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Original poster

Neighbours selling our land.....

217 replies

willfuckformichilenstarfood · 16/11/2017 18:00

So we purchased a house 18 months ago...... it came with 2.5 parking spaces, both on our (one space is half in our boundary and half in next foors) the deeds are very vague about this space. Both our deeds

OP posts:
SnorkFavour · 19/11/2017 02:29

What Huppopapa says.

But surely it's just a half space? What do the deeds with the land edged in red show? Do they show solid red edging or does it show diagonal lines where the space Is? Because if it's a solid rectangle all the way around your house and garden running right down the middle of the parking space, as long as there's no wording saying anyone has an easement or right of way over the space, then it's just land you own. The marked out spaces are surely irrelevant, meaning you can claim your land.

I'd do this pdq to be honest.

Ninabean17 · 19/11/2017 07:21

Any update op?

Someonessnackbitch · 19/11/2017 07:50

I requested my deeds from the land registry and there was hardly any information. The drawings show practically nothing. I’m assuming this is due to the age of my house. OP hopefully yours will clearer if you have a property build more recently. If I remember correctly I had to pay a fee of £12 and had something emailed. I also requested an appointment so I could photocopy the original.

Original poster
willfuckformichilenstarfood · 19/11/2017 07:50

Hi, no not spoken to them yet. He (who owns it) hasn’t been around and whilst she is the communicator she doesn’t own it and therefore it is really nothing to do with her.... I’m hoping he is around today.
I’ll update a diagram shortly to explain rear extension but I agree that both elements should be sorted. But I do not want to get into a lengthy legal battle! I have no idea when their extension was done, there’s no planning permission logged as it is within permitted development. Ours was built in 1990.
This wasn’t picked up because we had a ‘drive by’ survey. Our first mistake......

OP posts:
ringle · 19/11/2017 10:13

IMO it's unrealistic to treat rear extension and parking together. If the extension is built, what realistic remedy could you hope for?

Whereas parking is 100%just a question of protecting your position by putting any purchaser on notice (and estate agents have obligations, but these only arise if they know). What you need to avoid is a purchaser buying in the genuine belief that the boundary is at the edge of their three places.

Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar · 19/11/2017 10:26

Building within permitted development still needs to be registered. If it hasn't been, it's an illegal building. Check with your council.

shakingmyhead1 · 19/11/2017 10:28

i really dont know why you are bothering talking to the NDN, get your deeds, ownership papers and or council records and look where the boundary's are and if half the space is yours, with NO right to use by the NDN listed, call the RA YOURSELF and tell them they have it wrong, and follow that up with a letter from your lawyer type person to the NDN and then stick some bloody great plant pots on your side of the space!
no need to be fucking about talking to him and hes going to say oh no that's mine!
get it sorted on paper so this doesnt become a huge ass issue when he sells and the new NDN starts shit because you are parked in their 3rd space!
and ps maybe have the lawyer type person also note about the extension built on your property and how you might want him to buy that 12 inches and make it legal or something

ringle · 19/11/2017 10:35

Good advice from shaking.

OP, I think you need to speak to a property litigation solicitor. Your own solicitor will think in a different way if she/he is a conveyancer.

Someonessnackbitch · 19/11/2017 10:54

Solicitors cost time and money. Try talking first. It may be a very simple conversation. Your best bet is to do it via email so you have a paper trail.

Bekabeech · 19/11/2017 10:57

I would start by talking to them and seeing if they can resolve it amicably.
Then if they don't send a letter to their Estate Agent. Legally it should then be brought to the notice of any potential purchaser - and could scupper any deal.

shakingmyhead1 · 19/11/2017 11:02

She has spoken to them and they said no we have 3 you have 2 spaces,
so its bast to have it all official and done by a solicitor or she is going to have a huge ass battle on her hands with the new NDN
and it is also best to get the extension sorted now by the same lawyer type person and that will also bite her in the ass when she comes to sell her home, i really dont know why her solicitor didnt pick it up before they signed! someone really fucked up and left you with a lovely mess!

When we first moved in, they (nicely) told my partner they believed they own 3 spaces and us only 2. I went and spoke to her (nicely) apologised and said we were under the impression it was shared and would ensure our visitors didn’t park in it until such time we resolved it and I would go back to my solicitors and ask them to follow it up.

So I spoke to my solictor, he said exactly the above and that as it was vague and that as it was within both our boundary lines it was shared.

This was communicated and we agreed to share this space with which has been the case.

I knew they were selling in the near future, and a FOR SALE board went up today and the agents particulars state ‘3 privately owned parking spaces’

Original poster
willfuckformichilenstarfood · 19/11/2017 12:19

Thanks all, yeah I think I’m going to message him and ask to have a chat about the parking later today and see what happens..... either way we are going to be doing the driveway but it is just a question of when. Ideally next year (it makes the most sense to try and do it in partnership otherwise it leaves them in a worse position) no matter what I still try to remain reasonable!!

OP posts:
MissFitton · 19/11/2017 12:31

If you redrew your parking spaces as two wider spaces then theirs would become two and a half and would be obvious to any potential buyer that that was the space available? You wouldn't be doing anything wrong, just redefining the available parking on your bit of land.

I may have totally misunderstood everything though.

Jux · 19/11/2017 13:38

Ask to have a chat about the parking AND the extension.

Hauntedlobster · 19/11/2017 13:40

I’d just stick up a fence at the front, no biggie.

Are you allowed to make garden into spaces? Some houses have this disallowed in their deeds etc.

Jayfee · 19/11/2017 13:42

I would mention it to the estate agents. It should come up on the legal documents with a buyer, but if you have emailed the estate agent I think you would be in a safer position.

ferrier · 19/11/2017 13:44

Are you allowed to just claim half the space though? Surely if it's one space but shared ownership that means it belongs to both of you and you can't just comandeer half of it?

Pearlsaringer · 19/11/2017 13:53

For the sake of neighbourly relations it might be helpful to talk to them but remember you are not negotiating with them over the space/boundary, you are nicely informing them of the correct legal position (once you have checked it). If they have encroached your boundary with their extension they would have known they were doing so at the time. It won’t come as a shock to them, they just hoped they had got away with it.

Original poster
willfuckformichilenstarfood · 19/11/2017 14:06

As I understand it the person that lived there previous did the extension. So they aren’t to be held accountable for it.
In regards to the space, I can define it as ours however still have provide passing access.
I’m sure there is far more detail on newer deeds but this is a 60s property and therefore detail has been overlooked.

OP posts:
Hauntedlobster · 19/11/2017 14:33

How about buying a trailer that takes up your half?

ShotsFired · 19/11/2017 14:51

@willfuckformichilenstarfood As I understand it the person that lived there previous did the extension. So they aren’t to be held accountable for it.

No, but in turn there should have been investigations/a paper trail on THAT transaction by that set of conveyancers.

They may not have done it, but I think they have sorted of inherited responsibility for it.

Someonessnackbitch · 19/11/2017 15:55

Shotsfired is right, it is still their responsibility. Should have been flagged up during surveyors inspection. The same as you both having a dispute now even though the parking spaces were done by previous owners.

DarkPeakScouter · 19/11/2017 16:06

You’ll deffo need to get this sorted

Huppopapa · 19/11/2017 23:42

Sorry but I am not the only lawyer who has posted: there are at least two others, and we have all advised you to get on the case of your conveyancing solicitors. There is all sorts of nonsense advice here - for instance, if the extension is on your land you could indeed insist on having it demolished; you do not need to do anything to preserve a good relationship with your neighbour because you don't need to speak to them at all; and the cost of lawyers is irrelevant if your conveyancers were professionally negligent.
Please, please stop messing about and ring the conveyancers first thing on Monday morning. They have a lot to be getting on with. Whoever or whatever caused the confusion in the first place, it was the conveyancers' job to sort it out at the point you purchased the house. They didn't then. They must do now.

shakingmyhead1 · 20/11/2017 01:54

this....

Huppopapa

Sorry but I am not the only lawyer who has posted: there are at least two others, and we have all advised you to get on the case of your conveyancing solicitors. There is all sorts of nonsense advice here - for instance, if the extension is on your land you could indeed insist on having it demolished; you do not need to do anything to preserve a good relationship with your neighbour because you don't need to speak to them at all; and the cost of lawyers is irrelevant if your conveyancers were professionally negligent.
Please, please stop messing about and ring the conveyancers first thing on Monday morning. They have a lot to be getting on with. Whoever or whatever caused the confusion in the first place, it was the conveyancers' job to sort it out at the point you purchased the house. They didn't then. They must do now.

im really sorry but this cant be sorted as a gentleman's agreement, if you try to sell your house it will bite you in the ass not having this sorted legally and you may have a huge legal fight on your hands if the new owners start issues over you using THEIR 3 parking space
the easiest way to sort the stealing of your 10 inches of land is to sell it to him (even if just for the fees it will cost to lodge the ownership and boundary change) and the parking needs to be defined on both deeds correctly or this will be an ongoing issue that really is something simple to sort