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

ThisIsWeird

Elliott.T123 said:

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 have asked this once or thrice  

And, from what we've been told, I think a solicitor acting for the OP would nail this down pretty quickly.

ThisIsWeird

This is the last letter Nellie received:

"Respectfully, the land that is the subject of this dispute has no prospect of being developed or being put to any significant use being, as it is, only a narrow strip of land behind a garden shed. It, therefore, has no inherent market value and certainly not to the degree you propose.

Further, my clients have spent considerable sums in trying to resolve this dispute, which they feel has dragged on for far too long and waiving their opportunity to recover their legal costs from you, which they would be entitled to do, is a significant gesture. My clients continue to accrue costs as a consequence of this unnecessarily protracted correspondence.

It was clearly stated in my clients’ offer of 23 February 2024 that there was no scenario where they would pay more than the £5,000 being offered and this was their final offer. My clients were making a genuine offer that is in excess of the real value of the land and were surprised that you rejected it.

In the event that court proceedings are required, there is no circumstance where you would be awarded such a cash sum as my clients are currently offering. Furthermore, irrespective of where the judge determines the boundary to lie, there are costs implications for both parties, as costs awards do not cover 100% of any one party’s costs.

The legal costs for a fully contested hearing will be in the tens of thousands of pounds. As such the differential for you is between a £5,000 cash sum payable upon registration of the boundary agreement or the costs arising from court proceedings. From my clients’ side, there is little difference for them between paying you or paying for a court process, although the cash option resolves the situation more quickly, as per the wishes of both parties.

My clients see no benefit of incurring further legal costs through negotiation by correspondence, which is clearly not progressing matters, and they have stated this on a number of occasions previously. Their £5,000 offer, with each party bearing their own costs, as set out in our letter dated 23 February 2024, remains open for a further 7-days. At this time the offer will be withdrawn and court proceedings shall be issued, without further notice

to yourself."

It begins - the very first word, actually - with a whopping lie.

It does now (on my third reading) seem quite clear what this 'court proceeding' would be over, and that is, indeed, the location of the boundary. Their take on this is, it doesn't matter what the truth is, if we take you to court over the boundary's true location, then you won't be any better off than by what their client is willing to offer to buy it.

I wonder what has actually happened about this - the solicitor's letter was dated the 23rd Feb, and they gave Nellie 7 days...

Atomix

Is there a way of putting up an anonymous plan of the land in question? so that we can see whats going on here...

aliby21

Nellie has said she is going to take legal advice, which I think is absolutely the right decision, and she's also said she will update in due course - I for one will be interested to hear what her solicitor has to say.  Kudos to you OP for standing up to the bullying, I know how hard it is. 

ThisIsWeird

The solicitor's deadline should seemingly have been the 1st March. 
The whole thing stinks. Even detail like them insisting on a reply from Nellie in seven days, whilst they usually take a fortnight. It's hectoring and badgering and intimidation of the worst order.
Quite astonishing that these procedures aren't given an ethical overview. 

ThisIsWeird

The solicitor's deadline should seemingly have been the 1st March. 
The whole thing stinks. Even detail like them insisting on a reply from Nellie in seven days, whilst they usually take a fortnight. It's hectoring and badgering and intimidation of the worst order.
Quite astonishing that these legal procedures aren't given an ethical overview. 

MobileSaver

GDB2222 said:

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, ... 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.

It would be unusual for expert witnesses to be allowed in small claims cases and I'm struggling to see why the court would allow such a thing when the claimant's own surveyor has already confirmed the boundary is correct.

That's the fundamental difference between this and other cases. It would be different if the neighbour had a second contrary opinion from another surveyor but that isn't the case here and if it was then the neighbour would be obliged to tell the OP in advance of any trial.

sheramber

It seems odd that if, as the solicitor says, the land has no use, why is the neighbour so set on buying it and prepared to spend thousands of pounds on a useless piece of land.

Atomix

sheramber said:

It seems odd that if, as the solicitor says, the land has no use, why is the neighbour so set on buying it and prepared to spend thousands of pounds on a useless piece of land.

Hence my comment... regarding a rough plan / diagram to make sense of what's going on here...

Elliott.T123

ThisIsWeird said:

Elliott.T123 said:

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 have asked this once or thrice  

And, from what we've been told, I think a solicitor acting for the OP would nail this down pretty quickly.

My apologies! As I said I did skim read, 7 pages was a lot to go through so my bad missing those comments.

That was my thoughts too, if you can get a solicitor acting for you covered by home insurance that should put this to bed very swiftly.