NEIGHBOUR CROSSED THE BOUNDARY BEFORE EXCHANGE

[MummyToBeAgain1]

Hi

I need some advice please.

We're buying a semi detached property and due to exchange and complete in a week or 2.

Over the weekend we drove past the property to find a fence being built between our garden and the property on the right. I suspected they had come in to our garden at a glance so drove past again yesterday.

The fence had fully been up and clearly it crossed in to our garden (to be). I've attached a quick drawing which shows what I mean. The red line is the fence the neighbour has put up.

Just for some context this is a auction property as the owner has died and the children wanted a quick sale. This means that we have a deadline for completition which makes things more stressful.

What do we do now?

Tia

It's a modern method of auction. To pull out would be to lose the deposit, probably around £20k

A shame the sellers had to take the hit of a price reduction instead of the CF who pinched the land, but I do hope whoever's doing the conveyancing squares this away properly if it's you who's supposed to notify the Land Registry that the neighbours now own a part of your land

To my mind his should have been sorted before exchange, auction deadline or not, so unless what you've agreed to do is included in the sale documentation what's to stop you refusing?

I vote don’t change the land registry, move and in and give no indication to the neighbours you care about them having the land. Then watch and wait until they are away, ideally on holiday, and grab it back. When they come knocking you can tell them you have no idea what they’re talking about and show them the deeds that show it’s your land.

Even if what's being sold has been misrepresented FortyElephants?

I'd have thought there'd be a strong case for withdrawing and recouping any deposit there, but obviously OP didn't want to pull out and that's her choice to make

I’m glad you came to a resolution you are happy with.

I just find it awful they are getting away with stealing from a grieving family.

Absolutely disgusting.

She might have been able to take the auction house to court to get out of the contract but it would have cost a lot and no guarantee of success.

After you have moved in would you not be able to challenge the official boundary lines in the property statements and force the neighbours to move this back accordingly? Assuming this is expensive but wondering if it’s possibly?

Or do they just totally get away with stealing free land which is legally there’s now..?

It seems very odd that the sellers are agreeing to a discount AND stipulating you must (effectively) give away some land after the sale goes through. Why would they care about what happens with land registry after they sell? (in fact surely they would prefer not to reward the CFs given they must hate them even more that you do).

It would be more normal for them to just agree to a discount due to having CF neighbours and someone squatting on your land, and leave you to sort out the aftermath as you see fit.

Something doesn't add up right. Have they/are they actually selling the land to the CFs? Or was that land always the CFs and their relative stole it?

You can take your own sweet time updating the land registry.

For example just before you want to sell. What a shame if the cheeky fuckers next door decide to sell before you. They would have to pay to have the land registry amended as surely the boundary change would show up when their buyers searches were done.

Play the long game and you can make their life as difficult as they have made yours over the last few months. Who knows maybe you can insist they recompense you for stealing the land.

Not if the sellers could no longer sell what the purchaser bought.

I suppose 'twas ever thus with the law, FortyElephants - it's just a shame OP couldn't have known about this when they bid for it in the first place

I'm so disappointed with this update. The Cheeky Fuckers have won.

As a seller, there's NO WAY I'd have let them get away with that.

Your solicitor will deal with this

wait until the sale is done, and the neighbours are away, and take it back.

I think that all that has happened in reality is that the vendor has reduced the price to reflect the dispute and the cost of Land Registry changes. It's up to you whether you want to give the land away & bear the cost of LR changes, or continue the dispute.

Absolutely!

I don't think you can change it on the land registry without the CF neighbours being involved. Aren't the sellers transferring the bit of stolen land to the CFs?

I’m not sure that’s the case - if the property isn’t as described (less garden) or has a previously undeclared boundary issue you may be able to get it back. There are some circumstances where you can, again this is something to raise with your solicitor. I would hand the whole things over and tell them to get it sorted…

I think that all that has happened in reality is that the vendor has reduced the price to reflect the dispute and the cost of Land Registry changes. It's up to you whether you want to give the land away & bear the cost of LR changes, or continue the dispute

I agree, I think you might have misunderstood the info coming from your solicitor. I can't see how, or why, they would compel you to give the land to your neighbours. They are just compensating you for the property no longer having clean title.

@MummyToBeAgain1

I've been a lurker. I'm glad the sale will go through.

But my concern is that the fact that the sellers didn't contact the neighbours may mean that there is a 'history' with them and they knew they would be uncooperative.

I know it has to be declared if there have been 'official' complaints, but I've seen threads on MN where people are told not to complain because it'll mean problems trying to sell down the line if they have to 'declare' nasty neighbours.

I would definitely be bringing it up at the first opportunity with the new neighbour. Tell them you managed to negotiate a last minute price reduction due to the sudden reduction in the size of the land. Intimate that you have no idea if the seller was going to seek compensation for their loss of income.

That way hopefully it scares them enough to not try anything CF in the future.

In terms of the legalities of changing the actual boundary with the Land Registry, this presumably needs the input of the CF neighbour if it affects their title...

Whatever monetry value you got off the sellers, you may think it was enough but it wasnt. Trust me, you will eventually regret making this decision. Your neighbours did this to someone they knew (OK their family), do you think they are gonna give a shit about someone who turned a blind eye and took the money in future?

Oh my, this is so disappointing.

If I'm honest I don't think the sellers knew what to do. It's so so difficult to make effective decisions in such high pressure situations.

If I hadn't initially posted on here and taken the advice on board, hand on heart, I would have no idea either and gone along with whatever my solicitor said.

I knew from what I had read that my deadline had gone out the window as this was the sellers issue, I knew an auction property had to be sold as seen so now that a change was made - something had to be done.
I took this on board and it worked out in my favour.

I was the one who suggested the neighbour moved the fence, after viewing it, we realised it wouldn't be so simple. So, the second option I proposed was for them to change it on land reg prior but this would take a fèw months and wasn't ideal for the auction company or the sellers and so they accepted my 3rd option of price reduction and lang reg change after completion.

People were on leave etc which meant decisions had to be made over the course of hours - very quickly under a lot of pressure.

As I know the land registry take months and months to revise the title plans, are you buying it with the original title plan including the stolen but of land?

If you are, then once the sale has gone through, you can then contact (letter before action) the CF neighbours and ask them to remove their fence before you get solicitors involved and it costs them a whole lot more money.

This doesn't make sense. Once the sellers no longer own the property, they can't make you change the land registry details.

Take possession, tell the CFs to remove their fence and put up one of your own.