Transfer of ownership of a small piece of garden land to a neighbour

Hoenir

Nellie67 said:

I guess my only question now is on what grounds could they take me to court as he threatens to do? 

Be cheaper to simply make you an offer you couldn't afford to decline. Your neighbour seems to be fixatated.  Their solicitor will do as instructed in terms of writing letters.  

Doing nothing seems the best approach. Let the neighbour stew. 

 

GDB2222

I used to work as an expert witness for many years. I had thousands of clients over that time, and I can’t recall any of them looking happy about being in court. 

I was often surprised at the diversity of professional opinions amongst the experts, so the fact that one surveyor has come up with one view doesn’t necessarily mean that the matter is cut and dried, as the neighbour may find another surveyor who has a different opinion. 

One of the reasons litigation is so difficult is that you don’t get to see the other side’s evidence until you are a considerable way through the process, by which time a lot of money has already been spent on legal and expert fees. 

ThisIsWeird

I personally think a 'stand' has to be made here, for quite a few reasons, the least of which is 'principle'.
If Nellie accepts the £5k offer, who knows what little she'll actually end up with after costs. Who knows what the 'true' value of that strip is - it'll depend on what the neighbour can do with it. And who knows what can be done with that strip - I certainly wouldn't take any casual assurance from this shifty solicitor, so could she possibly end up with some intrusive construction much closer to her border than before? 
And then there's the 'principle' involved. The sheer lack of legal ethics. From what we've been told, this does seem like coercion and bullying - seemingly grist to the mill of legal teams, but, man, it's unprincipled, and it stinks. Nellie is/was willing to consider a sale, and a price was being negotiated. The neighb ain't happy to negotiate, so is threatening the recovery of their expenditure instead. And warning if large legal costs both ways should it escalate. That is not an ethical negotiating tactic.
I think Nellie would be nuts to continue with a sale, not knowing the true value of the land, and what it could be used for. And without knowing what sum she will actually end up with. And if ~£5k is a fair sum, then it should be £5k in her pocket. 

If she has LP, I am as sure as I can be that the neighbour's action will be killed stone dead. Very possibly CAB can provide a letter template to a similar effect, I don't know. Or a half-hour consultation with a solicitor 'should' give her a good indication or how straight-forward this could be to stamp on too, and likely cost. Or, if 'allowed' to go 'legal', what the worst case scenarios could be.
She should also explore how to offer mediation. (More on that if it comes to it.)
We also don't know if she has any personal support network. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

GDB2222 said:

He is not threatening to sue you for costs incurred to date. He is threatening to litigate the dispute over the ownership of the land. 

I agree with this and think the question is whether the neighbour is bluffing or, as GDB2222 said, is mad as a box of frogs

Thousands over 6 inches of land

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10734859/Couple-left-tens-thousands-pounds-debt-decade-long-legal-boundary-dispute.html

100k over a fence

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11709495/Judge-tells-widow-73-drop-obsessive-20-year-boundary-dispute-neighbours.html

40k over bins

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2257358/The-40-000-battle-wheelie-bins-Homeowner-slapped-massive-legal-row-neighbour-ends-court.html

Whether offering to buy the land would go against the neighbour I don't know, if OP doesn't care about the land I'd be inclined to sell it for the £5k but would push for both sides legal fees to be paid by the neighbour.  

MobileSaver

GDB2222 said:

 the neighbour may find another surveyor who has a different opinion. ... you don’t get to see the other side’s evidence until you are a considerable way through the process, by which time a lot of money has already been spent on legal and expert fees.

That is not correct, in small claims you have to file all documents/evidence with both the court and the other party at least 14 days before the trial - the neighbour cannot just turn up on the day and say "Aha, I have a new surveyor's report that says I'm right."

YoungBlueEyes

I thought the neighbour was upset at the costs he's incurred believing the land was for sale and is looking to claw them back. The ownership of the land isn't in question - deeds and surveyor both say it's Nellies. 

We need some clarity @Nellie67

Elliott.T123

I admit I have skim read a few responses but one thing I haven't seen anyone mention is does your home insurance have legal cover?

I may well be wrong, I have no specialist knowledge in the area what so ever but I was under the impression that legal cover on home insurance usually covered boundary disputes?

If so I would be getting on the phone to them ASAP and seeing if you have the chance to get legal advice via that route and if they did try to take you to court over the boundary would the insurance have your back?

nicmyles

It's a complex situation, and I think the balance you need to think about is: make their life as hard as possible, while spending as little money as possible.

I would be tempted to call their bluff, put the price tag back at £10k, plus your costs, no escrow - take it or leave it, any court action will be contested. And get a lawyer to write the letter. If they really do push it to court, you can always fold later if you don't fancy it.

Can understand the temptation to Arkell v Pressdram it, but you might be able to get a decent payment out of them. It's the reverse of their argument to you - it will cost them more to take you to court.

nicmyles

Depending on how annoyed you are with them and how much disposable cash you have - a few times when my dad had unpleasant people demanding money in this way, he used to hire a private investigator to put a file together on them. Helped him understand what their business was, what their game was likely to be, how deep their pockets might be, how much you may or may not want to mess with them, and sometimes shake loose some things they may not wish were known.

Dad had the money, didn't like bullies and turned it into a bit of fun, but also maximised his information to decide next steps.

GDB2222

MobileSaver said:

GDB2222 said:

 the neighbour may find another surveyor who has a different opinion. ... you don’t get to see the other side’s evidence until you are a considerable way through the process, by which time a lot of money has already been spent on legal and expert fees.

That is not correct, in small claims you have to file all documents/evidence with both the court and the other party at least 14 days before the trial - the neighbour cannot just turn up on the day and say "Aha, I have a new surveyor's report that says I'm right."

Boundary disputes are quite complex, I understand. (It's not my area of expertise, but that's what I have heard.)  There will be two sets of 'deeds', and those may conflict, for example.  Plus, the law is complicated. 

This case is likely to depend heavily on expert evidence, and a lot of expense will have been incurred by the time that the parties have a handle on what that says. 

An application needs to be made to the court for permission for expert witness(es) to be appointed. (The existing report won't do.) If it's a SJE, joint instructions will need to be agreed between the parties. Given the complexity of the law in this area, that may well involve instructing counsel to draft the instructions. And, they'll need to agree the documents bundle to be given to the surveyor. It will take months to get to that stage, with the fees clock steadily ticking away. Then, there will be questions under rule 35.6 ...

Having the case on the SC track does tend to reduce the costs, but it doesn't make a complex case simple I'm afraid.