neighbours have put up a new fence 3 feet over previous boundary

[milkyjo]

Our land adjoins at the back, our neighbours have put up a new fence where a line of trees were (they got rid of them all). However the fence encroaches onto our land more than the line of trees, so much so that the fence then comes in at an angle to meet with their next door neighbours fence, jutting out at its most about 3 feet. What would I do about this? Who do I contact. Our next door neighbour is writing a letter to them as he has a bee in his bonnet about them chopping down a beautiful oak tree and we know the fence juts out because the tree stump remains in the way. We have a shared drive with our next door neighbours (4 houses share), which includes access rights over our land to get to their garages etc. The fence has encroached on our land only but if we ever wanted to re-erect a garage at the back that 3 feet might make the difference of whether our neighbours can get vehicular access to their garages (and it is our responsibility to ensure this). So what can we do? Is it likely to cost us megabucks?! Can they just do this? We don't know who is responsible for the boundary, we assume it is them as there is no mention in our deeds. Sorry for the long post but if anyone can help I'd be very grateful.

Have you tried simply knocking on their door and having a friendly chat about it? They may have no idea that they have pushed into your land. They will have had to apply to the council to cut the trees down (we have s soggy sign on our front gate for two sycamores that need cutting down) and in that case may have put something through the council for erecting a boundary fence. Don't envy you as these things can turn nasty if people wade in guns blazing. It shouldn't cost you anything, especially if you have something showing the official boundary. The way I understand it - if they have put it on your land and they refuse to put it where it is supposed to be then it is technically on your land so you can do it yourself. I may be completely wrong. Call the council planning department and they will be able to let you know where you stand and may well wade in and sort it out without you having to do anything at all - especially if they have cut down an oak tree without permission. Was the tree on the boundary too?

Saw this randomly and had to join to answer.

Its a argument between two private parties I am afraid.

The cutting down of a tree only needs permission if it is protected by a TPO or you live in a planning conservation area - or you happen to be in a SSSi. Not every tree that is ever trimmed needs planning permission.

Your best bet, if you want to go down a legal route, is to ask for the title plan for your dwelling from the land registry and it costs £7. This should have a pretty good plan of the boundary and will normally also have trees etc marked on it at the time you bought the property. So that land will be registered in your name. Also...if you can...go on google earth and get an aeriel shot printscreen - it can be very useful in showing what was the case.

www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/guides/public-guide-19

You could complain to planning if it should have had permission to cut the oak down, the council will then need to decide if its expedient for them to take enforcement action.

The issue is not the cutting down of the trees it's the fence that has been erected. They have essentially moved the boundary back encroaching onto our property because the tree stump is in the way - the fence is now going off at a diagonal so when it reaches the next fence it juts out by 3 feet instead of following a straight line. When they started felling the tree we checked and there was no TPO on it, but our next door neighbour is upset about it. But that's his problem really. We have the fence issue. I will have a look on google, we bought the house 3 years ago so we have the land registry documents but there are no measurements just an outline of the plot (but the boundary line is straight and lines up with the neighbouring property boundaries. Thanks for your replies.

With regards to the boundary issue, if you have copies of the land registry documents I would advise printing them off as big as possible to show the relevant area and trying to have a 'friendly' chat with the neighbour in question. Remember that Land Registry docs are viewed as a suggestion as to the boundary and will probably not be as accurate as you would like ...

The reason I am posting is that when I had an issue with my nutter neighbour parking over on my side of a shared driveway, I could show that the deeds for both properties showed a boundary which was clearly along a halfway point, not some imaginary line which suited them.

Any update OP?

I was thinking of you the other day when I drove past a house where they had a beautifully fenced front garden, with a massive tree in the middle of the fence! They had fenced it on either side of the tree and it looks very well.

Thanks for the land registry link and the google earth idea - we have a fencing issue too!