Fence in Wrong Position to Plans

TMeggs

I have searched high and low online to find a similar situation and outcome but to no avail.

Recently looking at planning permission of a development nearby I looked at our own house plans, the road was built in 2006 and we moved here in 2020. 

I noticed all the plans are followed exact for the 22 houses except for our back fence that backs onto another property. The fence (which is ours) has been place one panel closer to our property than the plans and this is able to be clarified by that it is not next to their garage rear door as the plans show. My assumption is that this was in human error, our deeds show the boundary line as the fence is currently placed. I have contacted the Land Registry to try an rectify the error but they have no interest and I feel I am just being 'fobbed off'. I know some may find it petty but our garden is not very big as it is and a fence panel back across the width would make a fair bit of difference to the overall feel and size of the garden. We bought the house for the room sizes and nothing else in our budget on the market so I would do what I can to improve the garden size.

My Questions:

Would the current deeds line be due to an ordnance survey?
Does this mean it is not the true boundary?
Should the true boundary be where the plans show and should have been followed exact and now changed?
Do my neighbours now have right to the land even though it was wrongly positioned and drawn?
What is the best way to approach the whole situation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

canaldumidi

Unclear what 'plans' you are looking at/referring to.

The definitive plans are those at the Land Registry, and you say:

"our deeds show the boundary line as the fence is currently placed" which I interpret as meaning the fence is in the correct position as per the Land registry Plan.

If you think the LR has made an error, have you read

https://www.gov.uk/your-property-boundaries/correct-boundary-mistake-title-plan

and

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/amending-deeds-that-effect-dispositions-of-registered-land/practice-guide-68-amending-deeds-that-effect-dispositions-of-registered-land

?

As moving the fence back into your rear eighbour's garden will reduce the size of his garden i suspect you'll need his consent/support for your application

TMeggs

Red line is current Land Registry, you can see where the fence should be. Found these plans on local council website submitted in 2005

marcia_

 If you are looking at developer plans they probably changed them.
 

 The plans i was shown when buying showed our back garden with side entry. By the time they finished the side entry was gone and the back garden narrower. The land is owned by a neighbour as shown on LR documents

UnderOffer

That looks like the developer changed the fencing position to the end of plot 8’s garage, perhaps to allow maintenance of the rear of garage 8? Is there a door from the garden at plot 8 into rear of garage 8? The red line represents your plot and appears to be what you agreed and bought. 

TMeggs

UnderOffer said:

That looks like the developer changed the fencing position to the end of plot 8’s garage, perhaps to allow maintenance of the rear of garage 8? Is there a door from the garden at plot 8 into rear of garage 8? The red line represents your plot and appears to be what you agreed and bought. 

They have moved it to finish inline with inside of garage walls, this could have been on purpose or in error. Yes a rear door to garage from garden on plot 8 but this would not have effected access had the fence been positioned where it is on the plans.

This is true but had I have spotted this before purchasing the property I would have raised the question with solicitors then, a lesson learned for the future when purchasing a property I think.

Section62

TMeggs said:

UnderOffer said:

That looks like the developer changed the fencing position to the end of plot 8’s garage, perhaps to allow maintenance of the rear of garage 8? Is there a door from the garden at plot 8 into rear of garage 8? The red line represents your plot and appears to be what you agreed and bought. 

They have moved it to finish inline with inside of garage walls, this could have been on purpose or in error. Yes a rear door to garage from garden on plot 8 but this would not have effected access had the fence been positioned where it is on the plans.

This is true but had I have spotted this before purchasing the property I would have raised the question with solicitors then, a lesson learned for the future when purchasing a property I think.

You might want to have a read of this thread to see how changes like the one you've encountered can happen -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6235872/18mo-after-moving-into-new-build-told-our-garden-fence-temporary-will-now-lose-31-5msq/p1

E.g. Someone puts a fence up where they think it should be without checking the plans.  The first conveyancing process is completed without anyone spotting the error.  If the error comes to light soon after they may be a half-hearted attempt to fix it, but ultimately it may get forgotten about until a future buyer notices their fence isn't where they think it should be.

If the original contracts for the two properties showed the boundary where it was on the original plans then in theory that is where the fence should have been.  The later LR plans are usually based on OS mapping which is acknowledged to be not that accurate when it comes to details like this.  But now correcting the error (if that is what it is) will be harder (/impossible) compared to what could have been done if it had been spotted when the properties were first sold.

lincroft1710

What you have a right to, is what you bought in 2020. As previous posters have said, developers' plans can and do change. You have no right to move the fence.

canaldumidi

Not to mention that when you purchased in 2020 your conveyancer would have sent you a copy of the LR Title and Plan and asked to to check that the Plan matched what you expected to buy.

The solicitor, never having visited theproperty, had no way tocheck sorelied on you.

That was the time to point out the discrepancy and decide whether to * try for an amendment * pull out of the purchase or * accept that your garden would be as per your visual inspection.

Ath_Wat

Those developer plans mean nothing.  The person who bought the house might have had a contractual argument with the developer if they had bought off plan and been given something else, but you don't.
I honestly can't see why anyone would think the fact that a developer had at one point 16 years ago intended to put a fence in one place and then changed their mind  would mean that the current occupant of the house had any legal or moral right to have it moved there now.

Bendy_House

TMeggs, have a look at it on Google maps/Earth. Then go 'historic' (not quite of the best way).

You should find dates on each view to indicate when the satellite shots were taken. Now, if you could show that this fence moved after the house's were built and occupied...