Defending boundary dispute

AlwaysTrying23

Hi guys,

I am posting on behalf of a friend. 

He has lived in a house for over 25 years and a boundary fence was initially installed. The fence slightly kicked across the boundary line but his Neigbour was OK with this and resulted in a shed being built at the time. 

Fast forward to 2020, this shed was replaced and in 2021, new neighbours moved in. 

Approximately 4 months after, my friend received a dispute regarding this boundary line. Note nothing was ever mentioned during the purchasing and surveying process of the property purchase. The buyer states the house was purchased in Auction so was unable to inspect in person. 

Since then, my friend has been intimidated with various legal representations on behalf of the claimant. Court proceedings have commenced and is now at the stage of providing disclosure and allowing an expert to assess the area. 

The interim court order states both parties should comply. An expert has already assessed the claimants side but they now request to return and assess my friends side. 

My friend has pictures from over 20 years ago showing the fence and a witness statement from the previous Neigbour. 

Would you know where we stand on this matter? 

user1977

What exactly is the neighbour saying? If it's "yes we agreed that it's my land but he can have his fence/shed there if he wants", I'm not sure that helps any.

Is it a fight worth having? Why not just shift the fence/shed? Not sorting it will mean a headache for any future sale/remortgage by him.

AlwaysTrying23

The Neigbour stated she was aware of the fence being replaced at the time and was happy that it encroached onto her land. Which was 20+ years ago. 

The issue is the concrete foundation pad and shed location as the house is a corner plot with a triangular rear garden. The shed is concrete and the marginal discrepancy in boundary would be a lot of upheaval to change. 

MattMattMattUK

AlwaysTrying23 said:

The Neigbour stated she was aware of the fence being replaced at the time and was happy that it encroached onto her land. Which was 20+ years ago. 

The issue is the concrete foundation pad and shed location as the house is a corner plot with a triangular rear garden. The shed is concrete and the marginal discrepancy in boundary would be a lot of upheaval to change. 

If the fence and/or the shed are over the boundary then your friend will loose, if they are on your friend's land then they will win, so long as the facts of the boundary are black and white so is the legal outcome. 

AlwaysTrying23

The agreement was decided with the pre-existing Neigbour and considering this has been in place for over 20 years, surly one could argue adverse possession or another type of defence? 

housebuyer143

AlwaysTrying23 said:

The agreement was decided with the pre-existing Neigbour and considering this has been in place for over 20 years, surly one could argue adverse possession or another type of defence? 

No, you can't claim adverse possession on registered land if the owner is against it. The old owner let you use their land, they are gone and new owner is revoking that right.

If you agree you built over their boundary then there is no dispute, you need to give them back their land.

MattMattMattUK

AlwaysTrying23 said:

The agreement was decided with the pre-existing Neigbour and considering this has been in place for over 20 years, 

It was just a "gentleman's agreement" as it was never formalised, title of the land was never transferred, the boundary was not moved with the Land Registry. 

AlwaysTrying23 said:

surly one could argue adverse possession or another type of defence? 

In theory Adverse Possession can apply after 12 years, provided there was not an objection, so that may be a way out. If the previous owner owned the property for that 20 years it may be possible to prove adverse possession, which means that your friend could well own the strip of land, but there are specifics, how was use of the land granted, how all that was structured etc. is is not just as easy as the 12 year threshold. That then of course throws up another issue, did your friend's previous neighbour sell land which he did not own, so there is a whole new kettle of fish being opened. 

I would strongly advise your friend to get proper legal advice, if your friend loses this could be very very expensive an there is no clear cut answer. 

ThisIsWeird

As said above, the previous neighb gave permission, so 'adverse possession' shouldn't work. And amen to that.

AT23, please please, oh please, strongly recommend to your friend to do the right thing, and let the neighb move the fence to the correct position and reclaim their rightful land. Let them do it at their expense, by all means.

If your friend wants to be a bolshie and say "Fine - but you need to safely move my shed too!", that's up to them.

But - this is the neighbour's land. Your friend should never have had it.

GDB2222

Surely, the neighbour’s permission means that adverse possession is a non-starter? 

The new neighbour has withdrawn the permission. There seems to be no argument that the shed is partly on the neighbouring land.

This sounds like a legal case the OP is pretty much bound to lose, which would be costly. 

Just move the shed. Or, lose in court , pay the costs of the lawsuit, and then move the shed. 

AlwaysTrying23

Thank all, I assumed the fact permission was granted potentially makes adverse possession a non-starter. 

I have my own thoughts on the matter but still want to explore all avenues. 

The difficulty is it is a large shed in a tiny garden so that along with the costs to sort foundation,  relocation and fencing means neither side wants to accept the financial liability. 

GDB2222

The only alternative is to sort something out with the neighbour that he is happy with. Maybe an annual rental for the piece of land, or buy it from him. It would have been better to do this as soon as he raised the issue, of course.