Neighbour building summerhouse on my boundary

[Mumteedum]

Builders are here right now which I'm already pissed off about. I knew they were building a summerhouse but no idea it was going to be as big. It's the entire width of their garden along my fence. My fence sits on a retaining wall and I'll need to replace the posts at some point soon as they've cracked. I'm wondering if they caused this when they took the trees out.

Do you think I'll have issues with water? It's a pitched roof. It's above my fence height. I'm just wondering about it rotting my fence with bits between their structure and my fence.

I'm really stressed and unwell with chronic illness. It's a beautiful day and I'm hiding indoors.

Slight update. All my fence posts have now cracked which I believe is because they pulled out tree stumps along the wall.

I found my papers from when I bought the house. It says boundary to right is mine but I'm not sure this means the wall. I think it does but I'd like to confirm. I'm going to request land registry papers. Not sure if this will confirm it.

They've now had guttering put on after months of water just pouring onto the wall. The guttering is wedged against my fence.

Anyone got any ideas on finding out who owns the wall? They've just taken a massive assumption in their favour and have not spoken to me about any of this.

I had a fencing guy come and he said he'd do some repair with cement on the posts but said I can never replace the posts now unless I rip out all my decking (which is new and already replaced old deck).

I feel like I'm going to end up just sucking this up. I don't want issues when I sell though. I'm so cross.

The white is the gutter. The fence is mine. The black is a pitched roof and it overhangs the wall which goes from the front curb all around my garden which is my garden's retaining wall because I'm higher up.

Builder lied to me. He said it'd be 50cm away.

They've built it too close to your wall - which is the boundary. Your fence is in your garden. The gutter now overhangs your boundary....

In would use a saw and take off the bits on your property and drop them over the wall. Cheeky fuckers indeed.

This. The gutter should not be touching your wall. The pitched roof shouldn’t be overhanging your wall.

You are going to have to either accept it, or speak to them. Sadly this could all escalate depending upon what they do to remedy the situation which can only happen with them taking down the structure and repositioning.

The main structure touches the wall. The roof overhangs and touches my fence.

The wall I think, they have just assumed is theirs but I don't think so.

Will I able to make certain from land registry? I can't cope with legal stress. They're wealthy compared to me and I'm an unwell, stressed single parent.

Have you got legal cover included in your buildings insurance?

@RandomMess I do. I'm pretty sure at least.

I think it should have been one metre away from boundaries all the way round

Download both the documents for your house and your neighbours from land registry - it may or may not mention walls.

Also if you have legal cover on your home insurance this may be able to help.

I cannot remember if I mentioned this previously but post on gardenlaw forum - there is some very experienced people on there - lawyers, planners etc who I am sure will be able to give you the legal, definitive position.

@Eviebeans from what I read before they were allowed to build up to the boundary if it's under certain size. I think it is probably at the limit of that size but no bigger.

I have not challenged it so far because I thought it was just on the limit of the boundary if we perhaps had the boundary on the wall. It doesn't seem easy to find out exactly where the boundary is.

Some people have said phone the council but I am not sure it's their area...? Permitted development seems to be very permissive and if it's about where the boundary is, I guess I need to know exactly where that is.

@schloss thank you. That's helpful.

I'm not sure I can cope with a battle but I feel I should say something... though I need my facts straight.

Is it both I need? It's quite expensive if I have to get next door's too.

It’s cheap compared to what you are contemplating getting into.

Obviously the guttering has now just been added so it is now touching my fence as well as the wall.

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds

Use this link. The gov.uk one.
Yours is much too expensive

That isn't the proper land registry site - there are many people trying to sell documents are far higher prices. Back in a mo with the link you need.

I doubt that the LR documents will help much. Establishing an exact boundary is incredibly difficult. There are specific surveyors specialising in it, but it's not cheap.

Thanks @Seeline . I feel like I'm going to end up swallowing this. It's really annoying and upsetting. Just feels like a massive FU from my neighbours.

Yeah well if it means getting into an utter nightmare I won't go there. I can't cope mentally or emotionally or financially.

The real LR site is about £3 or £4 per house. Be careful OP, make sure you check the links you are using.

@Mumteedum @Seeline is right that exact boundaries are not possible from the LR docs but as a start I would get the copies anyway for the two properties. If you use gardenlaw they will tell you to do the same. The LR link is

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Thank you. I just got mine. I'm grateful I didn't overpay from dodgy site..

No it doesn't give me anything new. I'll have a look at next door's and I'll post on that forum. Thank you 🙏🏻

It looks like your neighbours are massively taking the piss.

Contact your council's planning department with photos and ask them to come out and take a look.

Bollocks. I bought mine from that con merchant site a month ago. How annoying.

Honestly I don’t think I could be arsed to go to this degree of fuss over an inch or two. Our neighbour’s guttering overhangs our land and it’s a non-issue.

Is the guttering doing its job?

Other than being annoyed at their cheekiness, is this causing any actual issues?

Are they using it for business as you first thought?

I know you have cracked fence posts but they’re entitled to remove trees/stumps so I think that’s something you’ll just have to suck up. At least you’ve found someone who says they can be repaired, so that’s good news.

I think you need to figure out what your concerns are and what you want done before you spend lots of time stressing about this. It’s easy to get caught up in the annoyance and all that happens is you work yourself up. Earlier in the thread you weren’t keen on contacting the council so you need to have a think about whether that’s now changed and if so, what action you want the council to take.

Thanks @SpidersAreShitheads . Yes I am weighing up what to do and what I'm worried about. No they're not using it for business which I'm glad about.

It's not about a few inches of boundary. I've lived here for years never really thinking about who owns the wall.

The problems I'm worried about now though are..

They have cracked the fence posts from removing the trees so I'm concerned about structural issues with my garden as they've dug down next to the wall. It's my understanding they should have had a party wall agreement or something.

The guttering is inaccessible to them and is squashed around my posts. I'm concerned about it getting blocked and having water against my fence.

I'm concerned about issues if and when I sell.

I'm concerned about how I ever manage to replace my fence which will need to happen at some point. Although it's the posts that the gutter is pressed around it's millimetres from the fence.

The fence guy just said putting a bit of cement in will help.... It's a bodge really. A great chunk has come off on their side.

But yes I probably will just have to calm down and suck it up but I think they've behaved really selfishly and I'm upset by it.