NEIGHBOUR CROSSED THE BOUNDARY BEFORE EXCHANGE

Look, everyone, OP is happy with the outcome and has given you all an update. Stop trying to give her a downer.
Well done for holding your nerve and steering the right people through the right course. I'd just make the fence between you and the neighbour nice and tall and never think of them again.
Until they want to sell their property, then find a way of dropping a few hints to potential buyers about what happened....

The world is full of CFers (we had one who did a very similar thing when we were selling. The buyers are perfectly happy with the outcome, the neighbour is still a CF, but they're not allowing him to live rent free in their heads).

FFS everyone - OP is happy with the outcome - we need to let go of the idea that the CF's must pay.

We all know life isn't fair - acceptance is key.

Let's stop hassling OP to have a grievance with them when the better choice is to enjoy the excitement of moving to her dream home.

Sucks to be the land stealers if they spent that much on a fence in the wrong spot. Please take your land back from them @MummyToBeAgain1 . Don’t let them get away with it. It’s your land and you know it and they know it. What’s next? Your backyard?

Get a chainsaw and cut the posts off at ground level. Fuck them. It’s on your land therefore it’s your fence.

What I don’t understand is why they would convey to the neighbours who stole it. They can give you the price reduction for the loss of amenity to that strip of land. Doesn’t mean it isn’t yours still though. Ultimately it doesn’t make any sense for them to give that land away.

@MummyToBeAgain1 look, the vendor just wanted the sale to go through so he reduced the price!! it is now up to you once the property belongs to you, to go ahead and reclaim the land which has been stolen! no money needs to be returned to the vendor if you do this!! just do it and stand up for yourself!! you know they stole it and you are letting them off by going on about 10k. the money side is nothing to do with the cf neighbour. he hasnt paid the vendor 10k!!!

Maybe move then when they're on holiday take the land back and post a photocopy of the relevant bit of the deeds through their door.

The boundary had changed. She likely wouldn't have lost it.

Fuck me! Nearly £10k loss? Lucky you! It takes people years to save that much. Maybe the OP would not be able to afford a deposit for a new purchase if they lost that much. Or didn't that occur to you?

Much better to buy it then put it up for sale again immediately.

Rather than live next to people like that, any day. If it's a forever house I'd just think of it as spread over the time we lived there. And with a change in boundary she'd have had a decent chance of getting it back.

You're right, I've checked. Just the nearly £10k auction fee.

We can't back of from buying the property because we'll lose the nearly £10k auction fee we've paid. March 26 10:02

Not everyone can afford to lose that much money. Glad you're in a position to write that much off.

Auction property, deposit already paid and yes would be forfeit if op pulled out.

The family members may not live nearby and were letting the Estate Agent handle it all, and unless they've got viewings, an Estate Agent isn't going to be keeping a close eye on the place. I'd be willing to bet the CFs made their move the minute the "Sold" sign went up. At least the OP got a reduction fairly easily and is now in the home they wanted.

Fascinating thread.

You've done most of the hard work by getting evidence of the land grab as it happened.

I'd be reclaiming the land on day one. The issue with your agreement with the Sellers is that you could have asked them to commit to act as witnesses - that the land was grabbed. If, as you say, you've agreed to hand over the land to the CFs (not that the Sellers will enforce it) then they have no interest in supporting your claim. I don't think you'd have much trouble getting the land back anyway.

You will still have bought the land including the disputed strip.

before exchange no deposit to lose

And sacrifice a £20k deposit?

The problem is buying by Auction is pretty much 'buyer beware' and you can't 'just pull out' the way you can up until exchange on a normal sale.

Sometimes people have put up a fence into their own land - someone near us has which is silly thing to do and then years later claim back the real land - we had two cases locally and in each case the fence that had been there for years was wrong and the newly reclaimed land was rightly reclaimed.

Beggars belief anyone would want to live next to people like this. Anyone else would have just pulled out. Ridiculous outcome. They've got away with theft.

Sounds like good advice to me

What a stressful time @MummyToBeAgain1
Get the sale done, but do not let those CFs keep their ill gotten gains. Right now they’re sitting there smugly thinking no one even knows. As soon as you’re in, make it crystal clear you know exactly what they did and get it rectified.
As PPs have said I really don’t think you have any obligation to alter the deeds, no matter what the Sellers have said, and like others I think you’ve probably misinterpreted their ‘advice’ as a requirement

Absolutely this.

Between a rock and a hard place with this, I can understand why you have came to this compromise but my worry would be what the CF neighbours do next after getting away with this. They’re definitely not the kind of neighbours I would want.
I guess it boils down to how desperate you are to live there because you would definitely have had cause to dispute this with the auction house- you are not getting what you bid for.

Could you explain why you decided it was not possible for the neighbours to move the fence and take up the stuff they had put down?
And now gong ahead, will the sellers sue the neighbours for the money they had to lose out on?