Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Neighbours boundary dispute!

98 replies

Bingooo · 09/07/2013 19:49

We're set to complete on a house we're buying next week.

The elderly neighbours have tended the garden for 40 years and there was no fence when in first went on the market. We explained a fenc ewould need to go up before we bought it, there were only to obliging and offered to do it themselves.... Only problem is it is about 8 inches over the boundary.... I have put pics on my profile.

I spoke to them today and they are adamant that is where the boundary was, I don't believe them. They have built over their whole garden with sun houses and want a bit of flowerbed.

They got pretty shirty with me so I have now left it to the solicitor. DH says I am being ridicuous and we should let them have it but it works out as a bout 3k of garden! AIBU?

OP posts:
HansieMom · 09/07/2013 20:15

Get it surveyed! Get corners marked! It is not expensive at all here in the States. I think it cost us less than $300 and we have five acres.

I want every square inch of my land. I treasure it.

HansieMom · 09/07/2013 20:17

So they want a bit of flower bed? Tough shit. Should have thought of that when they built all over their land.

LIZS · 09/07/2013 20:19

Can you be sure the fence you are comparing it to is actually correct though. Really, make it not your problem , that is why you pay a solicitor to resolve such issues. However, given the houses are attached and you may need to get along with the neighbours is it really worth either the anxiety of trying to do so in the wake of raising this or angst of an argument and delays before purchase.

Plomino · 09/07/2013 20:20

Do you really really need to buy THIS house ? Surely there must be others just as good , bearing in mind the property market at the moment . I really think if you plough on and carry this purchase through , you are setting yourselves up for years and YEARS of aggravation , that will eventually sour the enjoyment of your home, no matter how convenient for schools , or work , no matter how lovely it is . Because it might be just a fence , but I guarantee there will be other issues that come to light , when its too late to back out . And if you do have a dispute with them , and you decide to sell because you can't stand it any more , you'll have to declare it , which won't exactly enamour the place to other buyers .

Find somewhere else , while,you can, if you can .

LIZS · 09/07/2013 20:21

The vendor should pay for a surveyor if needs be to ensure the plot they are selling is as described in the deeds. They could agree to move it , you exchange only to discover it has shifted back again on completion . Then where does that leave you ? Ill feeling all round.

LunaticFringe · 09/07/2013 20:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Bingooo · 09/07/2013 20:29

I may contact one of the vendors directly (I have his number) and ask him to go and talk to them as he is friendly with them.

OP posts:
Original poster
Bingooo · 09/07/2013 20:30

I am surprised that they could be so cheeky actually, I feel a bit odd about the whole thing.

OP posts:
LIZS · 09/07/2013 20:31

No don't get involved . They have a vested interest in getting the property sold and without a legal intermediary whatever they say to you means very little.

HansieMom · 09/07/2013 20:32

Lunatic, the survey TELLS where the line is. Legally. I do not understand what the 'agreement' thing is.

Comfyseat · 09/07/2013 20:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Squitten · 09/07/2013 20:36

If you REALLY want this house (and do bear in mind that you have advance warning about your neighbours now!), then you should avoid making this your problem.

Simply contact their solicitor via yours or the estate agent and tell them what's happened. Tell them that you won't be exchanging until it's sorted out. End of. Boundary disputes like this could come back to bite you when you are selling it later on!

LunaticFringe · 09/07/2013 20:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

greenfolder · 09/07/2013 20:50

It looks like a terraced house? Surely it just runs from between the windows ie the position of the internal wall in a straight line down the garden. Eight inches of garden is a lot in this sort of garden

starfishmummy · 09/07/2013 20:56

I think you need expert advice. I am sure that I have read that if the (neighbours) havee been using that land for a certain number of years and it has never been questioned, they may have acquired rights over it.

Original poster
Bingooo · 09/07/2013 20:56

Yes it is a Victorian terrace and to me the boundary is pretty clear. DH have decided I may have a point and that he will just move the fence, he is ruder braver than I am when it come to neighbourly disputes

OP posts:
LunaticFringe · 09/07/2013 20:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Bingooo · 09/07/2013 21:04

Well that, or put up a new one in the correct position.

OP posts:
Original poster
Bingooo · 09/07/2013 21:06

If there is no way of enforcing a boundary line, then we may as well put it where it should be, in line with the original concrete divider. What can they do apart from take us to court?

OP posts:
HansieMom · 09/07/2013 21:16

Wow, Lunatic, very interesting. And unsettling! Thanks for clarification.

Not that our laws here are any guarantee. When we moved in, neighbor had just completed a barn. He calls it a barn, it is just a shed like a long garage. We were told he had gotten permission to place it five feet way rather than the required ten feet. We had land surveyed. It is 19.5 inches away! But nothing could be done as a year had passed.

And furthermore, it is bright red! We planted big conifers. And installed a fence.

LunaticFringe · 09/07/2013 21:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JackNoneReacher · 09/07/2013 21:44

YANBU to make sure this is done properly and I think its important to get it done properly from the start and make it clear you will be having your garden no matter what strange set up they've had until now.

Not sure if I would be brave enough to move there though. They sound like trouble. No wonder they were so keen to get a fence up!!

Inertia · 09/07/2013 21:44

When you say you are set to complete, does that mean you've already exchanged contracts?

If you haven't exchanged contracts, I'd strongly suggest (disclaimer: not a solicitor!) that your solicitor and their solicitor work together to get a cast-iron agreement in place and in the contract about exactly where the boundary is. The problem is that it's very difficult to enforce boundaries anyway, so any dispute will ending up costing thousands.

I think you either accept the fence or buy a different house.

Onesleeptillwembley · 09/07/2013 21:45

I'd avoid this house like a prossie with the clap.

Armadale · 09/07/2013 22:08

I can not for the life of me see why you are involved in this when you don't yet own the property???

This issue needs to be resolved between the existing owners before you buy the house

OR

they need to give you a massive discount if they can't sort it out...

{Incidentally, if there hasn't been a fence there and they have been tending/enjoying the flowerbed uninterrupted for enough years without anyone stopping them then legally now they WILL own the land regardless of where the boundary is on the registered plans/deeds. (google the law of 'adverse possession')

Speaking as someone who has had a ten year boundary dispute going on against their will (property developer bought disused land behind us with no access to a road and then has spent ten years trying to make us give up land so he can get planning permission by literally making up stuff and sending is hysterical letters threating to sue and cost us thousands but never actually does so, meaning their is no ending in sight..)

Why you are choosing to volunteer yourself for one I have no idea, but I guarantee it won't be the easy resolution you might think it is.