Boundary issue

[WayneCampbellsSidekick]

Not long after moving into our house last year our neighbours asked me if she could access the garden for something she couldn’t reach from her side. I had a tantrumming toddler in the pushchair at the time so was quite distracted and said yes fine. A few weeks later got home and she was sat on the front drive weeding “her” strip of land. Did what anyone would do, got the deeds out and the boundary is shown as being in line with the brickwork of the garage ie not where they claimed it was. Politely showed neighbours the deeds, asked if theirs said something different (they said no but continued to argue the line was where they claimed it was). Fast forward another few weeks, got home and weed matting had been put down while we were out. Had the same conversation about the boundaries & got the same response. Nothing more said until today noticed they’ve been in the bloody garden again to put stones on top of the weed matting while I was out! I knocked and said look I’ve noticed you’ve been in my garden again & got the response “yeah to access our bit of garden”, said it’s not on to keep coming into the garden unannounced and putting things down without permission, said if the deeds state the boundary being in line with the garage then where has this alternative narrative come from and suggested we get together with both our deeds etc to compare notes. She nodded but made passive aggressive comments about living here 20yrs/if somethings been maintained by someone for a certain amount of time then it’s theirs by law/admitted they’d argued with the previous owners about the same issue.
I have so much going on in my life right now I don’t have the energy for nonsense from the neighbours.
please can someone give me some advice on how to deal with this! Do I need to pay out for a surveyor? 🙈

Get a solicitor to write them a letter.

Saying what exactly?

Get a solicitor to write a letter setting out the boundaries and also that costs must be paid to you to put right the damage they have caused in your garden. Get an estimate from a gardener for the work.

Get a solicitor to write them a letter telling them to stop coming onto your property without permission and highlighting where the boundary is.

If they ignore this then you can take them to court.

The "if I tend the land for x years it's mine" argument is bullshit. To claim land in that way you have to physically keep the legal owner out for a long time, a decade or more. If the owner visits the land the clock resets.

Remove the weed membrane and stones and leave them at her front door.
can you put up a fence, or plant a hedge or something?

Having had issues with an arsehole neighbour I'd say get it fenced NOW. Don't pre-warn them. Don't entertain any negotiation. The cost of paying a fencing contractor was worth it for taking the stress away. The deeds show what the deeds show, or if you have a proper RICS land survey even better.

Yup.

And get a solicitor to write a cease and desist letter. Highlight the boundary, that she does not gave permission to access your garden and that action will be taken if she continues to do so.

She's read something online about adverse possession. But that does not apply here.

She keeps saying yes I know the deeds show the boundary as being a straight line but look my land registry document shows there being a curve - what on earth is she talking about 🙈

Did you use a solicitor for your house purchase, or a conveyancing company?

If you used a solicitor, it would probably be easiest to go back to them, explain the situation and ask them to write a letter to your neighbour clarifying the boundary and saying that you consider the matter now closed.

If she then continues to cross the boundary, then a stronger letter would be needed.

Erm, you explain the problem. They look at your deeds, agree that you're right and then they'll suggest a course of action, usually starting with a letter to your neighbours.
We can't see your deeds or the 'curve' - how on earth are we supposed to know what she's going on about?
You either let it go or get legal advice because you've trued talking to her reasonably and rationally but she obviously thinks she is right so is obviously not going to stop

You need a legal professional to look at the boundary and explain it to you. Once you know if the land is yours of not you can take appropriate action. If the land isn’t yours perhaps you could buy it from the owner if it makes sense in the plan of your property.

Download her deeds and look she's obviously bullshitting. I had this problem once when neighbour used part of my garden as storage and said it was theirs. I Downloaded both our deed plans to compare and showed it to them. They were embarrassed and muttered about it being wrong. You need to do the same and if it continues get a solicitor on it.

Remove anything she puts there.

As a PP suggests grow a hedge.

She knows EXACTLY what she’s going. She’s going to put shit where she wants and claim she’s been “maintaining the land” for donkey’s years.
I hope you have photographic evidence that this crap wasn’t there when you moved in. Would make it much easier.

admitted they’d argued with the previous owners about the same issue

Admittedly it depends what the "argument" consisted of, but I imagine the sellers failed to declare this?

Did you write about this before on here? sounds very similar to another thread because I remember talking with dh about it, started with weeding, the matting and having maintained it /ownership after 20 odd years.
But having said that there are many cf neighbours on MN.
So, what's happening with it now?

Don't write or involve solicitors, just physically prevent access. Lock the gate etc

Then the balls in their court to spend lots of money trying to get a solicitor to prove something rather than you.

I think we need a diagram....

As above, pay £3 to look at their deeds as a start.

Sounds nuts to me.

You can't reason with people like this.

I would just fence it off. This at least puts in a physical boundary.

Any idea why they want to maintain your land ? Maybe the reason they want to weed it is because it makes their property look untidy, rather than they want to make a land grab. A fence in the way might well resolve the problem, because it will screen off their view of the weedy patch and they can maintain their side of the fence how they want.

Just pay £3 and get a copy of her title plan to compare it with yours

As PP say, download both your and next door's Title Plans from Land Registry online.

Do you have legal cover with your house insurance? I'd contact them if so as they can likely help.

Alternatively, dig up what they've done and tell them you're sticking with the boundary per your deeds and if she wants to prove otherwise, she can pay for a solicitor.

FYI a title plan does not give exact boundary lines. It will only show the general boundaries.

It will most likely be within the conveyance deed.

I just want to double check we can’t get in any trouble for digging up the weed matting etc and taking it back to them and saying very firmly stay out of our garden?