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Original poster

Boundaries with next door

33 replies

IsItYoursOrIsItMine · 08/03/2023 18:31

Has anyone had any experience with the marked boundaries on the title deeds not matching ‘real life’

Next door have an outbuilding and on the title deeds the dividing garden wall starts at the end of this building placing it fully in their garden.

However, in reality the dividing wall is half way down this outbuilding so half of it is actually in my garden!

Any advice would be appreciated.

OP posts:
Original poster
IsItYoursOrIsItMine · 09/03/2023 09:40

Cakedoesntjudge · 08/03/2023 22:50

Annoyingly, the Land Registry specifically says you cannot rely on title plans for legal boundaries. Precise legal boundaries can only be determined by the courts. Where agreement can be reached, people can enter into a determined boundary application or a boundary agreement with their neighbour.

The problem with any boundary dispute is it ends up being expensive.

There is also the possibility of people making an adverse possession claim for the additional land they have ended up with if they meet the requirements.

Either way, it is worth ensuring your house insurance covers you for legal expenses. If your neighbour does end up disputing this with you, it is definitely not something you want to be privately paying legal fees for.

This is really helpful thank you. We’re just waiting for our solicitor to get back to us!

OP posts:
Movinghouseatlast · 09/03/2023 09:53

I have and it was a living nightmare.

There is an excellent forum on Garden Law with very knowledgeable posters where I would encourage you to.post your issue.

I will say that both sides need very deep pockets and huge resilience to engage in a boundary dispute. I moved house because my neighbour raised a dispute over an 8 inch strip of land and would not let it go. Despite the fact I had lived in the house with the same boundary for over 20 years, despite the fact he knew what he was buying when he bought his house, despite the law being on our side he carried on and we simply didn't have the money to fight him in court.

Original poster
IsItYoursOrIsItMine · 09/03/2023 09:55

Movinghouseatlast · 09/03/2023 09:53

I have and it was a living nightmare.

There is an excellent forum on Garden Law with very knowledgeable posters where I would encourage you to.post your issue.

I will say that both sides need very deep pockets and huge resilience to engage in a boundary dispute. I moved house because my neighbour raised a dispute over an 8 inch strip of land and would not let it go. Despite the fact I had lived in the house with the same boundary for over 20 years, despite the fact he knew what he was buying when he bought his house, despite the law being on our side he carried on and we simply didn't have the money to fight him in court.

That sounds horrendous but how did you manage to sell with the dispute on going?

Thank you for the recommendation. The current owner is clearly not bothered but my worry is a new buyer of next door disputing the boundary.

OP posts:
PurBal · 09/03/2023 10:03

A relative is about 2 years into a boundary dispute. A 6ft land grab. They’re only pursuing it because it could potentially affect a sale, and they also chopped down trees with TPOs. Managed to do it through legal cover on their home insurance, was quoted £60k privately.

@PissedOffNeighbour22 this is awful!

Movinghouseatlast · 09/03/2023 10:20

IsItYoursOrIsItMine · 09/03/2023 09:55

That sounds horrendous but how did you manage to sell with the dispute on going?

Thank you for the recommendation. The current owner is clearly not bothered but my worry is a new buyer of next door disputing the boundary.

Show quote history

Yes, that is what happened to us, the new owner disputed it.

We sold because we had to give in. He built an extension partly on our garden, the new boundary was declared and we told the buyer what had happened on the property form. As the extension was there by then there wasn't much else the psychopath neighbour could do.

Movinghouseatlast · 09/03/2023 10:24

And another thing to note is legal expenses cover is worth zilch in these situations. They will only go to court with a cast iron case that will include costs being paid by the other side. Judges very rarely award full costs in boundary dispute cases.

FerretFumbler · 09/03/2023 12:43

I have this too on my newly bought house!
I have 2 metres stolen on one side where they have built a new fence, and about a 3m wide section on the other side with some lovely trees in it!

looking on Google maps, it has been like that for years so although nice, probably not worth upsetting my new neighbours about.

Shame. I’d love to put a hammock between those trees….🍹

TheAdmiralAndFishermanFavorEntirelyDifferentPies · 09/03/2023 12:56

We have an issue with our garage - it's built a foot or so inside our boundary. Next door's garage is built next to it and our roof and theirs meet and have a shared gutter along the boundary line. All good - except that if you look into their garage you can see they don't actually have an internal garage side wall, they use ours, well inside our boundary. It's all going to get messy at some point...

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