Just moved in. Neighbour raising garden fence boundary issue

[Zenno]

We bought our first home, a semi detached property and moved in recently. There is a garden fence between my freeside and neighbour, which is erected by my seller. Our neighbour offered to replace the fence with solid wall as he is interested in building a lean to. We requested him to build the wall in his side of the property rather than to replace the fence. Later he claims that my seller has encroached his property and he wants us to move the fence by few inches. I feel that he should have raised this issue with the seller in the first place. Also I am gutted to lose the piece of land for no mistake of my own. How can I approach this? Should I involve the council? Do I need to speak to my solicitor? What could be the legal cost? Please advise.

Just say no, sorry we were not advised of any boundary dispute when purchasing the property, and we are happy with the fence there rather than a wall. He is perfectly within his rights to build a wall his side of the fence. This way it is up to him to take things forward legally if he is so inclined. The usual thing is to appoint a surveyor jointly to advise. I wouldn't go there . . . it can get v expensive and I very much doubt he will bother.

Thanks, Jonbb. It feels so cheeky. Had I not declined his request to build the wall, I wouldn't have known his real intentions.

Council won't have any jurisdiction over boundary issues. You need to confirm what the land registry says and how it compares on the ground. If needs be a surveyor can check the actual demarkation but it will cost. If ndn wants to build along it there may be a party wall surveyor involved.

Take photos evidencing the position of the fence, should he take it down while you're out.

Do take photos as suggested. Also have a look at if something obvious shows the boundary too and have a look at the plans on the house property register although they can be pretty unclear. Sometimes there is a clear line between front and back of property and you can see where the boundary must go.

i would just leave it as he probably will not progress it but it might be worth checking the form the seller filled in about the property probably asking if there are any boundaries and looking at their answers and may be even calling them up to check eg they might have built the fence a bit over on to his land - is there any evidence on the land that there used to a fence a bit closer into your property?