Selling a house with encroaching neighbour

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Just wondering out loud & interested to know how this will pan out in future.

Not something that's a concern right now but SWMBO asked me for an answer - and I didn't know.

Her Mum lives in a semi-detached house, a good number of years ago, the neighbour built an extension (15 years+) and it seems that part of the extension was built on her mum's back garden (i.e, they've gone over the fence line).

I don't know why/how they weren't pulled up on it at the time. I need to take a look next time I'm there but apparently it's quite obvious. It's not a huge amount, maybe 6 inches or so over.

So what would happen/how would this be dealt with in the future when the house comes to be sold? Would it cause an issue or just be a legalistic shrug of the shoulders.

It's not contentious but just curious...

[Durzel]

IANAL but 15 years is over the threshold for adverse possession, so would've thought your mother in law's neighbour has legitimate claim over the encroached land.

Disclaimer: I could be completely wrong though.

[AndrewEH1]

Durzel said:

Disclaimer: I could be completely wrong though.

Seek professional paid advice (in no means trying to call Durzel out!)

[Mandat]

If it is the side wall of the extension, which encroaches over the boundary line by 6 inches, then it seems that the neighbour has created a party wall, of which your mother is joint owner. This could be seen as an advantage should a similar extension be built on your mothers property in the future.

It is likely to be picked up during the conveyancing process if the property is to be sold, therefore it would be best to seek professional advice now and to properly document and formalise the current arrangement, to avoid unnecessary costs and delays which will undoubtedly crop up during the selling process.

[Monkeylegend]

I had the reverse in as much as our neighbour replaced the fence between us when we were on holiday about 5 years ago. We were on very good terms so knew it was being done.

When we came back to our surprise the new fence had somehow been replaced about 6 inches nearer to our neighbour and she had said nothing about it when it was being replaced nor after.

She unfortunately passed away about 3 years ago and the property sold with no issues re the positioning of the new fence and the new neighbours are very happy, and so am I

[PorkInsider]

Durzel said:

IANAL but 15 years is over the threshold for adverse possession, so would've thought your mother in law's neighbour has legitimate claim over the encroached land.

Disclaimer: I could be completely wrong though.

Things changed many years ago.

There’s no longer any right to just steal land like that.

[Durzel]

So basically I was right.

That I was wrong.

[Chrisgr31]

It does depend how obvious it is, and how alert the buyer is. The buyer will be send a plan by their conveyancer which shows the boundary line. If they are alert they’l say “Hang on the neighbours house is built on the site we are buying”

[PorkInsider]

Durzel said:

So basically I was right.

That I was wrong.

Well, yes. I suppose so.

Anyway, here's some bumph around how it changed and the current situation: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse...

(The way I understand it is that, essentially, the registered owner of the land has to agree to someone else taking possession. It can't happen without their knowledge/consent.)

[BryanC]

I recently designed a rear extension and the neighbours existing extension is just 50mm inside their boundary. Their eaves and gutter hang over the boundary by approximately 250mm and i suggested that we cut their eaves back to the boundary line and have a joint flashing between the two structures, with our new gable built upto the boundary line.
They objected and looking into this further discover that after 20 years they have 'acquired right's' and I must therefore use the face of their gutter as the effective boundary as our new build will be slightly higher.
We now have a 300mm void between walls which is neither use nor....
Pity, but that seems to be the law and shows what happens when you get a strong minded neighbour who is uncooperative.
My client bought her house about 12 months ago and this 'eaves drop' never arose when buying.

[Mandat]

BryanC said:

I recently designed a rear extension and the neighbours existing extension is just 50mm inside their boundary. Their eaves and gutter hang over the boundary by approximately 250mm and i suggested that we cut their eaves back to the boundary line and have a joint flashing between the two structures, with our new gable built upto the boundary line.
They objected and looking into this further discover that after 20 years they have 'acquired right's' and I must therefore use the face of their gutter as the effective boundary as our new build will be slightly higher.
We now have a 300mm void between walls which is neither use nor....
Pity, but that seems to be the law and shows what happens when you get a strong minded neighbour who is uncooperative.
My client bought her house about 12 months ago and this 'eaves drop' never arose when buying.

Just curious, but did the advice that you obtained say that section 2(2)(g) of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 could not be invoked to cut away the projecting eaves?

The purpose of this section of the Act is to deal with situations just like the one you described.

[anonymous-user]

Durzel said:

So basically I was right.

That I was wrong.

That’s the best way to be wrong

[Monkeylegend]

garyhun said:

Durzel said:

So basically I was right.

That I was wrong.

That’s the best way to be wrong

That's right.

[BryanC]

Mandat said:

Just curious, but did the advice that you obtained say that section 2(2)(g) of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 could not be invoked to cut away the projecting eaves?

The purpose of this section of the Act is to deal with situations just like the one you described.

No. I am an architect not a party wall surveyor so may misread your question, but just approaching a problem to promote fairness to all. Through no fault of her own, she has lost space, quite possibly from a neighbour who tried his luck that over time he was never challenged.
Incidentally I read about acquired rights in the respected AJ Legal Handbook, a textbook used for our professional practice training.

[Mandat]

BryanC said:

Mandat said:

Just curious, but did the advice that you obtained say that section 2(2)(g) of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 could not be invoked to cut away the projecting eaves?

The purpose of this section of the Act is to deal with situations just like the one you described.

No. I am an architect not a party wall surveyor so may misread your question, but just approaching a problem to promote fairness to all. Through no fault of her own, she has lost space, quite possibly from a neighbour who tried his luck that over time he was never challenged.
Incidentally I read about acquired rights in the respected AJ Legal Handbook, a textbook used for our professional practice training.

It's a shame that your client had to compromise like that, since it seems that she had the right to do what you had suggested, but was poorly advised by whoever was advising her, and she didn't follow through with it.