Boundaries don't quite match when selling... what to do?

[Shattered04]

We've got an offer accepted on our house and the buyer's solicitors have asked the sensible question for us to confirm the boundaries are correct.

Well, they're not, but not in any way that makes any practical difference to anyone involved. Due to the geography of the land, which is on a very steep hill, there ended up being a tiny sliver (we're talking maybe 1.5 x 10 metres at the very most, though it tapers at one end) at the very end of the garden, completely enclosed by neighbouring properties. At some point long before we moved here, previous owners decided to split it down the middle, vertically, to create an indent on both sides with fencing, so our "claimed" side is about 5m x 1.5m though it tapers. It could well have been the original builders of the houses back in the 80s for all we know who set it up like that. The developer of the estate has long since gone bust I think, but technically it would have belonged to them.

We have spoken to the neighbour over the back and they don't know anything about it either. Neither do they care, any more than we do! The land is fundamentally useless to anyone other than our back neighbour and us (and not exactly useful to either of us!) For reference, our garden is about 32m long, the extra land is not a big deal. We pretty much never go down that part of the garden, it's somewhat overgrown, neither do they!

When we bought this house seven years ago, we were not told the boundaries were incorrect. I don't know if it was a genuine oversight on the part of the seller to not tell the truth, or if she decided for the sake of a smooth transaction it was worth the risk of lying about it.

Due to the steepness of the garden, it's obvious if you walk halfway down our garden that the boundary is not straight and has a perpendicular section of fence, but it's not possible to see this from the road, or indeed Google Maps because of heavy tree cover. There were no photos of the bottom of the garden on Rightmove.

What should we do?

1. Try and wing it, and if we get caught, plead ignorance because we pretty much never go down there and had "forgotten". After all, it didn't come up when we bought the place. Neither would we care if it was explained, though who knows if we should have.

2. Ask our solicitors (who I appreciate then have an obligation to do something about it by law or I would have before now) - what would this be?

3. Change the fence to go along the boundary instead ASAP. Though that would mean the buyers aren't buying what they remember seeing. Assuming they remember it, of course! As mentioned, most people don't go down the end of the garden or even see it as it is so steep.

I'm not entirely sure we can prove adverse possession as nobody has lived here for longer than 12 years so nothing documented. Could it be as simple as an indemnity or is it going to be much more serious than that?

I absolutely LOATHE lying about stuff anyway, let alone officially, but to have our house sale fall apart because of a tiny sliver of unusable land nobody actually cares about and is useless to everyone would be gutting. It took us six months to get an offer for a variety of reasons, mostly due to an estate agent that did more harm than good (now have a much better one!) and we are desperate to move.

I know what the legally right thing to do is, but without knowing what happens if we try and do the right thing, and the risks of doing the legally wrong thing, we don't feel able to make a decision.

Thoughts, or practical advice very welcome and appreciated. Thanks!!

Honestly the statements you make are part of the contract of sale, so if you misrepresent things they can come back for compensation to put things right. So all i can think of of is they might somehow ask for the cost of restoring the fence or something?
Personally I'd either leave it blank or say there are no material differences you're aware of

Whenever I've moved, one of the first things my solicitor has asked ME is if the boundary marked out on the land registry matches what I have viewed at the property. I have never asked the seller this question.

I don't know how you can answer this without being obtuse. I'd like for you to be able to say something like 'to the best of my knowledge' (but obviously not true) or 'isn't that what you are supposed to be addressing?'.

I can't work out from exactly what you are saying - has your property gained a bit extra or lost a bit? If gained then I'd be tempted to say yes and if they come back later and say 'what about this extra bit' you just say 'well of course that's not ours, it's not on the title deeds'. Property doesn't have to be fenced.

We nearly bought a house that wasn't clear with the boundaries. We asked the sellers to confirm what they actually owned and what they didn't. It seemed that they were happy to market the property as they actually used it, but not what was legally theirs. Our solicitor told us to only buy if we had a legal right to use the land. The sellers wanted us to buy the property and sort it out later with the land registry.
We wouldn't buy it, on advice from our solicitors and they wouldn't pay the £600 to legally ensure it was OK to sell.
They never sold it.
You may get a buyer who follows solicitors advice and refuses to buy like us. It also cost us £450 as we'd done searches etc.
Probably worth sorting first.

Thanks all. I've attached a handmade very rough diagram because of course Not to scale - both registered plots go back much, much further, the dodgy land (purple) is a tiny fraction of the whole of either plot. The black lines are the official boundaries, and red is (our?) fencing. There are neighbouring plots on both sides for some distance - it's totally inaccessible except through private property. Hope that makes it all a bit clearer!

We've gained a small amount, as somebody at some unknown point put a fence around it, presumably mutually agreed between the two properties given the 50/50 division. If we lost it, it really wouldn't make any difference to the value of the property. The land is so steep there, it's impractical to do much with.

I suspect if both sides had kept their fences on their official boundaries, it would have rapidly got seriously overgrown and caused problems as it would be impossible to access. It was probably sensible to do whatever these unknown people in the past did by splitting care of this sliver of land. By putting it right now, it would actually cause more problems! I blame the developers for leaving such a pointless bit of land.

We'd also be more than willing to pay for an indemnity policy too. We're just afraid that by revealing the truth the sale will crash and burn out of fear (maybe they think we're hiding something even though we're not, or that it will cause problems - the only problem it is causing is now!), or be dragged out for several months or even years if there's a demand the Land Registry try to fix it. But I also struggle with not answering questions truthfully.

The question has come from our buyer's solicitors, rather than our buyers themselves. Our solicitors haven't asked us the question; maybe they should have first?

HJ40 - that's an interesting thought over boundaries not needing to be fenced. If we are willing to take our property (our fence panels! they fell down in storms a few years back so we replaced them) off this sliver of land if asked, then we're not really claiming it's ours? No idea whether that's a valid legal excuse though.

Is the boundary as outlined in red on the land registry correct?
If it is then just move the fence so it is on the correct boundary line or explain the discrepancy. As you say no one goes down there and it's not like you have landscaped it and it would materially affect the value of the property. I'm not sure your argument for taking this strip as it would otherwise get out of control marrows with you claiming you don't go down that end.
Don't lie and ask your solicitors advice, though they are probably legally obliged to disclose this discrepancy once you tell them about it. I bet there will be a indemnity policy available which would cover the buyer should someone come along and claim the strip back. You have to pay for it.

The boundary on the land registry does match the title deed, and neither match the current staggered line of the fence. My only concern over moving the fence, which we would very happily do if it meant an end to all this, is that the buyers may have noticed the unusual staggered shape to the rear boundary, and wonder why it has changed. If they were particularly picky, they could argue we're not selling them what they thought they were getting, even though it should not have changed the value of the property as a whole or added anything desirable!

My thinking on it getting out of control if fenced in "correctly" is that brambles etc would flourish that you wouldn't generally expect if there was a maintained garden on the other side, breaking through and requiring more work to a currently very low maintenance part of our garden. Plus the neighbour's claimed half has mature trees on it that require periodic maintenance which they do carry out; not being a tree surgeon I don't know if fence panels would be an obstacle to them doing their job though!

Is it possible to see a different solicitor with a one-off question like this and find out what would most likely happen? e.g. if they reassured us that an indemnity policy would exist that we could pay for, and that the buyer's solicitors would be very unlikely to warn them off over something of this nature, we'd have no hesitation in being completely up front. Or can you not hire conveyancing solicitors in that way for one offs?

We bought our house in 2019 (pre Covid). There was an issue in that the boundary on the title plan was not the same as the actual boundary ( our Seller had effectively taken a bit more land that didn't belong to them). Said land was approx 12 inches by 36 inches tapering to nothing. The Seller had been honest when answering the question you have been asked. Our purchase was a cash purchase, no chain other than ourselves and the Seller. The Land Registry had to redraw the plan. Our offer was accepted in May but we didn't complete until November. We were at the mercy of the Land Registry.
I would strongly advise you not to move any fences. It could create more problems.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
I would answer the question honestly.
(BTW, the new plan shows the amended boundary and it is still incorrect). We will have to deal with that if/when we sell.

I would be scrupulously honest and let the buyer decide. ( especially if the tiny bit of ground is not useful. )

@BasiliskStare

I would be scrupulously honest and let the buyer decide. ( especially if the tiny bit of ground is not useful. )

This. It's not an uncommon situation and doesn't sound like the land is material to use or likely to be challenged. As long as you're not holding yourself out as owning the land you're keeping yourself right. By speaking to your neighbour, title indemnity is unlikely to be an option now so speak to your solicitor before doing anything else.

Thanks all, good to hear other perspectives/experiences. We haven't spoken to the owner of the land, as we would not be able to trace them, they may not even still exist in any form (revert to Crown maybe?). We only spoke to the other neighbour who is in the same position as us and definitely could not care less about the land either, and this was several years back. Would that still void an indemnity?

BeryltheMenaceneePeril - that sounds unbelievably frustrating, especially as they still haven't got it right! That's the kind of thing I'm afraid of.

I think we've pretty much made up our minds to be honest with our solicitor, and then take it from there. I'm assuming I'm correct that once I have told them, they have obligations themselves to act on that information no matter what we might later say or do?