this petty dispute formal that it then they are legally liable to put it in the TA6 that they have to fill out when selling a property. It makes people very, very nervous.

Does your house insurance include legal cover?

canaldumidi

I very much doubt the insurance will cover a dispute over a fence that was moved after the cover was taken out. It might (depending on the policy) have covered a boundary dispute based on the fence location when the policy was taken out.

Do you have legal cover with your home insurance?If so, that might cover the costs of defending any legal action the neigbour might start (though not compensation if your defence is lost).

Failing that you'll have to defend the case yourself if the neighbour sues. What evidence do you have of where the original fence was, where the boundary is and whose land the new fence is on?

Ath_Wat

You say she offers no evidence but surely she can't be just saying "although I wasn't anywhere near the place and never saw the old fence I am convinced this fence is 10cm away from the old one".  She must have some reason for it.

MysteryMe

If you have asked why she thinks this is the case and she has declined to justify her allegations then there is nothing more you can do. You can't reason with unreasonable people.  She wont get anywhere with formal action unless she has actual evidence and the fact she has not allowed you the opportunity to review it and potentially rectify any infringements will not go down well in court as the expectation is it ends up there as a last resort. 

Jenig

Just to say a big thank you for all the feedback, we did seek legal advice at considerable cost when she first raised this issue, a letter was written but she just ignored it. Her only evidence is photos of the position of other property's fences and their position on this estate. We have photos from Zoopla from 2013 when the house was sold to the owner before us and they clearly show the fence in the same position. We do have legal expenses cover with our house insurance but the company involved have said basically that they cannot act for the defenders in a boundary dispute. At the moment we are just waiting to see what she does next, over time we have come to realise that this woman is not exactly playing with a full deck. She is well aware of the issue of either of us selling our property and doesn't seem to care.

canaldumidi

Jenig said:

...... We do have legal expenses cover with our house insurance but the company involved have said basically that they cannot act for the defenders in a boundary dispute. ....

Very surprised by that. What cover do they provide? What does the policy say?