Checking neighbours boundaries

[Brinyan]

Am I able to view documents showing a neighbour’s property boundaries? I assume it’s the Title Plan & would be available via Land Registry? Can this be viewed if you don’t own the property in question?
We’re in a small close & there are areas where it’s unclear who owns what.

[PhilboSE]

Yes, anyone can buy a copy from Land Registry (watch out for fake sites, make sure it’s .gov.uk) for a couple of quid a pop.

However the boundary plans aren’t accurate to anything much better than a metre on the ground, so they’re good for general outlines but not so great for anything needing ultimate accuracy.

[OzzyR1]

Brinyan said:

Am I able to view documents showing a neighbour s property boundaries? I assume it s the Title Plan & would be available via Land Registry? Can this be viewed if you don t own the property in question?
We re in a small close & there are areas where it s unclear who owns what.

Take it that the areas in question are to the front of the properties?

Can you give any more details about the areas without revealing location?

[cliffords]

We have covenants in a small close where we are .
The words describe the ownership very well albeit there are no maps or diagrams.

[Brinyan]

Thanks, I purchased a title plan through gov.uk & it shows what I wanted to check.
Advice appreciated.

[Danns]

Can also get a free sense check / which title numbers to delve further into here…

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?l...

[Little Lofty]

If you search for your local adopted highways plans it usually shows property boundaries.

[hidetheelephants]

my council's planning portal has a map search function and the map has property lines on it, worth having a look to see.

[Downward]

OS Maps ?

[Jobbo]

Danns said:

Can also get a free sense check / which title numbers to delve further into here

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?l...

I m a solicitor and always use the Land Reg Mapsearch to check title numbers and boundaries. But it s not generally accessible unless you have a business account. This seems to give exactly the same title boundaries, though the reference numbers are not the Land Reg title numbers. Still a very useful tool for anyone who doesn t have a business account. Thanks for posting it; I wasn’t aware of this site.

[OutInTheShed]

I've noticed that Arcgis has lots of things displaced, for instance those LR polygons are all shifted East and North relative to the streets.
At least in SW Devon.

Cornwall's county interactive map switched over to arcgis a while back and it's all to pot, showing footpath rights of way going through buildings and the like.

[Little Lofty]

OutInTheShed said:

I've noticed that Arcgis has lots of things displaced, for instance those LR polygons are all shifted East and North relative to the streets.
At least in SW Devon.

Cornwall's county interactive map switched over to arcgis a while back and it's all to pot, showing footpath rights of way going through buildings and the like.

My son is a highways inspector, he was talking to some lads from Powergrid the other day who were trying to trace an electrical fault, they told him all the new maps they use are drawn in India and most have multiple discrepancies, flipped the wrong way etc etc. They said they have to follow the maps even when they know its wrong, so they dig where the map tells them then have to dig again in the correct place.

[Slow.Patrol]

I have a copy of the original conveyancing drawing that was produced by the developer for our estate. It is an absolute st shower. Whoever did it clearly had never been to the site.

We don't own part of our front garden, but do own part of the road. They have drawn a straight line, when it is an "S" curve.

[Mr Whippy]

Little Lofty said:

OutInTheShed said:

I've noticed that Arcgis has lots of things displaced, for instance those LR polygons are all shifted East and North relative to the streets.
At least in SW Devon.

Cornwall's county interactive map switched over to arcgis a while back and it's all to pot, showing footpath rights of way going through buildings and the like.

My son is a highways inspector, he was talking to some lads from Powergrid the other day who were trying to trace an electrical fault, they told him all the new maps they use are drawn in India and most have multiple discrepancies, flipped the wrong way etc etc. They said they have to follow the maps even when they know its wrong, so they dig where the map tells them then have to dig again in the correct place.

Maps are by and large not great for myriad reasons.

Ie, the original rasters used till the late 90s were drawn over from the 40s and 50s ordanance surveys, and they were then digitised into the original landline data set, but none of the datasets were using fully orthorectified imagery.

In more modern times, maps may be made using GPS logging, or proper surveying of new build sites, roads, laser scans, and so the details are much more correct.


For instance, usually in an aerial image you'll see a tall building with the top offset by several meters vs the bottom of the building. This shows how the height of featuers isn't reliable if derived from aerial images, unless the images are heavily processed and/or ortho-rectified.

Thus it makes total sense for tons of old maps of property boundaries, drawn on the old ordnance survey rasters, to make no sense vs modern datasets recorded using better methods.

Then you'll get blends of old and new. And 'interpretations'... and that is what it all ultimately comes down to, an interpretation. There is no absolute here, it's based on opinion and understanding the nuances of the source of all the data and what it's original intention was.


So grab your maps, and interpret the data against what you see on the ground, or even better, historical aerial imagery, or those cool aerial images people used to buy of fly-overs from their house from decades ago.


Ie, I have a funny boundary in a slice of land beyond my garden. Today it's covered in trees. It's been abbutted by a small resi development in the 90s, and the online aerial imagery for the location is rubbish at that time period. And not orthorectified.
The land registry map is somewhat non-sensical.

But on the ground, and against a 1986 aerial photo of the property, it becomes clear what the boundary actually is and the old lines which existed back then and were visible in a bare field and a stream, vs what today is a confluence of copse, a resi development, a field, a park, and two other properties.