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

I'd talk to the neighbours and tell them that if the sale went through I'd be taking the fence down and giving it back to them.

Make sure the cost of rebuilding the wall is knocked off the purchase price.

Screenshot that image before you do anything else.

Depends on who the wall belonged to!
OP, maybe they just aren’t very good with a tape measure 😳

The waters are muddied here by it being an auction property.
Am I right in saying completion has to be within 21 days, or thereabouts?
Realistically, will your solicitor be able to sort it within this time frame?

I’d question that re backing from sale.
The boundary line was visible when you offered on the property.
That has now been moved so this is really down to the current owners and their solicitors to sort out as you are technically buying less than what you originally offered on.
They must have insurance. So for example if you had an auction offer accepted on a property which subsequently burnt down you would not be obliged to buy and would not lose your down payment.

You need to talk to your solicitor. I’m hoping you’ve got one that specialises in auction property OP

Get onto your solicitor TODAY with that evidence. Do not be fobbed off. The property as it is now is not the property you bid on, as its area has been (illegally) reduced. Surely you can pull out of the purchase on that basis?

The absolute cheek of the neighbours!

Of note OP
If this doesn’t get sorted in time and you have sufficient evidence of the boundary line change you can claim all costs including rebuilding and legal from the sellers solicitor after you’ve bought.

So good you found out now! Absolutely measure up, take pics and call sols. Wondering if cheeky neighbours will spy you and think oh heck busted!

I wouldn’t overreact. This may be isolated cheekyfuckery. It’s a solicitor issue and you love the house and location so hang in there for now.

Hope this turns out ok for you @MummyToBeAgain1. People can be such CF's.

It’s worth checking with the sellers to see if they were aware. When our neighbour died we took the opportunity to put a new more secure fence up whilst access was a bit easier as the house was empty and we had a key for access in case of emergency. We checked it was ok with the daughter and there was no change to the boundary line. Glad we did as the new neighbours have dogs and the old wire fence/bushes was not secure!

Total CFs - talk about stealing fr on the dead!!
Yea kick up a fuss, via the solicitors! Get your ducks in line this afternoon and hopefully they'd have just wasted a load of money to put up an illegal fence!
Was the wall on 'your' boundary? Wondering if the wall
Belonged to the house you're buying in which case the vendors
Solicitor may have a bit of a
Fight getting them to replace the wall - I'd much rather a wall than a fence - I'd want that back if it was mine

Fingers crossed it goes well today. You could offer to sell the land to the neighbours if it doesn't effect your space greatly (help with costs!)

and reward a CF? no way!!

You paid 10K for a property which included this strip of land. If it's not included in the sale then you're not getting what you bid on. I'm not sure where liability would fall but if you bought an item at auction that was then damaged, it would be anticipated that the Auction House would be liable on their insurance...

I would definitely knock on next door..and or the people on the other side. I always used to do this when considering auction properties. I’d usually just have a general chat. With the fence people I’d start a general chat then query why have you put up a new fence as it seems to be over the boundary. I would also talk to solicitors.

Pull out. Nothing worse than bad neighbours even if you get the land back.

Should have read the thread. For 10k fuck it. Buy it. Feign ignorance and on day 1 remove the fence and move it to the real boundary.

With burly men in situ

Best of luck (in the circs) with the viewing and subsequent call to the solicitor, OP.

Do you have anyone who could speak to your neighbour for you. Preferably someone with a bit of confidence and authority. Then when you move in you can distance yourselves from the ‘wall gate’ and any ill feeling.

If you could get someone who appears knowledgeable it would help.

i couldn't be as cheeky as people that do this!

Very likely. Or the vendors gave permission for them to put the fence where they did.

They might offer you a reduction in the purchase price for the smaller garden.

No words of wisdom but thank goodness you kept going back to the house!

and then lied about the boundary in the auction legal pack?