Talking of land registry etc

[Cherrysoup]

I wanted to check whose boundary is whose, there are 4 properties bordering ours. So I paid £3 and just downloaded the HM Land registry which only shows the outline of the property, no boumdary possession like I’ve seen elsewhere. Do I need my deeds? How can I get a copy without asking my mortgage provider?

You should have a copy in the paperwork that got sent with the searches when you brought the house. Its usually the front, left and bottom as you're looking at the house (although I stress usually!)

Oh crumbs, almost 20 years ago! Can I get it online somewhere?

In my experience, unless you live on an estate it's pretty random as to who is responsible for what. The deeds might not help either. I have deeds and paperwork going back 300 years and they are all pretty vague as far as boundaries are concerned.

I’ve seen pictures on here showing boundaries: anyone know what this is called? Is it just the deeds?

You need the Title Plan (rather than the Title Register). Both are £3.

They may or may not be outlined in any docs ancillary to the property register.

You won’t know unless you look.

When you bought the property you should have been supplied with a “Sellers Property Information Form” one of the enquires (in fact the first) on there is who is responsible for the boundaries. This sets out the sellers understanding who maintains each boundary. These do sometimes contradict what the title sets out, in which case the information in the title takes precedence.

Have you not needed to maintain the boundaries in 20 years?

Also registration became compulsory in 1990 so if you bought your property in 2000 your lender will not hold any physical deeds.

You need the Title Plan (rather than the Title Register). Both are £3.

It sounds like OP has this and it doesn’t show any “T” marks as they had hoped.

You need the Title Plan (rather than the Title Register)

I have one of those. It gives a rough indication of where the boundary lies, plus or minus a couple of feet, but that is all.

You can ask the land registry for copies of any documents referred to in your title, although they won’t necessarily have it.

I used to be a property lawyer, reviewed deeds for literally thousands of properties and the vast majority had no markings at all to show who owned which boundaries.

The true owner may he stated in the deeds, but was usually just a question of who had assumed ownership over the years by maintaining the boundary.

So if you’ve been there twenty years and your deeds don’t tell you who the owner is - any of the boundaries you have maintained have (almost certainly) become yours.

Boundary disputes are very complex and costly. Why do you want to know who owns it?

@Panicmode1 that’s what I just bought. It just outlines my house without showing boundaries.

@HogDogKetchup exactly, no Ts. We have maintained 2 out of the 4 boundaries, one of which the neighbour claimed, but we paid because she’s on a pension and we wanted a solid fence rather than chicken wire! Another was 2 feet high so we raised it to 5 feet when we got dogs.

Boundary disputes are very complex and costly. Why do you want to know who owns it?

Absolutely no disputes here, thank god! Everywhere is fenced, although one is wire fencing, covered by conifers which are going to be removed as I think they’re taking up too much space, IMO, and impacting on the light in 2 neighbouring gardens (although no-one has said anything)

I”m just nosy, plus if one neighbour goes (she’s very old) it would be useful to know.

I had to buy the conveyance deeds from the land registry which were £7. They showed the T's

If you get a copy of the register which is another £3 it may contain details or it may refer in the Charges Register to a Transfer which will contain any boundary information on it. You can order a copy of this is it says copy filed next to the name of the document. If it is an old property the deeds do not always contain boundary information but newer properties usually do.

Good there’s no dispute!

It’s likely you own the two boundaries you’ve maintained although not guaranteed.

Might be sensible to talk to the affected neighbours before making any changes - just check they agree they’re your boundaries so that there’s no nasty surprises or arguments in future.

@cosmo30 I’d love that! Do you have a link? I’m not seeing that on my land registry account.

@Cherrysoup No sorry! I actually had to ring them and they talked me through what form to download etc as I didn't have a clue! If you give them a call and explain you need the deeds that mark the T's they will help you

Wicked, thank you, I’ll do that. 🙂