Neighbour wants council to redistribute part of our garden

[BigGardenSmallGarden]

I live in council housing , we have a large back garden , we are on the end one side and have another house joined to ours then the road goes round a corner so their garden is a very small triangle shape.

They have informed me that they are asking the council to ‘redistribute the space’ basically they want some of my garden !!! Surely the council wouldn’t do this ?? I can’t even see how it would be possible??

There is a large grassy area to the side of my house I don’t understand why they don’t go there if they want some outdoor space plus a local park?

Fucking hell. Not sure, but put up a bloody fight, what cheeky neighbours?! Nasty of them.

Likely just upset as you have a lot of garden and fhey don’t. I mean this gently, I grew up in council it’s not your garden you can make a case as to why you need the space, but it maybe difficult,

The council absolutely will not do this, but the request will give someone in the housing department a good laugh.

I highly doubt their request will go anywhere. I understand their frustration but the plots will be registered and the council will not want to go to the effort and expense of changing them legally.

I don’t think they’ll get anywhere either. I live in a council estate and the only similar thing I heard is on my uncles street where there was a walkway quite big alongside a house and it was offered to tenants bordering it to give is as the garden and we all thought it was so the council no longer had to maintain it. Never ever heard of it with a tenant in situ though

Why not just offer them a slither?! On the basis that they cover the cost of moving the fence?

Obviously the OP can’t do this, as she doesn’t own it. It has nothing to do with moving a fence.

Because it’s not OP’s to give and is a legal boundary not just moving a fence. That kind of thing creates untold headaches down the line. Residents can’t just get parts of other people’s property, council or not.

And the cost of changing the registration of the ‘sliver’
Give these CFs an inch and they’ll take what they want
Terrible idea

Well, to be fair, they wouldn’t be able to take what they want. It would have to be approved, paid for and all work done by the council. That won’t happen.

Diagram please OP!!!

I doubt the council would do it but I can understand why the neighbour is annoyed by it. Poor planning by whoever designed the space. If the council did agree though can you actually object as you’re a tenant and they’re the landlord.

Lol, hilarious. Don't worry, it won't happen.

This request is far too complex for council departments to deal with. They would need to amend the title number and plans for both your properties with the land registry. The housing team are ridiculously slow just dealing with RTB cases this won’t be done anytime soon. They don’t even have a case for adverse possession. They knew what the garden was when they moved in 🤷‍♀️
Nonetheless don’t agree to it even if it’s brought to your attention by the council.

But if they are council houses on council land then it won't be a question of individual titles will it ,?
Wouldn't that only be the case if they had been bought and were owner occupied ,?

Unsure on this because years ago (it was 20+ years keep in mind) my mum was in a council house and the council sold a section of my 'mums' garden to the next door neighbour when he asked if he could. Mum was disappointed as it made the garden look really awkward. Mum subsequently bought her council house and still moans about 'the cheeky bastard neighbour' who 'stole' a chunk of 'her' garden! 😂

Councils can’t afford to keep libraries open never mind this nonsense.

Unless it benefits the council, very little will happen

Do they also rent from the council?

Basically you are the tenant of the house and garden.

So IMHO they cant simply take it away from you

If the neighbour is also a council renter they won’t do it.

if he owns, and is willing to pay them a lump sum plus costs, they might

Am assuming the plot - house and garden - is define on the title deeds that the council hold on the property. So, of course the won’t redraw the lines. It would cost a fortune in legal/land registry fees for no financial gain or any type of benefit. They won’t do it just because a neighbouring tenant wants a bigger garden. Moreover, the size of the garden may actually be factored into the rental amount you each pay, so equity doesn’t come into it.

They are daft, frankly.

Tbf there no harm in them asking
do the rent or own

if the own the council may well sell to them if they agree to pay fees
rental doubt they’d bother there no finical gain for them

I doubt they'll do this, but people are weird. I bought my house from the Church Commissioners, who owned the whole row. The garden is a really weird shape because no thought was put into separating up the bits that belonged to different houses; I have someone else's outbuilding basically in my garden. My neighbour rented her house from them decades ago, at which point the gardens were all communal allotments (they had a row of shared outdoor privies until, I think, the 90s). When we moved in she informed us loftily that she still considered part of our back garden hers, as it once had been, and we were not to use it when she wanted to enjoy the privacy of her garden. Even after we bought the property, she still believed this was really her right. Every now and again she will complain loudly that 'the new neighbours' are 'spoiling our garden' because I do something like putting the washing out while she's having a family BBQ. The gardens are enormous with huge tree-filled hedges between them; you couldn't encroach on someone else's privacy without getting up on a long ladder and using a periscope.

But there we go. Weird.

I would just interact with them as little as possible. In the unlikely event the council gets in touch, they'd presumably have to re-do your tenancy agreement to account for the different (aside from all the other faff PPs describe).

Do they own the property? Just thinking if they offer to buy, the Council might consider.