Boundary Dispute

[Flying_Monkey]

You'e basically been doing her a favour for the last however many years by letting her use your land for free. I would move the fence now before the planting and growing season, but allow here to harvest / move any plants that are there already. If she can't agree to this, then ultimately she will just have to deal with it, you can't be any more reasonable than that. The problem is that people can get very irrational over things like this and it might turn into something that drags on and on regardless of how right you are.

 

[QuickDraw]

OK, it sounds like she's just always been an unreasonable pain in the neck. Bulldoze her side of the fence (but only to the correct line of course)and lay mines, and get Papercorn in with one of his special negotiating techniques.

This is exactly the sort of answer I was hoping for.

Thank you all for your advice, it's been very helpful.

My plan is this:

1. Send her a letter (perhaps from a lawyer) saying she's got 6 months to move her plants and 1 month to object.

2. Send another letter after a month to say the work will be going ahead after a certain date and remind her to move her plants.

3. Move the fence (not forgetting to lay the mines on her side of the fence).

4. Send the kids out the back every time she sits out in her garden with a glass of wine and a book.

I've looked at all the legal stuff and I can't really see anywhere that would suggest she'd have any case at all. As long as we make sure the fence is completely on our side of the boundary there can't a be a problem can there? Is there anything I'm missing?

 

[QuickDraw]

And the Land Registry appear to charge only £8 to send a copy of your land details..probably worth it if you don't have a copy of your deed handy.

Can you tell me how to get this? I've been all over their website and the only thing is a full title deeds search for £30 which give me all the details including who my mortgage is with. The £8 option seems much better and is exactly what I'm looking for if it shows a straight line through the house and garden.

 

[QuickDraw]

I wouldn't give her 6 months.

You think the mines will get her before that?

Noted. We came up with 6 months when we were trying to be nice. Maybe tell her one month but there's no way I'll be digging up the garden in February but then at least I can do it as soon as it's a bit drier and warmer.

 

[Canrider]

QD, I think I saw that on the gardenlaw 'site, not at the LR. In any event, you'd likely need the Scottish LR, no?

The only catch I see in what you propose is that she isn't the owner of the land in question, the council (again, presumably through the Glasgow Housing Assoc.) is, so they're the ones you need to serve with your letter. They then should be telling her she needs to get herself off your land.

I note there is mention of an LR Adjudicator for resolving these sorts of disputes, again presumably without having to go to court.

Also, I take it the title deed to your house doesn't have any lot plans on it? Not that they're legally binding as the scale of them is too large to be useful for setting out boundaries, but if you've got that, you've pretty much got what the £8/£30 was supposed to buy you.

 

[domtyler]

There is something I am not getting here. If QD just moves the fence to the correct position why go to the bother of letters. Just move it and throw the plants back onto here side once the work is finished. If she were to attempt to move it after that you would know that you had your bit of paper to stop her.

 

[QuickDraw]

There is something I am not getting here. If QD just moves the fence to the correct position why go to the bother of letters. Just move it and throw the plants back onto here side once the work is finished. If she were to attempt to move it after that you would know that you had your bit of paper to stop her.

That was my original plan. The Boss doesn't want to risk her getting the council onto us or starting legal action and forcing us to take the fence down and pay huge legal bills. And what the The Boss says goes.

 

[Canrider]

The Boss sounds pretty smart. You wouldn't want to (for example) pay to have the fence moved, then find out that that land is no longer yours because you took so long correcting the problem and now the council has some sort of squatter's rights to the strip. And then have to pay to have the fence put back where it was now.

 

[QuickDraw]

The Boss sounds pretty smart. You wouldn't want to (for example) pay to have the fence moved, then find out that that land is no longer yours because you took so long correcting the problem and now the council has some sort of squatter's rights to the strip. And then have to pay to have the fence put back where it was now.

That's why she's The Boss and I'll be the one shifting the fence.

 

[Canrider]

 

[Noodley]

Move the fence, then charge her for looking after her plants.

 

[Nortones2]

If you have left her in effective possession for too long, adverse possession applies, at least in England. That's how we came to own our half of the ransom strip retained by developer the between our property and our neighbour. No dispute, but they'll have to pay to get vehicular access from the planned retirement bungalow in a corner of their large garden, into our cul-de-sac. Our fee will be quite reasonable, starting at 5 figures....

 

[Mortiroloboy]

Tell you what, I'll let you borrow Mrs Mortiroloboy, we have had two pain in the arse neighbours at two different houses, she got so fed up with them she told both of them to "f*ck off and Die", ( she's normally very polite, honest) within a short space of time both of them obliged.

She's very nice my missus, but dont ever upset her OK!

I do worry though, when we were courting I drove over to see her at work it was 1989 very windy, just before I left the house I telephoned her she
said " Oh be careful a tree doesn't land on the car"...Well I think you've already guessed what happened next.

Maybe she has powers?

 

[Mortiroloboy]

If you have left her in effective possession for too long, adverse possession applies, at least in England. That's how we came to own our half of the ransom strip retained by developer the between our property and our neighbour. No dispute, but they'll have to pay to get vehicular access from the planned retirement bungalow in a corner of their large garden, into our cul-de-sac. Our fee will be quite reasonable, starting at 5 figures....

Wasn't there some case law a couple of years ago relating to so called ransom strips? I recall a local land owner outside Newbury purchased a seemingly useless plot in order to charge residents to pass over it in order to drive from where the public highway ended across his strip of land to get to their front doors. The case was months at court, the ransom strip owners case for rent was thrown out and he picked up a hefty court bill.

 

[bonj2]

Is there anyone out there who can help me with a boundary dispute?

Experience under Scottish law would be excellent but all advice greatfully received.

The story:
When we first moved into our house we erected a fence between our garden's and next door's. It goes all the way from the wall of the house to the bottom of the garden. Unfortunately it was put in the wrong place (mostly our fault). It's been there for 6 years and we're finally getting around to moving it to the correct place.

We mentioned it to our neighbour who's taken a major strop and is going to see the council (she's a tenant) spouting rubbish about cultivating the land for 14 years (she claims the broken fence we got with the house was in the wrong place as well). She even had the cheek to claim she's done us a favour by looking after it for us.

Does she have any right to claim our land? If so would her claim be successful?

How do we go about formally giving her a notice of eviction?

Does she have any claim to compensation for the plants she's cultivated on our land?

Would I be within my rights to just move the fence and keep any plants that are there?

It's not a huge problem but it's really annoying that she thinks she's got some claim over our garden so any advice will be greatfully received and being polite to preserve some sort of peace bewteen neighbours is no longer part of the equation. Indeed anything which would help the situation and get right up her nose would (and is also within the law) would be the ideal solution.

Thanks in advance.

What I'd do - go round one day all friendly, and ask her by how much your wall is encroaching onto her land. Then, say if it's one foot over her boundary, instead of moving it by a foot your way move it TWO feet your way. Then, when she inevitably plants trees or builds a greenhouse or shed right up to it, go round knocking on her door, saying 'er..excuse me, but YOU are now encroaching onto OUR land. We didn't put the wall right at the edge of the land, which we are well within our rights to do. hell, even if we want to have wall right down the MIDDLE of our land, we can - and therefore I now demand that you uproot those trees and knock your greenhouse down again. Otherwise we will'.