Land dispute!! Cheeky offer?!

[NewHere77]

It has recently come to light due to neighbours pending house sale, that our neighbour has around 20 square metres of land at the top of her garden that legally belongs to our boundary. She has asked us to sign over the land to her for £200.

AIBU to think she is being a CF offering £200 for the land, as I think it likely adds a lot of value to neighbours house? (She initially wanted us to sign over land for free)!

The land adds about a third to neighbours garden and has a pretty view which isn’t overlooked.

Neighbour is playing down desirability of land but has also said that buyers will pull out if land is not included and has said she is willing to go to court to claim land.

If we disagree, she is threatening to use adverse possession claim but neither parties have been in either property long enough to claim adverse possession, although neighbour is talking about getting accounts from relatives of now deceased previous occupants of our house.

Part of me feels bad that we bought the house not knowing the extra land was ours so feels a bit rich asking for more money for it, the other side of me is thinking why should our neighbour profit from land that is not legally theirs. Interested to hear others perspectives and what land could be worth.

Thanks!

Reclaim your land.

Yes, yes! Worth a shit ton more. Don’t use the same solicitor you bought through, but definitely get in contact with them and ask them how the fuck they messed up so badly with your sale. Tell your neighbour you’re seeking legal advice and the price pipersouth just paid. Watch the colour drain from the cf’s face.

do not sign.

re-fence asap to show your boundary.

start at £30k and go from there

if you sell - you're devaluing your resale value.

TAKE THE LAND BACK AND PUT UP PRIVATE PROPERTY DO NOT ENTER

At the end of the day it's your land and i wouldnt just give it up or sell it for under its value, adverse possession is a complex area of law I would seek advice asap. Or take some pictures of myself mowing the area holding the daily paper 🤣

Op she is a cheeky neighbour!!! She knows that’s your land, how can she not?! £200 is a piss take. I remember reading a thread on here with pipes going under the land and the hall was basically in the landowners court! I’d see a solicitor and I wouldn’t even engage in conversation with her!

adverse posession can only be done after 12 yrs...

take it back and ask solicitors to ask her to cease and desist.

Jesus just seen the diagram. Get a surveyor in and take back the land. That's horrendous. Definitely get legal advice.

Pretty views sell houses - u sell it and they could build on it and overlook u

No, land agent would. If OP in NW I know a v good one x

Get the land valued properly and ask her for the figure it is valued at.

Don't accept £200 - she's massively chancing! And I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a leg to stand on.

To those saying that the solicitor should have noticed / brought it to the buyers attention, isn’t that exactly what they do when they show/send you the plans with the draft contract and ask you to approve them? The solicitor never goes near the property so it’s only the buyer, or possibly a surveyor if you engage one on that basis, who can confirm that what’s on the ground matches the plan isn’t it?

Yes - when I've bought my solicitor has asked me to confirm that boundary on ground matches the plan because they've never been there (and were from a totally different part of the UK). You def need proper advice regarding whether she might have an adverse possession case.

A sq m of land is valued at 1526 GBP. PMSL at offering a tenner. I genuinely advise against selling your garden xx

If you have a mortgage, would you even be allowed to sell it without their permission?

I can see why she wants it. Without it her garden disappears into an unusable point. With it she can put a shed or a garden office there.
The land also makes a big difference to your garden. If it were me I'd take the land back - see a solicitor.

Never sell anything that could line your own pocket first!!

Tell her to do one and go to a solicitor asap.

Take the land back and fence it!

Absolutely do not sell it to her for silly money.

a land agent does - really pls dont sell.

Lawyer here.

This is the biggest question. If you have a mortgage then you can't just transfer part of the land without bank consent and they are unlikely to be happy without knowing you are getting appropriate value etc. It's possibly the easiest way to say no or ask for proper money without upsetting your neighbours , which is handy!

The law on adverse possession has now changed so it is very very difficult to claim in relation to registered land. Given you bought recently, your title will be registered, it is unlikely that your neighbour has a decent shot at claiming.

Agree you should take it back and put up a boundary fence.

Tbh, if she had an adverse possession case she should have just gone to land registry with it. The fact that she's trying to buy it off you instead suggests she had no case. IANAL but I agree with advice from others to re-fence to the proper boundary because that might well put paid to an adverse possession since it would no longer be continuous exclusive use for her/her property.

£50k ?

How much is she trying to sell the house for?

as pp state the mortgage co refused!