Boundary Problem and Land Registry

[Frank-the-Wool]

We have been coppicing a wood next to some land and a house that used to be part of a larger farm that was sold up many years ago. The house and small area of land has been resold a number of times.

The owner of the house and field came over and claimed he owned part of our wood and showed a copy of the deeds that he had from the Land Registry.
At some point over the last 30 years the boundary of the field and the wood has been moved and taken a small area of our wood.
On the land registry plan you can see the old boundary but the new boundary was moved about 10 metres into the wood to follow an old ditch line.

I went to see the owner who was very sensible about it but he claims it was like it when he bought the house and land around 3 years ago.
How do I go about getting this put right?

The Land Registry never contacted us about the moving of the boundary, but I am not sure the wood has ever been registered as we have owned for over a 100 years!
The owner of the original farm is still alive and can verify the boundary and I have old maps showing the boundary.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Use the Affidavit of Title document if:

• Someone's asked you to formally declare that you own certain property.
• You want extra reassurance that an owner really owns property
• You want to ensure the property is not encumbered by liens, taxes, or easements

If you were buying property you would want to be sure that no one else could claim better title just because of an error in the county recording office. You might also want to know whether or not the land had any unpaid taxes or if the neighbors were disputing the boundaries of the property. An Affidavit of Title can help clarify these issues and ease your mind or that of your prospective buyer. The good news is that getting this sworn statement typically doesn't take long. All you need is the document and a notary public. By signing an Affidavit of Title, you're swearing under oath that you own the property in question, so there's no need to see a judge. An Affidavit of Title helps give your claim of ownership a little more punch.

The above may help?
The previous owner may well have to become involved if you want to do this legally. The Land Registry may have made a mistake but in all honesty I believe you will have to prove this. Scrub encroachment is an old problem & ditches usually solve this, BUT is this the right ditch? You have the old maps & that's a big bonus. You'll have to work at this.
SS

 

[joe soapy]

Not being registered is a not sensible, we only recently did ours and found that somebody else had inadvertantly registered half our farm some years before.
This has led to problems with classification costing us money for years,

 

[Ysgythan]

Land Registry boundaries are not definitive.

 

[onthehoof]

They have a standard form think a TP1 or similar if both parties agree won’t be a problem. We had something similar a couple of years ago- the land registry had made a mistake as to where the boundary was when registering the next door piece of land.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Land Registry boundaries are not definitive.

If they are not definitive then how do you get accurate boundaries?

 

[Ysgythan]

If they are not definitive then how do you get accurate boundaries?

Look at all the evidence, including the Land Registry plan but also the old deeds and the position on the ground.

 

[llamedos]

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...ans-boundaries-practice-guide-40-supplement-3

 

[Exfarmer]

If they are not definitive then how do you get accurate boundaries?

Sadly this is correct information. It is a lawyers charter and dont they make hay when the sun shines!

 

[milkloss]

Ten years since I last had an argument with the LR and a neighbour. If I had do it again I would:

Gather all of your evidence including past owners a far back as you can. Include evidence for use of the property eg coppicing, shooting where the physical boundary (not the theoretical LR boundary) only has been observed.

Estimate the cost of sorting it with the legal beagles and then go see the neighbour with your evidence and if necessary offer half to all of the potential costs of going to arbitration as a sweetener. It will be cheaper and easier than sticking to principles.

 

[Dog&stick]

Good luck
Just because someone, or there legal eagles, registered land incorrectly first, it will cost you time & money.
Common sense went out the window, legal minefield when tracks, rights of way, Had a case where we are challenged & blocked in vehicles when hauling spuds along a multi access roadway, they all stating that they had written rights off way, and we had not,I total agreed with them, told them to fudge off, as the owner off the roadway did need a right of way

It' now land registered, to me, and it' cost them all to regs their "rights of way" apon it