Boundary Lines Between Owners Do Not Match

Hi, we are in the process of selling our property and a boundary discrepancy has been flagged by the buyer's solicitor.

Attached is an image of both mine and my neighbours boundaries overlaid. Mine is the narrow, long plot.

As per the attached, the boundary between mine and my neighbours land does not match up. Our fence, in reality matches up with the neighbours title plan exactly and there is no dead land in between.

The buyer's solicitor is requesting that the boundary be amended, so the boundary per the title deed and the fence in reality match up.

We initially contacted Land Registry via the solicitor to amend the title deed, but this was rejected.

The solicitor has suggested filing a TP1 form, and have the neighbour transfer the land to us - but we feel this is incorrect as the neighbour does not own this land. Is there another course of action to amend our boundary?

Both our sale and onward purchase are currently being held up by this, appreciate any help! 

Hi Christopher - all land is owned but not all of it is registered. So this 'dead' land you refer to is it registered or not?
Whether it's registered or unregistered the owner can transfer it (TP1) or you can seek to claim it (Adverse Possession) if you've been in occupation of and using the land for a number of years

Hi, the land in question sits within our boundary in reality. We have bought all title deeds in the area and this land is not accounted for in any of them. Therefore the land doesn’t look like it’s registered (as seen on the original attached image where the boundaries don’t meet). 

The land already sits within our boundary. So if it’s unregistered how can the neighbour transfer it to us - its not registered to her and it doesn’t sit within her boundary?

We have lived in the property 5.5 years and the fence has always been there. And as far as we are aware its been in the same position for around 20 years according to our neighbour. 

Our neighbour does not want the land and is happy for the boundary to stay as it is. Would adverse possession be more appropriate then the TP1 and what would the timescales for this be?

thanks for your help 

Thanks Christopher - understood and appreciated as the plan you provided is not a HMLR title plan so wasn't too sure whether the intervening land was or wasn't registered 
If you can satisfy the legal requirements re adverse possession then you can take that route and seek to register your claimed ownership. Your claim would rely on your own use/occupation and that of any precious property owner(s) as appropriate. Your neighbour's consent isn't relevant to your initial claim but would come into play as part of a later stage of the application processing.
A TP1 would only be appropriate if the Transferor could prove title to the land itself, namely they had deeds to confirm it was theirs. It doesn't read as if that's actually the case though.
Do speak to your conveyancer re the legal requirements for a claim relying on adverse possession

Hi, thanks for your quick replies. The diagram is a screenshot taken from our neighbours title plan (K233631) and our own title plan (K868954) overlayed.

If we were to go the adverse possession route and we were not able to make contact or receive a reply from previous owners of our property how would that work? 

I have included a screenshot from some of your guidance on adverse possession. It states about ‘an alteration to the squatters title plan to show the general boundary more accurately’ then adverse possession would not be appropriate. Would this be the more viable option for case? as you can see from the title plans the amount of land not within a boundary is very minor. Would this circumstance warrant an application to make it just a more accurate boundary?

Thanks


 

Christopher - if you can't cover the timescale required then your claim won;pt stand up for legal/registration purposes.
It might be an option although I note, now you have shared the titles, that you already have an application pending and being processed to register the land. Lodged by Axis Legal Services Limited on 6th Feb and being processed. I'd strongly recommend on relying on your conveyancer here re what's needed especially as the application remains live