NEIGHBOUR CROSSED THE BOUNDARY BEFORE EXCHANGE

Pull out. Nothing worse than bad neighbours even if you get the land back.

I would definitely knock on next door..and or the people on the other side. I always used to do this when considering auction properties. I’d usually just have a general chat. With the fence people I’d start a general chat then query why have you put up a new fence as it seems to be over the boundary. I would also talk to solicitors.

You paid 10K for a property which included this strip of land. If it's not included in the sale then you're not getting what you bid on. I'm not sure where liability would fall but if you bought an item at auction that was then damaged, it would be anticipated that the Auction House would be liable on their insurance...

and reward a CF? no way!!

Fingers crossed it goes well today. You could offer to sell the land to the neighbours if it doesn't effect your space greatly (help with costs!)

Total CFs - talk about stealing fr on the dead!!
Yea kick up a fuss, via the solicitors! Get your ducks in line this afternoon and hopefully they'd have just wasted a load of money to put up an illegal fence!
Was the wall on 'your' boundary? Wondering if the wall
Belonged to the house you're buying in which case the vendors
Solicitor may have a bit of a
Fight getting them to replace the wall - I'd much rather a wall than a fence - I'd want that back if it was mine

It’s worth checking with the sellers to see if they were aware. When our neighbour died we took the opportunity to put a new more secure fence up whilst access was a bit easier as the house was empty and we had a key for access in case of emergency. We checked it was ok with the daughter and there was no change to the boundary line. Glad we did as the new neighbours have dogs and the old wire fence/bushes was not secure!

Hope this turns out ok for you @MummyToBeAgain1. People can be such CF's.

I wouldn’t overreact. This may be isolated cheekyfuckery. It’s a solicitor issue and you love the house and location so hang in there for now.

So good you found out now! Absolutely measure up, take pics and call sols. Wondering if cheeky neighbours will spy you and think oh heck busted!

Of note OP
If this doesn’t get sorted in time and you have sufficient evidence of the boundary line change you can claim all costs including rebuilding and legal from the sellers solicitor after you’ve bought.

Get onto your solicitor TODAY with that evidence. Do not be fobbed off. The property as it is now is not the property you bid on, as its area has been (illegally) reduced. Surely you can pull out of the purchase on that basis?

The absolute cheek of the neighbours!

I’d question that re backing from sale.
The boundary line was visible when you offered on the property.
That has now been moved so this is really down to the current owners and their solicitors to sort out as you are technically buying less than what you originally offered on.
They must have insurance. So for example if you had an auction offer accepted on a property which subsequently burnt down you would not be obliged to buy and would not lose your down payment.

You need to talk to your solicitor. I’m hoping you’ve got one that specialises in auction property OP

The waters are muddied here by it being an auction property.
Am I right in saying completion has to be within 21 days, or thereabouts?
Realistically, will your solicitor be able to sort it within this time frame?

Depends on who the wall belonged to!
OP, maybe they just aren’t very good with a tape measure 😳

Screenshot that image before you do anything else.

I'd talk to the neighbours and tell them that if the sale went through I'd be taking the fence down and giving it back to them.

Make sure the cost of rebuilding the wall is knocked off the purchase price.

"We can't back of from buying the property because we'll lose the nearly £10k auction fee we've paid."

Honestly 10k will be a drop in the ocean if you continue with this purchase and then have an ongoing boundary dispute over a known issue so probably won't be able to claim in any insurance to cover costs. This could affect future re sale and quality of life as these neighbours are potentially showing you what they are like. Definitely do not continue for the sake of 10k now.

I would also be concerned that there may be undeclared disputes with the neighbours and raise the point that the vendors may not be telling the truth on the auction paperwork

What a pain for you. If they'd taken a foot or so off the bottom of a long garden perhaps it wouldn't be worth arguing about, but the space at the side is important. Which is presumably why they nicked it. I agree: get on to your solicitor and be willing to take the fence down yourselves if the neighbours don't apologise and move it. Good luck.

Don’t be surprised if your solicitor is of no help whatsoever

Given how committed you seem, I think your options are to ask sellers to resolve in advance of exchange or demand a discount to compensate for you dealing with the dispute.

You should be able to get a free consultation with a boundary dispute surveyor who can explain how this can be resolved and the likely time and costs involved.

The seller will want this resolved just as quickly as you but this is their problem to sort before you complete. If it looks like it’s going to drag on, then i’d get commitment from them that they will cover all costs associated with the boundary dispute and replacement of the original wall even after the sale completes.

Although, there is something to be said for claiming ignorance, moving in and then pulling the fence down and replacing the walk and just saying to the neighbour, “Oh, what so you mean that was your fence? It’s in the middle of the garden i just bought so came with the sale, we took it down to fix the wall and maintain the correct boundary.” And let them try and take action… because they can’t, they’d have to admit they tried to steal land and erected a fence in your garden.

I would now be trying to get out of the sale altogether and to recoup the £10K on the basis of this. It's clear the neighbours will be trying all sorts if they have done this in the run up to the sale. In a way you are lucky it has come to light before you take on ownership.

I suggest that it might be worth talking to the local police to see if they are aware of any disputes involving the neighbours

DO NOT EXCHANGE.

Probably run away screaming.