Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 ··· 8 9 10 11 12 13

Original poster

Are we complete idiots?

309 replies

Happy20 · 08/06/2020 20:03

We have an ongoing issue with a boundary which isn't as easily answered as you would think! Basically the neighbors think a piece of land is there's when we are pretty sure it's ours.

When we brought our house the sellers said a meadow at the bottom of our drive was theirs, they mowed it and used it, even had a couple sheep on it once.
We moved in, all fine and dandy until the next weekend when neighbour is out there mowing the meadow. Very kind of him we think because obviously he is being neighbourly what with us having only just moved in. We think we've struck it rich with such lovely, thoughtful neighbours. Wife of neighbour comes round the next day with a welcome card and has a nice superficial chat. We thank her profusely for mowing our meadow and offer to help them out if they ever need a hand, well you can probably see where this is going. Neighbour tells us it's their meadow and there must have been a mix up. We explain what the old owners told us and she claims they ' must have been talking about another bit of land as it has always been theirs'. After much awkwardness and many protesting about how old neighbours must have pulled a fast one (without actually saying they have pulled a fast one) we leave it at we will talk to our solicitor and her being nice but increasingly frosty. I think she honestly thought we would just say it's fine and not bother with taking it any further. She seemed very out out that we would be talking to the solicitor and old owners solicitor.

Now is the massive issue!

Our house is very old, the deeds were lost a long time ago. We have insurance to cover the lack of deeds (can't remember what it's called but our solicitor insisted we needed this) and can see up to date deeds from our sale with the old owners, but cannot find anything further back than that.

So YABU - leave the neighbors to it. You brought a house with no deeds just hope they don't want to build on it.
YANBU - it's clearly your land and the are trying to pull a fast one.

We are waiting on a call back from our solicitor but in the meantime does anyone have any ideas where we might find really old, long list deeds? I would be forever grateful!!

OP posts:

MinnieMountain · 09/06/2020 09:08

I think PP are missing the point here that the indemnity policy covers the house and 1(ish) acre. Not the meadow.

Did the plan your solicitor asked you to sign to confirm the extent of the property you were buying include the meadow or not OP?

TheShoesa · 09/06/2020 09:11

R2519 We have talked about fences but as yet nothing has been done (DH moans about cost).

People are chancers though - we had one of the house owners move their back fence onto our land to give themselves extra garden. They then approached us and said as the fence was already there, could they buy the land off us? I can't believe the brass neck of some people! Needless to say the fence was (eventually) moved back to its correct position at their actual boundary, not the one they wished they had.

missymousey · 09/06/2020 09:16

Why are any of you mowing it? Surely it's nice with the wild flowers at this time of year? Do you need hay?

Hingeandbracket · 09/06/2020 09:21

Are we complete idiot's[sic]?

Yes HTH

DogBowlSpaghetti · 09/06/2020 09:23

People are chancers though you mean people like you OP?

AnotherBoredOne · 09/06/2020 09:30

Oh I really hope you can get it sorted.

Would this cause future tensions with neighbours? Is that worth it?
I know you don't want to give it away just curious if it's all worth it?

NeilTheBaby · 09/06/2020 09:31

I think a diagram would help

Hingeandbracket · 09/06/2020 09:31

I know you don't want to give it away
You can't give something away if it's not yours in the first place.

Lazypuppy · 09/06/2020 09:36

OP if there isn't a red line around it (that would would have been asked to check by your solicitor) then it isn't yours.

Do you remember checking all the documents your solictor sent you?

Blobby10 · 09/06/2020 09:37

@Happy20 my advice would be to find a local (old) farmer who has been in the village/area since year dot. . They usually know everything about everyone and every piece of land bought and sold in the area !!! In the village I used to live in they congregated in the village pub and we would often go in just to chat with them about the village history .

justkeepmovingon · 09/06/2020 09:41

Upshot is your solicitors didn't do their job properly and I'd be working on how to get them to rectify this situation.

Our solicitors missed out a parcel of land on our sale, luckily very luckily I sat down one afternoon and read through everything, it was rare afternoon my DS were out and I remember to This day noticing some land was missing on the drawings.

So go back through all of your paperwork and see if the line goes around the meadow or not?

Unregistered land is so tricky but I'm sure you have a case to claim it, alternatively why not agree to share it? Then if planning is even an option you all get a share on the profits?

That's not ideal but better than nothing?

Weenurse · 09/06/2020 09:42

@Blobby10 great idea of where to start

lockdownstress · 09/06/2020 09:42

Upshot is your solicitors didn't do their job properly and I'd be working on how to get them to rectify this situation

it's not at all clear that's the situation. As far as I can tell the OP took a verbal assurance from the seller that the meadow was included and never asked the solicitor.

Bluntness100 · 09/06/2020 09:48

To be honest, the op must have checked the deeds and agreed with the solicitor to proceed as they were accurate, there was clearly no meadow on them, what possessed her to then say to the neighbours thanks for mowing our meadow beats me, she must have known full well it wasn’t hers

If you thought it was included in the sale the first thing you’d say when you looked at the deeds was “it’s missing the meadow and a third of our land”.

I’m struggling to believe this is exactly as written op, I’m sorry. No one sees a third of their land missing and kind of forgets about it.

SoupDragon · 09/06/2020 09:54

@DogBowlSpaghetti

You have no right to exclude someone from land that isn’t your own and which you have no claim to.

The poster I think you are referring to was replying to a different poster, not the OP. That poster does have the right to exclude someone from their land.

lockdownstress · 09/06/2020 09:55

@Bluntness100

If you thought it was included in the sale the first thing you’d say when you looked at the deeds was “it’s missing the meadow and a third of our land”.

I’m struggling to believe this is exactly as written op, I’m sorry. No one sees a third of their land missing and kind of forgets about it.

This, exactly. I'm also struggling to believe that anyone could be so chilled about a major purchase.

DogBowlSpaghetti · 09/06/2020 09:55

Our solicitors missed out a parcel of land on our sale, luckily very luckily I sat down one afternoon and read through everything

They didn’t miss it, they supplied you with the information for you to check through. Solicitors don’t do site inspections so can’t give any warranty to the extent of the land being sold and if it the title plan accords with the situation on the ground. The solicitor can only present what they believe the situation is for you, as a client to confirm.

It’s not lucky that you read through the information your solicitor supplied, it should be the actions of any prudent purchaser. You can’t expect the solicitor to tap into your brain and understand your expectations if you don’t engage with the information they provide.

DogBowlSpaghetti · 09/06/2020 09:57

@Blobby10

The most sensible thing I’ve read.

As for splitting the land amongst the neighbours? If one person can’t prove title and the right to sell it how do you think they can all suddenly acquire it. That course of action has absolutely no place in land law.

StCharlotte · 09/06/2020 13:26

As for the sellers not upsetting the neighbours because they're in the same dinner club (how naice), I think that ship has sailed as they will have caused the neighbours some embarrassment.

If it were me, I think I might knock on the neighbours' door with a bunch of meadow flowers and apologise for the misunderstanding (even though it wasn't your fault). In conversation I would ask - all innocent like - why do they think the sellers would have told you they owned it?

Finally, OP, you seem to have forgotten a diagram Especially as you have a plan right in front of you...

BeingKindIsFree · 09/06/2020 13:37

I'm assuming it doesn't all quite add up.....because it isn't possible to.

MrsElijahMikaelson1 · 09/06/2020 16:13

mateysmum · 09/06/2020 16:57

If you are in a proper village - ie a small place, not a mini town, it's highly likely someone will know the history of the land.
I would contact the Parish Clerk. They usually have excellent local knowledge, including the low down on planning permissions etc. Your village website should have the contact details.

WhenPushComesToShove · 09/06/2020 17:24

Agree with @StCharlotte re turning up at neighbours with flowers and playing the 'sorry/misunderstanding - can we talk about it' card 👍

Bluntness100 · 09/06/2020 17:36

I think that ship has sailed as they will have caused the neighbours some embarrassment

Unless the op forwards the email to them I doubt it, they will be playing both sides, they will just tell the neighbours the op is trying to make a land grab and it isn’t in the deeds.

Nettie1964 · 09/06/2020 17:42

Yep you are idiots and your solicitors are incompetent. Should have been clear before the sale was completed.

Flip

1 2 ··· 8 9 10 11 12 13