Neighbour stealing my garden!

[fencedispute2024]

See obligatory diagram.

i can home today to find that my neighbour has put a new fence up and taken part of my garden. The blue area is my garden, grey is neighbours and the red part has now been fenced off.

the area is definitely mine. I’ve even shown a copy of the plans from when the house was built to the neighbour and his response was “anyone could have drawn that”. It’s a document that is signed and stamped FGS.

neighbour moved in 8 years ago so doesn’t have an adverse possession claim. There was previously a hedge there which was removed before neighbour moved in. 2/3 of the garden is a fence. Neighbour has extended that fence in a straight line rather than the boundary. We both own in case relevant.

where do I go from here?

Your signed and stamped plans, if they are the first conveyance, are your weightiest document. If they are not the first conveyance for the land, find that. Titles are largely pointless general indications. Court is likely to ruin both of you due to costs, and you’d have to register a dispute with your neighbour that you’d have to declare if you ever tried to sell. BUT if you have a signed and stamped first conveyance doc that proves how the land has been developed you have a v good start. Just my view, not advice.

Why does it look weird to you. It would be weirder if the neighbour's garden went round the front of the OPs house. It's an unusual shape for sure but it's less odd than the OPs house with a piece of their neighbours garden in front of it

@Teddybear23

I think this is the best idea so far, it looks like it ‘should’ be his and you could make a bit of money if you sell.
It doesn't look like it should belong to the neighbour at all. Do you think it's normal to have your neighbour's garden wrap around the front of your house? The piece of land directly in front of your house is typically yours. Not your neighbour's. The gardens are a weird shape that that is less weird than your neighbour having land directly in front if your house.

The diagram that the OP posted subsequently, (which I've re-attached) which shows both houses and their relationships with the boundary makes it clearer. The neighbour is a CF.

I agree with the many who have said that copies of both sets of title deeds should do the job. If he doesn't then back down, then it will have to be a lawyer's letter.

Remove the fence.

As above, letter remove the fence or I will

He obviously thinks he can bully you into submission, but he is clearly in the wrong. You have no choice but to see a solicitor and get them to send him a letter. Whatever you do act now, don't leave it any longer. Good luck.

No this is exactly what I'd do 🤷‍♀️ I am an arsehole though who wouldn't care if I upset them.

Why? He stole your land while you were out and is now being an arse. Why do you want a relationship when he's shown you he's not bothered about one.

No way. Who would want their neighbours stinky bins directly outside their house / window?
I’ve seen this odd driveway / garden configuration on other properties. Instead of there being a simpler straight boundary line, there is an odd L shaped section to protect privacy or access to the neighbouring property.

I’ve sent him a 28 day letter before action by recorded delivery asking him to return the/my land to its original state. I’ve included a copy of the plans from land registry and a copy of the signed/stamped report for when the properties were built. I’ll update when/if anything happens.

Good luck! CF though - and the bins outside your home 😲

Excellent - guess you just need to sit and wait it out now!

Good move OP. And if you do have to take legal action, this shows you’re willing to try to sort it out amicably instead of going straight to the courts for a solution.

We had a similar situation about five years ago. We live quite close to the corner of a side road and the length of the back garden of one of the houses in that road borders the width of ours. The house in question was sold and the new neighbour waited until we were away before taking down a portion of the existing fence and erecting his own, taking a large slice of our garden with it. We tried talking to him and showing him the boundary on our plans and he was adamant they were wrong and that his plans showed that the land he had taken was legally his.

We consulted a solicitor who advised that since we were at stalemate with discussions sending a cease and desist letter, similar to your own, was the next step, followed by mediation and then court action if we couldn’t reach a settlement. He advised that because of something he referred to as ‘abatement’ we were entitled to remove the fence, but advised leaving it in place while we tried to reach a solution, so that he had no reason to counter claim for any damage in removing it.

We made it clear to the neighbour that we were prepared to take him to court if necessary, so he agreed to mediation first. I didn’t hold out much hope of a resolution but as things progressed it became clear he didn’t have much of a case, and he was advised that if he insisted on proceeding, he could end up significantly out of pocket if he lost. He caved at that point and removed the fence shortly after. He sold up and left about a year ago, and we never spoke another word to each other in all that time, he just blanked us. I think you mentioned wanting to maintain some sort of relationship after this is resolved, but realistically I wouldn’t bank on it.

Neighbour is a bellend. Anyone could have drawn them - I ask you!?!

Good luck!

Well done.
Fingers crossed you get a good resolution soon then.

Get recent copies of title deeds to your property and look for restrictions and covenants registered against your Title.
It may emerge your purchase of your property that the conveyancers did not identify a transfer of that portion of land. If so it should have its own title.
Do your research first. Decide what you want to do if you want to transfer this portion and go to a solicitor to start the process.
It makes sense for the transfer because it will be an issue in any property sale because you are legally obliged to declare neighbour disputes.
Further your mortgage company will need to be informed.

Surely if he’s the one raising the dispute, it’s up to him to prove he has a claim to the land, not OP. If there has been a transfer of that portion of land, surely he will have the documents to show when that happened. He’s lived there eight years, why now ? And why would he think he was entitled to a portion of land directly in front of OP’s house ?

Not necessarily. If the conveyancers of the OP property made an error and that portion of land was ceded transferred assigned and is under a different title number then she would not know and would have a claim against the conveyancers for failing to do a proper search.
It’s in the interest of the OP to find out and decide what to do about it.
OP can gain upper hand and assign the land for a fee. In any case there is a dispute which would have to be legally declared at any future sale by OP of her property, otherwise she could be sued by a future purchaser.

Sounds like the small red area has been wide open since the neighbour moved in op? Not that it excuses the cf neighbour, but it would have made more to always have had it fenced off to join your side.

If you still have a mortgage, go to your lender and explain, they are obliged to follow it up in the small claims court. Unfortunately, this is a very small claim, and you will likely get a series of trainee paralegals who will mishandle your claim, and drag it out over years before it goes to court. Little disputes like this are useful for gaining experience, but usually very poorly handled by lazy/greedy/incompetent solicitors. If you can provide boundary evidence from the land registry, you will win, but it will take ages (years). First step - go to your mortgage company/bank/building society...

@fencedispute2024 any movement by the neighbours?

So an update - the fence has gone, ive put my own up now which has been met with various complaints such as

“you’ve got all that land, why do you need this bit”

and apparently I’m “petty” to have put my fence on the border. I’m still confused as to how it makes me petty.

im also now being watched through their ring doorbell (I have another thread on this) and need to learn how to rise above this and not let it piss me off!

thank you for all your support

This is ridiculous. You can't put stuff on a neighbour's land and demand that it be left there untouched by manufacturing a dispute. This issue was very easily resolved simply by looking at the deeds. If the neighbour doubted OP's copies, he could have checked with his own solicitors and/or got official copies from the Land Registry.

If OP removed the fence and the neighbour went off and reported her to the police, they wouldn't touch it with a bargepole because it's a civil dispute.

Glad to see that he seems to accept the reality now, OP, even if he is still whinging about it.