Neighbour fenced Communal Garden

[Onthefence22]

I own my property and share a communal garden with 2 properties. We live in Scotland.

My neighbour has decided to fence off half the garden, he is a Tenant.

I have my Deeds and there is no mention of any split etc.

My concern is when I come to sell which I intend to do, the deeds don’t match what is here, also I’m hacked off I wasn’t asked. I arrived home and saw the fence??

Whats my options if any.

TIA

1. If you’re not planning on selling any time soon then it doesn’t matter if your property is being devalued.

2. Shared gardens are very common with flats and if areas aren’t all separated and noted in the title deeds, then you all own all of it equally.

3. You can all come to an agreement about how the garden is used, but unless you all get your title deeds changed those agreements will not transfer to new owners ie there’s a difference between day-to-day use and legally entitlement.

4. If the garden has been separated by individual agreement without title deeds being changed then that may cause problems when you sell as a buyer may see it as An Issue (nowt as expensive to deal with as a boundary dispute!)

5. Your renting tenant a-hole neighbour has no legal standing to make formal, permanent changes as he is not a title holder.

6. Does what he’s done impact your use of the garden? You are perfectly entitled to use the bit he’s fenced off but whether you’d want to or not is another matter. Is it worth an argument over? People like him really piss me off as they are so unreasonable people tend to let them do what they want to avoid the fuss. Basically, it’s not fair! If he’s unreasonable enough to arbitrarily co-opt a garden, is he enough of an arse to scratch your car or kick your cat?

Yes there will be a legal remedy, no he shouldn’t have done it but do you want to spend a lot of money and get into a fight over it (I totally would!).

Thank you,

1, I may be selling soon due to the mortgage crisis, my fix is due to end in 12 months and I will need to see how things are looking then.

2, There are no specific areas belonging to anyone on the deeds.

3, You see if be willing to make the permanent change in deeds but right now the garden is split in 2 between 3, if it were to be split in 3 it wouldn’t even hold the wheelie bins.

4, This is my worry, if I saw a house like this with the garden set up, I’d run a mile! If I stay I don’t feel confident making the space mine as it could change at any point.

5, I actually think the LL is scared and doesn’t want to get involved , I emailed when the fence went up to see if they were aware and the stated “ yes, it’s a lovely fence” I should of replied but was taken aback and didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to get into too much without knowing my rights.

6, It doesn’t impact it too much, makes me feel bullied as he’s going what he wants to a part of property I pay the mortgage for, I feel stupid if I’m honest that I’ve actually allowed this. Also it’s slightly difficult taking the bins in and out past a certain section of fence.

I think to fix this will be a fortune if I’m forced into legal action but at the same time if I leave it I’m seen as accepting what’s been done.

I want to take the LL to task as they are responsible.

1. check legal cover attached to home insurance (can only be £20 a year) if not may have it attached to eg credit card /bank account. Initiate this.
2. Landlord may well know this may add value to their property (sounds like NO discouragement to tenant about their actions). However this may make major difficulties and devalue/make unsellable/ make registering of property sale very difficult. This is as the 3 properties will have land register title plans that may well conflict . This could lead to major issues eg if elderly owner's property is still in the Sasines register and requires transfer (if sold etc) to Land Register.

PM me if you wish.

Ok - I think your next step is to email the landlord back, saying that you've taken legal advice (dodgy legal advice from Mumsnet, sure, but legal advice nonetheless) and you're going to have to insist that the fence be removed and full access to the communal space be reinstated immediately. Otherwise you'll need to take further steps to protect your own position and your interest in the common property.

I hope you came to your senses and took the fence down, why do people put up with this shit?

If the fence is erected on your (joint) land without your permission, why don't you pay someone to take the fence down? Keep the posts and panels to give back to the tenant but the land belongs equally to you and you are not agreeing to it being fenced.

This sounds like the best suggestion.
If the landlord loses his registration they're both in the shit.

Your lender will care about this a lot as the security for their loan has changed. They may actually be helpful in that regard but check your insurance - this is exactly the kind of title dispute they are designed to help with. Don’t as person above said ignore it; the advice to co to ie to use the fenced off area is good (for English law at least).