Someone is renting out my garden!!!!

[NorthSouthDivider]

So long story short. We have recently found out that a neighbour is renting out their property with backs onto ours. Our garden ends in woodland. Unbeknownst to us they have fenced off part of our tree lined area and included it in the parcel of land they are renting out as their property. So they are renting out their house and their garden but including a chunk of our garden as part of the deal!! What should I do?! I’m fuming.

OP updated somewhere upthread that neighbours are contesting the land under adverse possession laws. The correct course of action is to get legal advice to contest the claim and to re-establish ownership via land registry.

The neighbours have SAID they are claiming it but not actually done via the land registery.

So a legal letter saying they have no chance may head them off.

But also what is the legal risk of preventing the op using this land? I can't actually see any as it's clearly her land (just don't damage other fence right now)

You need proper legal advice, urgently. Check your home insurance for legal cover but you may also have legal cover via membership organisations, unions, bank accounts etc.

You should keep evidence of any steps you take, so keep a copy of any correspondence, photos of fences, photos of any fences being removed, receipts for any work done etc.

The OP should put all the relevant information in the first post as that is what people respond to. I never read an entire thread - who does?

Take down the fence that they have installed on your land, and give the fencing back to them. Then install your own fence on the boundary. Alternatively, get a solicitor to write them a letter asking them to remove the fence within __ days and ideally re-install it on their land. Include copies of your and their title deeds showing the boundary, which you can buy for a few pounds from Land Registry.

They my already have done it - land registry typically take ages to deal with things. I would be contacting them to see if a claim has been lodged because it’s important to contest it as soon as possible. If it goes uncontested for a period of time, the OP may find she’s lost the land. If they’ve already fenced it off I don’t see how the OP can use it, and legal experts on the thread have already warned about taking down the fence. These things aren’t clear cut until there’s a legal ruling, so I think proper legal advice would be money well spent at this point.

And in any event @Rosscameasdoody it's nowhere near an adverse possession case as they only just put up the fence. My advice stands to first go round and ask them to remove the fence and show them that it is your land on the deeds - unless you have good reason for not approaching them.

You don’t need to do anything other than click on ‘see all’ at the bottom of the first post, and any updates will appear.

I do realise that, but withholding important information is not an "update", it's a drip feed.

An update is "I've spoken to the neighbour and blah blah..." In any event it didn't change my response.

What Cf's! I'd sort this out immediately with a solicitor and fence off your land too - bloody CFs

It can happen that the ownership of a piece of land transfers because it's been used by someone else and not by the original owner for long enough - it's called 'adverse possession'. If they have been using it for ten years without your permission they can apply to have the ownership transferred to them. If they are fencing off areas which should belong to you then you should reassert your claim to this land so that they don't become entitled to keep it. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-registered-land/practice-guide-4-adverse-possession-of-registered-land

@Onethingatatime23 The OP doesn’t know if they have contested the land via land registry unless she checks - she hasn’t had anything official as yet, but land registry may not have got around to notifying her yet, or it may have been lost in the post.

And the OP has no idea how long the fence has been up. She’s only been living there three years and the owners have clearly been there much longer as they told her they’ve been using it for so long they consider it theirs - so they obviously know the law around adverse possession, hence they’ve fenced it off. Yes, by all means she should them know that she can prove the land is hers but I wouldn’t just trust that they won’t, or haven’t already gone ahead with a claim - too much at stake as if she doesn’t contest a claim promptly she may lose it.

Solicitors letter straight away

Okay thanks for explaining what has been discussed in depth throughout this thread 🙄. You could at least do proper research where you would have discovered since 2002 it is extremely hard to claim adverse possession

Hi OP - was there an update to this mystery?

Just wondering if there was ever any response from the neighbours / EA etc, @NorthSouthDivider ?