Neighbours crossing boundary Line

[tattyteddy2010]

In November 2009 my daughter bought a mid terraced property. At the rear the neighbours had a conservatory
which had been up for many years and at the time we did not notice, and the surveyor did not pick up on that
it was crossing the boundary line by approx 2 inches.

In the last couple of weeks the neighbours have knocked down the old and had a new upvc conservatory built
to the same line, but, now have a upvc ledge on the bottom which come over a further 4inches and overlaps.
the drain area by about 1 inch. They have also made a hole in the side facia of their conservatory for my daughters
(i believe its called) hopper at the top of the pipe and sealed round it with the stuff the seal the edges with.
This hopper has been in place since the house was built in the 1930's.

As the old conservatory has been knocked down can she claim back the original boundary line if there is no
official documentation to say the neighbours were allowed to cross the line in the first place?

Also... While my daughter was away on holiday a few months ago they have replaced the fence which has been
erected and falls in line with the edge of the ledge (which wasnt there at the time) at the bottom of the
conservatory.

The fence is not in straight line and comes over to my daughters side in may places to allow their shrubs
to remain in place which have been planted too close to the boundary line.

How does she go about sorting all this as she is only young and does not have a lot of spare cash ( as most of
us dont at present)

Hope I have posted enough information and thank you in advance for any help/advice you can give.

 

[holmslaw]

Boundary disputes are notorious for making lawyers rich. If you get into a dispute, it would have to be declared when selling the house.

Have the neighbours made a mistake? or are they taking the ****?

Either way, if you're not actually suffering a loss, I would forget about it.

 

[^woody^]

To safeguard the boundary position and prevent the loss of any land, your daughter should send the neighbours a letter, recorded, to say that she is aware that the conservatory and fence are astride the property boundary and on her land, and there is no intention that the line of the conservatory or new fence position should denote the boundary or new boundary position.

This will prevent any future claims of the section of land, and protect your daughters postion

Then its up to her how to proceed. She can take action to have the items removed from her land - which will involve determining where the boundary actually is.

Or she can licence the use of the land, so that the fence and conservatory can remain, but with her permission. This can be on payment of a fee to cover any legal work and also a fee to your daughter for the actual use of the bit of land. Alternatively just sell the land on payment of fees

Or she can just tell them to remove the fence (and conservatory wall) in x amount of days or she will consider it a tresspass and start action for its removal

 

[TonyW2]

Check the house insurance. There may be legal cover in place.

 

[masona]

Be careful! You need to think hard on this, is it really bothering or noticeable? Is it more of a thought of what they did?

Just an example, in my neighbourhood, they went to court to claim back 50mm of land, they won the court case but must now find £30,000 for court costs even though they've won! It's a long story and because they refused to pay, their house was sold at an auction last month because the £30,000 plus interest daily mounted up. There was link on here not long ago on if you can find it.

As holmslaw quoted "Either way, if you're not actually suffering a loss, I would forget about it."

Could be very good advice!

 

[nottsrob184]

Forget the legal route...its expensive and probably will leave you in a real mess.
This type of thing happens a lot with neibours and its practically bullying if done deliberately... and it sounds like it is.

I would plant a tree (pick a type that has very thirsty roots and will undermine their conservatory footings.)....it will take a while but it will almost certainly cause them a real headache....

you could do lots of things similar but not as descreet. Good luck