If you own both sides.

orangeflowers

Hoping someone can offer some 

babyblade41

When you were going through the conveyancing process did you not check the title plan ?

If the land is the previous owners land then you can't claim adverse possession  as the owner would be notified if you made a claim (12 years ) 

Unfortunately you have signed to say what you saw on the ground at purchasing is what is shown on the title plan

ThisIsWeird

I understand, but you'd need to confirm, that AP laws were changed a few years back. Any AP claim made to the LandReg now requires the rightful owner of the land to be contacted and to accept the claim to give this land away. Not very likely to happen in practice, I don't think.
But confirm that this is the case.
As you will no doubt now wish to have your land incorporated within your own curtilage, I'd be looking for a way to determine the accuracy of the true boundary - do you have any fixtures you can rely on, or will you require a land surveyor?
Not sure what the best step to take is! Ideally you'd point out the error to the owner and ask for a friendly chat to discuss and arrive at a joint decision for the true boundary. This does not need to be spot on, as many - the majority?! - of boundaries are not inch-exact. Of course, a friendly chat might lead to them digging their heels in, but you can hopefully point out - from your research - that they'll fail in any claim, and would be a waste of money for them, as all you'd have to say to the LR is 'Non'.
Or, you make it a fair accompli by fencing the true boundary, and then telling them! Be ready to record and conversations, threats, or reactions. Since this is rightfully your land, any threat or attempt to interfere with your new fence - fully on your side of the true boundary, of course - would be 'trespass with criminal property damage', and you can involve the police. Their involvement will almost certainly just be to say 'Stop it! Both of you! Sort this out legally - and do not touch each others property until you have done so.' Your neighb will then have to go 'legal' in order to remove your fence from your land, which, of course, he'll fail to do.
That's my understanding.
Do you have any reason to suspect the wrong boundary was intentional? Or the neighb is untrustworthy?

ThisIsWeird

Do you have Legal Protection included in your house insurance? You do?! Great - ignore everything I said, and call them up for advice.

eddddy

orangeflowers said:

My question is, could the previous owner of this house and the land next door, claim adverse possession? 

You probably need to clarify what you are asking.

Based on what you say, you don't own the strip of undeveloped land, it's owned by the person you bought the house from. That person owns the land, so they don't need to claim adverse possession.

If it's their land, they can probably do whatever they want with it.

(But if you use the land for 12 years, you could make a claim for adverse possession.)

ThisIsWeird

babyblade41 said:

When you were going through the conveyancing process did you not check the title plan ?

If the land is the previous owners land then you can't claim adverse possession  as the owner would be notified if you made a claim (12 years ) 

Unfortunately you have signed to say what you saw on the ground at purchasing is what is shown on the title plan

I understand the OP's concern is that the NEIGHBOUR may try and claim AP!
Yes, silly of the OP to have not confirmed the boundary at the time, but let's be honest - we all do this based on, "Hmm, yes, it looks like it!". How many folk take out a tape measure?
This land is the OP's land - the deeds say so.
There can often be some some justification in making such issues a fait accompli, and then fending off the other person, but I'm not suggesting that should be done here. I simply do not know. 

orangeflowers

babyblade41 said:

When you were going through

! LThank you for reading.

Section62

orangeflowers said:

We have discovered out title plan red line is not inline with our fence by quite a considerable distance (approx 30sqm would be the land size.)

If the plan is one produced by Land Registry then be aware they normally only show a 'general boundary' based on OS mapping which is not that accurate.  The idea of these plans is to give an idea where the plot is and approximate shape, not the exact position of the boundaries.

Unless the line (not area) is grossly out (say 2m or more) then it is probaby more likely the plan is inaccurate rather than the neighbour owning part of your garden.

If the plan shows a 'determined boundary' or you have another plan which shows the boundary with exact measurements from other features (such as the house wall), and that one has the boundary in a different position, then you might have the risk of the neighbour trying to claim there was an error in the position of the fence that they (presumably) put up themselves.

orangeflowers

Section62 said:

orangeflowers said:

We have discovered out title plan red line is not inline with our fence by quite a considerable distance (approx 30sqm would be the land size.)

If the plan is one produced by Land Registry then be aware they normally only show a 'general boundary' based on OS mapping which is not that accurate.  The idea of these plans is to give an idea where the plot is and approximate shape, not the exact position of the boundaries.

Unless the line (not area) is grossly out (say 2m or more) then it is probaby more likely the plan is inaccurate rather than the neighbour owning part of your garden.

If the plan shows a 'determined boundary' or you have another plan which shows the boundary with exact measurements from other features (such as the house wall), and that one has the boundary in a different position, then you might have the risk of the neighbour trying to claim there was an error in the position of the fence that they (presumably) put up themselves.

What I find odd about the title plan is that the red line intersects the Ordnance Survey Map lines, (rather than running along the straight black shown on the OS map, the red line has been drawn like 2 steps. Which intersects the OS line.  lt appears to have very deliberately, as some point, drawn this way.  

housebuyer143

I imagine the land was fenced now as it was when you bought it? 

theoretica

When you bought was it first separate registration of the land?  So the seller was the one who had the boundary drawn for the land registry?