Boundary disputes
Discussion
Boundary disputes are the Rolls Royce of SP&L threads, showcasing the best and worst of people and underlining the fundamentals of justice in a very British way. However, there haven't been any for months and the last few never had any closure, i.e. the guy whose neighbour cut down his trees and built a fence on his land.
So to make eating my overpriced and/or undermade lunchtime sandwich more bearable this week, it would be great if you could recount below your boundary dispute tales - kudos if there are links to pre-existing threads, more kudos if there are legal judgements involved, and maximum kudos if you know where the bodies are buried.
Regards.
So to make eating my overpriced and/or undermade lunchtime sandwich more bearable this week, it would be great if you could recount below your boundary dispute tales - kudos if there are links to pre-existing threads, more kudos if there are legal judgements involved, and maximum kudos if you know where the bodies are buried.
Regards.
Davie_GLA said:
Ooh, I might have JUST what you’re looking for.
It involves a toe to toe stand off over the birth of a chimney and an argument over 56mm of “land”.
I may take some time tomorrow to write it properly. Don’t get too excited though.
Dare I buy a Sainsbury's triple-pack sandwich with twin-tiramisu dessert?It involves a toe to toe stand off over the birth of a chimney and an argument over 56mm of “land”.
I may take some time tomorrow to write it properly. Don’t get too excited though.
I have been drawing Lease / Title plans for years. I try and avoid boundary disputes, principally because the parties involved tend to be nuts.
One that does come to mind was a bungalow in a pretty nottinghamshire village, which backed onto a river. The land was not registered (I think), and I was drafted in to prepare a plan for registration, prior to the sale. The property had been handed down by the mother, who had recently died.
The property was accessed via the drive that belonged to the adjacent much larger house. I became aware that part of the bungalows parking area was actually registered to the adjacent larger house, and given the length of time that things had been built it was pretty clear that this was an error.
The owner of the house via her solicitor made an adverse possession claim for the land which was not in the correct title, which they won, and were granted possessory title.
The neighbours then turned into demons and tried to grab a portion of the bungalows river frontage, even going so far as to put up a fence. I was beginning to pick up regular phone calls from the bungalows owner who was distraught, and actually as far as I was concerned was being bullied by the neighbours (solicitors themselves).
I eventually met with the lady and her solicitor at the property (I'm a sucker so doing this for no additional fee to just try and help). Her solicitor is full of fight and talking of court etc. Costs are racketing up massively
The thing about all of this, is the property had 60ft of river frontage. The dispute was over 5ft of this, which was blocked by trees. The lady was trying to sell the house, and was upset because she was dealing with the family home. There was actually no value significance at all of the area in dispute. While the parties were at loggerheads and determined to win, she could not move on.
We left I think, with that thought. She could cave. It would not affect the price, or the house. One of the saddest cases I have seen, where some practical advice from the solicitor would have been useful.
One that does come to mind was a bungalow in a pretty nottinghamshire village, which backed onto a river. The land was not registered (I think), and I was drafted in to prepare a plan for registration, prior to the sale. The property had been handed down by the mother, who had recently died.
The property was accessed via the drive that belonged to the adjacent much larger house. I became aware that part of the bungalows parking area was actually registered to the adjacent larger house, and given the length of time that things had been built it was pretty clear that this was an error.
The owner of the house via her solicitor made an adverse possession claim for the land which was not in the correct title, which they won, and were granted possessory title.
The neighbours then turned into demons and tried to grab a portion of the bungalows river frontage, even going so far as to put up a fence. I was beginning to pick up regular phone calls from the bungalows owner who was distraught, and actually as far as I was concerned was being bullied by the neighbours (solicitors themselves).
I eventually met with the lady and her solicitor at the property (I'm a sucker so doing this for no additional fee to just try and help). Her solicitor is full of fight and talking of court etc. Costs are racketing up massively
The thing about all of this, is the property had 60ft of river frontage. The dispute was over 5ft of this, which was blocked by trees. The lady was trying to sell the house, and was upset because she was dealing with the family home. There was actually no value significance at all of the area in dispute. While the parties were at loggerheads and determined to win, she could not move on.
We left I think, with that thought. She could cave. It would not affect the price, or the house. One of the saddest cases I have seen, where some practical advice from the solicitor would have been useful.
I didn't get one in the end, I wandered through the Christmas market and bought a pork pie, a steak and gravy pie and a hunk of blueberry NY cheesecake.
Today I had a Sprigg salad at my desk, with balsamic dressing, pickled cauliflower, beansprouts and mushrooms, but the lady next to me started spreading out with her crackers and dips and eventually her flask got pushed onto my side of the desk - I approached her politely and said that I had been sitting at this desk for the last three years but she said that I had never set out any demarcations and that she had right of way, at which point I tried to find the original desk plan and - no, no it's just not the same... :-/
Today I had a Sprigg salad at my desk, with balsamic dressing, pickled cauliflower, beansprouts and mushrooms, but the lady next to me started spreading out with her crackers and dips and eventually her flask got pushed onto my side of the desk - I approached her politely and said that I had been sitting at this desk for the last three years but she said that I had never set out any demarcations and that she had right of way, at which point I tried to find the original desk plan and - no, no it's just not the same... :-/
ScotHill said:
I didn't get one in the end, I wandered through the Christmas market and bought a pork pie, a steak and gravy pie and a hunk of blueberry NY cheesecake.
Today I had a Sprigg salad at my desk, with balsamic dressing, pickled cauliflower, beansprouts and mushrooms, but the lady next to me started spreading out with her crackers and dips and eventually her flask got pushed onto my side of the desk - I approached her politely and said that I had been sitting at this desk for the last three years but she said that I had never set out any demarcations and that she had right of way, at which point I tried to find the original desk plan and - no, no it's just not the same... :-/
Today I had a Sprigg salad at my desk, with balsamic dressing, pickled cauliflower, beansprouts and mushrooms, but the lady next to me started spreading out with her crackers and dips and eventually her flask got pushed onto my side of the desk - I approached her politely and said that I had been sitting at this desk for the last three years but she said that I had never set out any demarcations and that she had right of way, at which point I tried to find the original desk plan and - no, no it's just not the same... :-/
king awesome. 
My Dad bought a £500 Saxo and parked it on a "driveway" down a track lane which the nearest neighbour thought was theres.
There's an awful lot more to this story but I can't remember all the ins and outs. I think to cut the long story short, this nearest neighbour had permission to knock down their old 2-up, 2-down farmhouse and to rebuild, but in the outline of the proposed plans they included this extra bit of land which isn't theirs.
There's an awful lot more to this story but I can't remember all the ins and outs. I think to cut the long story short, this nearest neighbour had permission to knock down their old 2-up, 2-down farmhouse and to rebuild, but in the outline of the proposed plans they included this extra bit of land which isn't theirs.
ScotHill said:
I didn't get one in the end, I wandered through the Christmas market and bought a pork pie, a steak and gravy pie and a hunk of blueberry NY cheesecake.
Today I had a Sprigg salad at my desk, with balsamic dressing, pickled cauliflower, beansprouts and mushrooms, but the lady next to me started spreading out with her crackers and dips and eventually her flask got pushed onto my side of the desk - I approached her politely and said that I had been sitting at this desk for the last three years but she said that I had never set out any demarcations and that she had right of way, at which point I tried to find the original desk plan and - no, no it's just not the same... :-/
That's a heck of a long time. Did you sleep there as well? Today I had a Sprigg salad at my desk, with balsamic dressing, pickled cauliflower, beansprouts and mushrooms, but the lady next to me started spreading out with her crackers and dips and eventually her flask got pushed onto my side of the desk - I approached her politely and said that I had been sitting at this desk for the last three years but she said that I had never set out any demarcations and that she had right of way, at which point I tried to find the original desk plan and - no, no it's just not the same... :-/
I bet you work from home and the lady is your O/H.
Here’s one:
The house we are renting has a boundary on the deeds that runs along the side fence, down the side of the house (about 1m from house wall), alongside the drive by the same 1m and then across the entry to the house next door (2 car widths) to the wall opposite.
The house next door has a right to cross the land to get to their drive.
However, as built, the house next door sits on a different angle to this house, and has been built approx 1m-1.5m too far ‘forward’ vs the plan in the deeds.
The front corner of their house clips the boundary (it should sit about 1m back from it) and their drive is not long enough to park any cars without sitting across the boundary, partially blocking our drive in the process.
They have also recently paved their front garden to use as parking. That includes ~1m of land along the side of our drive that belongs to this house.
Worth some kind of dispute?
The house we are renting has a boundary on the deeds that runs along the side fence, down the side of the house (about 1m from house wall), alongside the drive by the same 1m and then across the entry to the house next door (2 car widths) to the wall opposite.
The house next door has a right to cross the land to get to their drive.
However, as built, the house next door sits on a different angle to this house, and has been built approx 1m-1.5m too far ‘forward’ vs the plan in the deeds.
The front corner of their house clips the boundary (it should sit about 1m back from it) and their drive is not long enough to park any cars without sitting across the boundary, partially blocking our drive in the process.
They have also recently paved their front garden to use as parking. That includes ~1m of land along the side of our drive that belongs to this house.
Worth some kind of dispute?
Edited by cgauk on Thursday 5th December 00:13
Bit late to the party, but a friend of mine bought a new house on a new estate, and when he started to enjoy the summer in his new garden his neighbour noticed that the fence had been built on the wrong side of the boundary. The very unexciting resolution was twofold: 1) the developer disassembled the fence and rebuilt it four inches across from its original position, 2) the neighbour is now known as Mr Four-inches to all bar himself.
In fairness, my friend would have been apoplectic had the situation been reversed, and by now would have featured on an episode of "when neighbours use a theodolite and bits of string and then move your fence".
In fairness, my friend would have been apoplectic had the situation been reversed, and by now would have featured on an episode of "when neighbours use a theodolite and bits of string and then move your fence".
Maybe I have an embryonic dispute that one day may go full Daily Mail and also satisfy the OP's blood lust ...
20 years ago my neighbour and I jointly funded a new fence between our two properties. Fencer appointed, briefed by my neighbour, did work whilst we were at work. He did a great job except that he started at the right place but instead of following the old fence line headed for the corner of my neighbours wall which was about 1Metre from where it should be. So I gained a triangle with one side about 25Metres and the other side 1Metre in length (area = 12.5sqM).
My neighbour wasn't happy when he saw this but we accepted it as it was as it wasn't a huge issue and nothing more has been said. Since then he has rented the house out and I have removed the old post footings so the fence is now "the border". I can't see him or me selling our houses for another 20 years at least so where does this leave us when we come to sell? There is no dispute so I guess we do not have to declare it at the time of sale? Or should we declare it ?
The deeds are very old on a tracing paper like material with thick lines that have no dimensions so can be interpreted +/- about 3 Metres so are no use.
You sometimes read in these threads that after X years if not disputed then the land becomes mine... but that is all rubbish right?
Just curious, what I should do in the future sale scenario, declare of keep quiet ? TIA.
20 years ago my neighbour and I jointly funded a new fence between our two properties. Fencer appointed, briefed by my neighbour, did work whilst we were at work. He did a great job except that he started at the right place but instead of following the old fence line headed for the corner of my neighbours wall which was about 1Metre from where it should be. So I gained a triangle with one side about 25Metres and the other side 1Metre in length (area = 12.5sqM).
My neighbour wasn't happy when he saw this but we accepted it as it was as it wasn't a huge issue and nothing more has been said. Since then he has rented the house out and I have removed the old post footings so the fence is now "the border". I can't see him or me selling our houses for another 20 years at least so where does this leave us when we come to sell? There is no dispute so I guess we do not have to declare it at the time of sale? Or should we declare it ?
The deeds are very old on a tracing paper like material with thick lines that have no dimensions so can be interpreted +/- about 3 Metres so are no use.
You sometimes read in these threads that after X years if not disputed then the land becomes mine... but that is all rubbish right?
Just curious, what I should do in the future sale scenario, declare of keep quiet ? TIA.
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