Neighbour's New Wall Encroaches on My Property - Easement Advice Needed pen_spark

BathMoney

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to get some advice on a bit of a tricky situation with my neighbour. He recently built a new driveway wall, and unfortunately, it seems to be encroaching onto my property by about 10cm.

We've spoken about it, and he's a retired solicitor – seems like a nice guy otherwise. He suggested I consider an easement to formalize things.

Here's the thing: I'm not entirely sure what an easement entails or how it would affect me in the long run. Also, considering the encroachment is relatively minor, is it even worth pursuing anything official?

Would be really grateful for any insights on:

• Easements: What does it mean for me if I agree to an easement? Are there any downsides I should be aware of?
• Is it worth it?: Given the small encroachment, is it best to just leave things as they are, or is it important to address it formally?

Any advice or experiences you've had with similar situations would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Emmia

I'd be asking him to move the wall to the boundary, and onto his land, rather than encroaching on yours.

MikeJXE

So if it's a double brick wall ie 9" / 200mm 

Then half of it is on your land and presumably half your responsibility 

Crafty!!

BathMoney

Its not 100% clear where the boundary actually lies, although they have gone over the old fence line.

ThisIsWeird

Hi BathMoney.
I am not in any way legally informed, other than from picking up stuff along the way, so take this with the requisite.
An 'easement' will allow your neighbour to permanently use this 4" strip of your land, whilst it remains your 'property'. This means that, even if he were to remove that wall, you couldn't use that strip as he'd retain the right to access it for a future wall. In theory, this could mean that you couldn't put up your own fence on that strip of your land in future, but he could! I guess the easement could be written in a way that it relates to only this wall, so that you get your land back whenever this wall comes to the end of its natural life - in 50+ years time...?
An easement will transfer to the new owners of your property - unless, possibly, an end time could also be written into it.
It would mean that, although you still 'own' that strip, your neighbour would have a permanent right to have their wall on it. Even if they removed that wall in future, they could still put a fence on that - your - strip.
So, even tho' the land still belongs to you, you'll be effectively giving away the ability to use it for your own purposes. Fancy a car port or garage along there? Well, make sure you don't tread on his easement...
Q - do you want to give him an easement on that basis? I wouldn't.
Alternatives are to legally force him to remove the wall, or to (and you'd need the correct wording) give him 'permission' to use that strip for as long as you wish - rescinded at any time - and with you retaining full rights over that 4" strip of yours.
I guess I'd only entertain the first alternative if I had LegProt who were willing to take on the case, or if I was pretty darned confident of winning, and him paying my legal bills. I'd also have to accept there would unlikely be any ongoing neighbourly relations.
I'd entertain the latter if the 4" loss of land didn't affect me too much - eg, excessively narrow my driveway. But I'd have to accept that the encroachment is unlikely to change any time soon - unless a car were to drive into the wall.
As for your neighb's suggestion of an easement - how much was he proposing to pay you for what could effectively be a permanent loss of your land?
This guy is a retired solicitor? Hmm. Two things come to mind; the first is that he'll likely defend himself in any dispute, so won't accrue costs like you could, and the second is, this guy should have known better. What an 'error' to make. Really? You put up a boundary wall, and you - oopsie! - get such a fundamental factor wrong? Ok, I'm not suggesting he is pulling a fast one, but use your critical faculties when dealing with him.
Final Q - what difference does this 4" make to you?

Dustyevsky

ThisIsWeird said:

Final Q - what difference does this 4" make to you?

It's the basic question, and the answer's governed by a variety of things. The size of the plot is the most important.

Personally, with my plot, I'd probably not notice 4", but even with my smallest garden (about 25' long, and it was in Bath!) an encroachment by a neighbour of 4" might have been OK, depending on where exactly it was, quality of wall, height etc.

Often, life's too short for argy-bargy over a very small piece of ground.

ThisIsWeird

What do your deeds say about this boundary? Is implied 'responsibility' allocated to just one of you? Any 'T's? Any wording?

(I'm placing bets that this is not a 'party' wall in the deeds, so the neighbour knew he'd either have to build it all on his side, which would presumably have meant a 9" loss as he wanted a nice thick wall, or he should have discussed and agreed this overlap beforehand - with the risk of you saying 'non'. So, he went ahead and made it a fair accompli. 
Q - BMoney, what does this wall look like? And, does the 4" affect you negatively? If 'nice' and 'no', I would just tell him you are ok with it, and he has your permission to encroach and use your land, but that you won't make that a legally binding situation, thank you very much; "Although it doesn't really affect me that much - and it's a nice wall tobesuretobesure - I wouldn't want to commit any future owner to this change..". That should keep the presumptuous twit on his toes. And it also means that if a new owner of your house does wish to build a garage, for example, then they retain access right up to the boundary.)

cr1mson

The easement is not for your benefit it is for his! So as others have said would just leave it as is. Unless you are happy to make it permanent and be paid for your troubles. I would suggest they are a chancer!

Doozergirl

MikeJXE said:

So if it's a double brick wall ie 9" / 200mm 

Then half of it is on your land and presumably half your responsibility 

Crafty!!

The wall belongs to whoever paid for it, regardless of where it is. 

But if the OP doesn't even know where the boundary is then I really can't see this being a problem.  No future buyer is going to know or care either. 

I think having half a wall on what you think is your property is the right way to do things, to be honest.   And it's lovely that someone has paid for a boundary wall.  

user1977

BathMoney said:

Its not 100% clear where the boundary actually lies, although they have gone over the old fence line.

In which case "about 10cm" seems remarkably precise. Who said the old fence was in the "correct" place?