Boundary dispute... selling on

[noarguments]

Very long story which isn’t needed here but if there are any estate agents who have experience I’d love your take on this.
Boundary/access dispute with our neighbour. Solicitor already involved. Will be massively expensive to resolve (tens of 000s possibly which will wipe out our savings). Can we just sell at this stage? We would obvs declare the dispute if selling.
Do people ever buy a property with an active dispute? Obvs will reduce value loads but does it ever happen? I know I wouldn’t buy it!!
Feel very trapped.... neighbour making things very difficult.
Thanks

I wouldn't buy a house with any sort of on going boundary dispute, or any boundary or RoW issues

I’d avoid buying house with a potential expensive dispute.

If someone did decide to buy they would probably expect a below market value offer to be accepted because of the risk. So you’d still lose money.

This is why everyone should have legal cover on their insurance. Can't see anyone wanting to buy unless they are willing to let the neighbour get their way and not progress a dispute. Without knowing the details it's difficult to know if they would. I spent two years of my life in a dispute with my arsehole neighbour - I certainly wouldn't knowingly enter into that pain

Totally depends on the boundary issue.

Boundary dispute - depends what it is.
Access dispute - absolutely wouldn’t.
Is this something that can be backed up by title plans/deeds?

Maybe a miracle will happen and the neighbour will buy it, or a relative of theirs.

You could get your solicitor to approach them if you think there is any chance.

Maybe sell at an auction? Cheaper than than trying to resolve the dispute as you describe it? I had this once with an unreasonable/obsessive neighbour on a renovation I was doing. Nothing would make him budge. Tried everything to resolve it and at the point where we had spent £7k on solicitors fees I’d had enough. As you probably know, The red line on title deeds Is only accurate to + or -0.5m. In the end I created a 75cm wide strip on the boundary which I then registered as a separate title and put that ‘asset’ into a company worth £100. Was then able to sell the house and I moved the fence much further than he wanted. No explanation to the neighbour. He still hasn’t worked it out, thinks he won and has merrily been trespassing on the land for 5+ years. I might inform him at some point, but the irony is, his house now has the dispute on it should he want to sell 😉 anyway, the point is, could you do that? Create a new title between both properties?

How brilliant!

I had a boundary dispute (but not access related) on my property. Had solicitors dealing with it already, explained the situation said I’d cover the solicitor fees to carry through the resolution. They were happy

How much does the dispute mean to you? For the purpose of a sale I'd be tempted to give in to the neighbour (especially if the price knocked off the property by loss of boundary is less than the discount to sell with dispute + legal costs!), get it all sorted ASAP and cut my losses.

Thanks for the replies, we don’t really want to move but have to consider all options. It’s not a case of giving in to the neighbour, sadly, we’d be happy to do this if it resolved the problem.
Great story about the separate strip of land, again not possible in this case.
Might talk to an estate agent to get their views.

Thanks

Yes this is possible, you will take a large hit on value though obviously. There are people out there who have enough knowledge and experience to evaluate the existing boundary dispute & go ahead with the purchase in the knowledge of the likely profit once it is resolved.

The issue is more: will a mortgage company sign off on it? Answer: unlikely. Solicitor has to declare it so you’d probably have to have a cash buyer.

@noarguments we sold with a declared boundary dispute. First thing we did was see a conveyancing solicitor to see how we could phrase it. As there had been no communication about the boundary for around 2 years we could openly say that. It is all about how it is worded, think spin etc. Also we were the ones that lost land rather than the other way round and we did do the strip thing as a separate title. Our land on their side of the fence. We just wanted to gift it to the neighbours but were told we couldn't.

Secondly, even though you would think that the neighbour would be happy to see us leave, she wasn't. We didn't put a for sale board up but we were on Right Move. She harassed my estate agent several times on the phone telling them they cannot sell it as there is a boundary dispute but at no time did she put anything in writing to us. The estate agent works for us, not the buyer so they didn't tell anyone anything. We sold to cash buyers who were looking at it from a rental potential as it was located near an oversubscribed outstanding primary school. It was on that document where you declare any disputes. The buyer didn't care.

Auction could be another route for you. But definitely either see your solicitor who is dealing with it or see a conveyancing one. Our dispute had solicitors involved and we even paid for a surveyor to come out and prove that we were right but the neighbour basically said we do not agree with the trained professional. Delusional, sadly.

@Netaporter can't your neighbour declare adverse possession of the land? If he has been using it for several years as his own when he finds out can't he make a claim?

@maofteens he could if don’t write to him within the specified time limit. Which I will, just before it ends