Boundary and Neighbour Dispute Lawyers

Aneela Ahmed

Solicitor (2014 Qualified)
Heald Green 0161 283 6573
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Kevin Tyler
Kevin Tyler
1731683652
A very professional, efficient service and good communications throughout the process. I would highly recommend Mounteney Conveyancers in Cheadle.
Ellie Fowler
Ellie Fowler
1730298577
My partner and I recently bought our first home. Anna was our solicitor and she was brilliant. As first time buyers we didn't have any knowledge of what to do/expect but Anna was great at explaining the process. Anna also was great at keeping us updated, at each stage we knew what was going on and an estimated time frame - we couldn't have asked for anything more! Thank you again for helping us.
kon kwok chu
kon kwok chu
1730291521
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Anna for her exceptional representation during the sale of our property.
Katie and the team at the Cheadle Mounteney office have done sterling work on the sale of our property and got us over the line. Katie in particular applied extra detective work in regard to an historic oversight with the Freehold purchase (nothing to do with Mounteney) which could have scuppered this sale. Thank you Katie for your support and customer service which is much appreciated. Liz and family.
Ian Dillon
Ian Dillon
1729863805
I have recently sold a property using Mounteneys Conveyancers Cheadle. The service I received was excellent, despite one or two complexities. Mounteneys staff were patient, supportive and kind. I would recommend Mounteneys to anyone .
Jay In Woodford
Jay In Woodford
1729806460
We are extremely pleased with the whole Cheadle Office Team who dealt with the sale of our Apartment in Cheadle. I would like to thank Katie in particular who was professional and tenacious in keeping the Sales process moving in the past few weeks. I am delighted how quickly Katie made the sale move to completion. She was thorough and fantastic with her communication. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again and will be recommending them to Family and Friends - Well done Katie - Keep up the great work - Highly Recommend.
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Description

There are so many boundary features (walls, fences, hedges, ditches etc.) that they are bound from time to time to cause tension between adjoining neighbours. Myths abound about things like “right hand boundaries” – but the only general rule to address the complex issues arising, is the so-called, “Hedge and Ditch Rule” – that when land of adjoining owners is separated by a hedge alongside a ditch then, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, both the hedge and ditch will be deemed to belong to the owner of the land on the same side as the hedge. This rule rarely helps, because hedge-ditch combinations are uncommon.

Occasionally old plans mark boundary features with “T-marks”, that may indicate one owner or the other is responsible for the maintenance or ownership of that boundary feature. This is also rare, however. To ascertain whether it’s the case for your property would require some effort digging-into old plans on paper and/or at HM Land Registry, if there are any. The considerable effort (which would be costly, if we are asked to do it for you) would not normally be fruitful.

Where a boundary feature stands clearly on one side of the boundary, then the feature would normally be owned and maintained by land-owner on whose land the feature stands.

If there is some evidence who put the boundary feature up, that might also be relevant.

However, the normal position is that the boundary feature stands either on the boundary, or so close to the boundary that no-one can be sure which land-owner actually owns the feature – and there is no strong evidence where the feature originally came from [often the features are older than the tenure of the adjacent owners]. In those cases (i.e. the vast majority of instances) the Courts will simply infer the boundary features are party-owned, i.e. joint responsibility between adjoining neighbours – with no unilateral rights for either of them alone; the co-owners should co-operate in maintenance.

If a party feature is not being maintained by either side, then a neighbour might consider putting some screening feature of their own on their side of the party feature, so they don’t have to view the unmaintained party feature. That won’t prevent any obligation toward the party-feature, however.

If a party-feature clearly needs maintenance, then one owner could repair it even if the other refuses to contribute – a co-owner cannot insist a party feature remains in disrepair, even if they do refuse to contribute toward repairing it (even when they should do so).

A neighbour contemplating formalising a boundary dispute with their neighbour should consider these four serious “health-warnings” about what boundary-arguments can easily become:

  • These are typically extremely acrimonious – only the “hard-as-nails” need apply; they are the domain of bullies – neighbours may well get personal, in person. If you are of a nervous disposition, the cure may well be worse than the disease.
  • There would need to be investigation into the evidence, and often a surveyor’s report – all of which can be surprisingly costly considering the value of what’s probably at stake – normally strips of land less than a foot wide, or maintenance costing less than a thousand pounds.
  • Usually these cases can be argued either way, and the Courts have wide discretion to decide – that makes the outcome unpredictable, that all involved dislike. Starting a dispute is no guarantee of winning the dispute.
  • These disputes have a blight-effect on property value: you are not likely to be able to sell your property at all during the course of such a dispute, and even afterward the legacy can appreciably depress property values; no-one wants to live next-door to a proven aggressive or neglectful neighbour.

How long will it take?

Please Contact us for more details or see Solicitors Letter.

Money Matters

If you have any questions, require any further information, or would like to engage us on the T&Cs linked Our Terms in the footer below, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us.