Boundary Surveyor

Mr_Mister

Looking for advice on determining the boundary of a terraced house. 
Long story short, there is a disagreement with the neighbours over when the garden fence should be. Our title plan shows just long rectangle boundary with no measurements as the house was built in early 1930s.
Got a quote from a Boundary Surveyor of around £1500 but they do not provide detailed drawings so not sure whether in these disputes, a Land surveyor is better? 
Thanks

grumbler

What's the problem?

Usually the boundary is is perpendicular to the wall and starts in the middle of the party wall.

Mr_Mister

grumbler said:

What's the problem?

Usually the boundary is is perpendicular to the wall and starts in the middle of the party wall.

This is exactly my argument but my neighbour thinks the boundary  should be in line with the opposite house's garden which is on another road. If that was the case it would be an eyesore to walk into my garden and see my neighbour's garden fence protuding by at least 10 inches into my garden.
All this logic has fallen on his deaf ears yet he refuses to provide any evidence or call in any surveyor to prove his beliefs. 
I would like to therefore get boundary lines determined officially rather than waiting for him. This would cover myself and prevent him from erecting a new fence. 

ThisIsWeird

This is your rear garden? In which case where the boundary touches your house should be easy to define, yes? So it's just where it contacts the bottom boundary that's at issue?

Is there a physical boundary there at present? Was there? You'd like there to be?!

I'd have thought there'd be a number of ways of determining the correct line. For instance, what do the other terraced houses do - are they in line, or staggered? What about your garden width - If the terrace is straight, then surely the boundaries are all perp to this, so also parallel. So, how does the top width compare with the bottom one (tho' if you are only talking about one foot, this may be hard to judge - how wide is the garden?

On the deeds maps, are the marked boundaries on your terrace in-line with those of the next road's, or can you see a tiny step? Of course, these maps are not accurate, but I'd suggest that if even a tiny step is shown, then that's very helpful. If no step is shown, then it could be anything, including a lack of accuracy.

tacpot12

Do you have any Deeds showing the boundary or describing the boundary? Does your neighbour have any such deeds? Does your neighbour have any reasons why they think the boundary runs from the opposite house? It would be as well to really listen to why they think what they do. They might have access to some knowledge that ultimaitely will show you exactly where the boundary is.

Have you looked at the title plans for some of your more remote neighbours proeprties? Often the boundaries follow a distinct pattern, and a pattern of boundaries that supports your view might be helpful.  

In my experience, surveying the land is of no use until you have a legal basis to decide where the boundary is. The Deeds are your best source of this, so I would check with the land registry if they have any filed deeds that aren't available via the internet.

Have a read of this in case it helps, and have a loog at Determined Boundary Applications: Drawing the line on boundaries - HM Land Registry (blog.gov.uk)

daveyjp

Starting point after deeds are historic maps.

National library of Scotland is a great resource if your area is covered at large scale.

https://maps.nls.uk/

Mr_Mister

ThisIsWeird said:

This is your rear garden? In which case where the boundary touches your house should be easy to define, yes? So it's just where it contacts the bottom boundary that's at issue?

Is there a physical boundary there at present? Was there? You'd like there to be?!

I'd have thought there'd be a number of ways of determining the correct line. For instance, what do the other terraced houses do - are they in line, or staggered? What about your garden width - If the terrace is straight, then surely the boundaries are all perp to this, so also parallel. So, how does the top width compare with the bottom one (tho' if you are only talking about one foot, this may be hard to judge - how wide is the garden?

On the deeds maps, are the marked boundaries on your terrace in-line with those of the next road's, or can you see a tiny step? Of course, these maps are not accurate, but I'd suggest that if even a tiny step is shown, then that's very helpful. If no step is shown, then it could be anything, including a lack of accuracy.

The title plans show a slight step at the bottom of my boundary with the opposite garden. Other gardens on my side show bigger steps. My property boundary on the title Plan shows its perpendicular and does not narrow towards the end but I do not know how accurate it is.
Is it worth getting a Boundary Surveyor to confirm the exact boundary or is not worth the money? I'm not exactly what further information they can obtain from the land registry. 

grumbler

Mr_Mister said:

ThisIsWeird said:

This is your rear garden? In which case where the boundary touches your house should be easy to define, yes? So it's just where it contacts the bottom boundary that's at issue?

Is there a physical boundary there at present? Was there? You'd like there to be?!

I'd have thought there'd be a number of ways of determining the correct line. For instance, what do the other terraced houses do - are they in line, or staggered? What about your garden width - If the terrace is straight, then surely the boundaries are all perp to this, so also parallel. So, how does the top width compare with the bottom one (tho' if you are only talking about one foot, this may be hard to judge - how wide is the garden?

On the deeds maps, are the marked boundaries on your terrace in-line with those of the next road's, or can you see a tiny step? Of course, these maps are not accurate, but I'd suggest that if even a tiny step is shown, then that's very helpful. If no step is shown, then it could be anything, including a lack of accuracy.

Is it worth getting a Boundary Surveyor to confirm the exact boundary or is not worth the money?

The question is what you are going to do with it and how your can enforce it.

AFAIK, it's not a simple  process and very expensive.

Can you post a screenshot from https://www.landregistry-uk.com/map-search ?

Obscure the title numbers if you want to keep them secret.