To be annoyed that neighbours have stolen a foot of my garden?

[LeopardPrintFleece]

I live in a mid terrace cottage with a long narrow garden. I recently had some work done on the roof and the roofer commented that the boundary of our garden is different to where the roofs join - it’s obvious when you look.

Turns out that before I lived here neighbours had a conservatory built so decided to borrow a foot of my garden so that it would fit.

I’ve no idea why this never came up on a survey and there’s clearly not much I can do now but AIBU to be annoyed that my quite small garden should actually be a foot wider?

The neighbours might be able to claim adverse possession depending on how many years have passed.

If the land is registered (and the bulk of land in this country is registered since all land sold since the early 90s has been subject to registration) then if someone tries to claim adverse possession over it the land registry as a first step notifies the land owner and says "this person wants to claim your land is that ok?". You say "err no its really not ok thanks" they say "oh ok then we won't let them have it"

Its obviously slightly more formal that that as a legal process but thats the gist of it.