Transferring a little strip of land....
Discussion
Hello to the knowledgeable.
We're in the midst of an extension which shall wrap around our house. Now all the old outhouses have been cleared, we have about 3000mm of side return of which about 1500mm will be filled by the new side part of the extension. Thus, the side return is pushed up to the border of our neighbour.
Clearing the old outhouses/woodstore etc has now exposed our neighbour's garden and thus, we shall erect a new fence along the border. No problems here at all nor in the eyes of our neighbour. Quite the opposite in fact.
If we were to erect a fence right along the supposed exact border (dimensions to show the 'exact' location of the border are not available) then there'd be about a 150/200mm gap between it and her garage. Our neighbour has very kindly said she cares little about "a few inches of land," and that we should just pop the new fence up running off the edge of her garage. I have provided an illustration below:
Purple lines denote new building. Blue the existing 'supposed' border and green, where the border would now be if we put the fence up as above.
My question therefore is this. Shoud we? It's very kind of the neighbour to 'give us' about 200mm (x about 8000mm) of space but what about the future? A new owner could demand the fence be moved (albeit as I mentioned, the exact boundary cannot be determined - even from the deeds). It strikes me that it would be a sensible idea to perhaps offer her a nominal sum of say, £100 to purchase the land and have a deed made up but then, this needs a drawing, a solicitor and then you're looking at a £600 bill. I have by the way, already spoken to my solicitor on this but is there a way of doing this without it costing loads of monies? Budget is tight on the project already and I have read some stuff online about making a border agreement but it doesn't facilitate a sale or gift of land.
I'm wondering whether a border agreement whereby both parties agree the border may be sufficient for the future in the absence of definitive measurements.
Any suggestions from the learned?
We're in the midst of an extension which shall wrap around our house. Now all the old outhouses have been cleared, we have about 3000mm of side return of which about 1500mm will be filled by the new side part of the extension. Thus, the side return is pushed up to the border of our neighbour.
Clearing the old outhouses/woodstore etc has now exposed our neighbour's garden and thus, we shall erect a new fence along the border. No problems here at all nor in the eyes of our neighbour. Quite the opposite in fact.
If we were to erect a fence right along the supposed exact border (dimensions to show the 'exact' location of the border are not available) then there'd be about a 150/200mm gap between it and her garage. Our neighbour has very kindly said she cares little about "a few inches of land," and that we should just pop the new fence up running off the edge of her garage. I have provided an illustration below:
Purple lines denote new building. Blue the existing 'supposed' border and green, where the border would now be if we put the fence up as above.
My question therefore is this. Shoud we? It's very kind of the neighbour to 'give us' about 200mm (x about 8000mm) of space but what about the future? A new owner could demand the fence be moved (albeit as I mentioned, the exact boundary cannot be determined - even from the deeds). It strikes me that it would be a sensible idea to perhaps offer her a nominal sum of say, £100 to purchase the land and have a deed made up but then, this needs a drawing, a solicitor and then you're looking at a £600 bill. I have by the way, already spoken to my solicitor on this but is there a way of doing this without it costing loads of monies? Budget is tight on the project already and I have read some stuff online about making a border agreement but it doesn't facilitate a sale or gift of land.
I'm wondering whether a border agreement whereby both parties agree the border may be sufficient for the future in the absence of definitive measurements.
Any suggestions from the learned?
The fence will be difficult to maintain with a 200 mm gap. If she's happy for you to erect the fence on her land then I would just do that without any legal shenanigans at all and cross those bridges if they ever arise in the future. Perhaps run the fence in the 'boundary line' with a short section at 90° to the garage to make it easier to modify if necessary.
speedking31 said:
The fence will be difficult to maintain with a 200 mm gap. If she's happy for you to erect the fence on her land then I would just do that without any legal shenanigans at all and cross those bridges if they ever arise in the future. Perhaps run the fence in the 'boundary line' with a short section at 90° to the garage to make it easier to modify if necessary.
There is a lot of sense.She'll also need to reserve rights of access if you make gap to garage wall that tight so might as well go to wall and make sure rights are sorted. Need to consider then that it is her wall and not yours for nailing trellis to.
Seriously you are being offered free land for less than the cost of a good oven.
Priorities. Wait another month or so for final fixing whilst you save the extra cash.
Rude-boy said:
There is a lot of sense.
She'll also need to reserve rights of access if you make gap to garage wall that tight so might as well go to wall and make sure rights are sorted. Need to consider then that it is her wall and not yours for nailing trellis to.
Seriously you are being offered free land for less than the cost of a good oven.
Priorities. Wait another month or so for final fixing whilst you save the extra cash.
We're a tad more than a month away from final fixing! More like three but we're keen to re-establish her barrier. For her more than for us.She'll also need to reserve rights of access if you make gap to garage wall that tight so might as well go to wall and make sure rights are sorted. Need to consider then that it is her wall and not yours for nailing trellis to.
Seriously you are being offered free land for less than the cost of a good oven.
Priorities. Wait another month or so for final fixing whilst you save the extra cash.
Rude-boy said:
There is a lot of sense.
She'll also need to reserve rights of access if you make gap to garage wall that tight so might as well go to wall and make sure rights are sorted. Need to consider then that it is her wall and not yours for nailing trellis to.
Seriously you are being offered free land for less than the cost of a good oven.
Priorities. Wait another month or so for final fixing whilst you save the extra cash.
She has, as far as I know, no rights of access down that side as her garage is too close to the assumed border to be useful. She has a ton of access at the other side of her house.She'll also need to reserve rights of access if you make gap to garage wall that tight so might as well go to wall and make sure rights are sorted. Need to consider then that it is her wall and not yours for nailing trellis to.
Seriously you are being offered free land for less than the cost of a good oven.
Priorities. Wait another month or so for final fixing whilst you save the extra cash.
E36GUY said:
Rude-boy said:
There is a lot of sense.
She'll also need to reserve rights of access if you make gap to garage wall that tight so might as well go to wall and make sure rights are sorted. Need to consider then that it is her wall and not yours for nailing trellis to.
Seriously you are being offered free land for less than the cost of a good oven.
Priorities. Wait another month or so for final fixing whilst you save the extra cash.
She has, as far as I know, no rights of access down that side as her garage is too close to the assumed border to be useful. She has a ton of access at the other side of her house.She'll also need to reserve rights of access if you make gap to garage wall that tight so might as well go to wall and make sure rights are sorted. Need to consider then that it is her wall and not yours for nailing trellis to.
Seriously you are being offered free land for less than the cost of a good oven.
Priorities. Wait another month or so for final fixing whilst you save the extra cash.
On the wait a month or so i was aiming at saying - yes it's going to cost you about a grand once all told but it is nothing for extra land cost wise and if money is tight delay the second fix (for example) to find the money for this. You can always book a sparky, having a neighbour who is willing to give you about 3msq of extra land for free in a location like that is very rare! I would be down the solicitor to sort the land transfer faster than you can say Land Registry Fees.
Gavia said:
If your neighbour or even you have a mortgage then buying / selling a small strip of land can be quite a hassle. I’d just take up the offer with good grace and set it up that way.
Not often the case provided proper plans are provided via a solicitor with full explanation of benifit and burden, together with any effect it might have on the soundness and/or marketability of title.Usually there is a small fee for approval and signing DS3.
Only in some situations will a lender even require a valuation.
IME.
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