Boundary Definitions

Jon Maynard Boundaries Ltd, Boundary Demarcation and Disputes, Rights of Way, Expert Witness, Chartered Land Surveyor

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An Internet resource provided by Jon Maynard Boundaries Ltd

Boundaries of Registered and Unregistered Land

 You are here:    Boundary Problems  |  Legal Background  |  Boundary Definitions of Registered and Unregistered Land
Making and Defining New Boundaries
Boundaries of Unregistered Land
Boundaries of Registered Land
Comparing boundaries with your neighbour
Complications in defining boundaries

Making and Defining New Boundaries

A new boundary is made when a landowner decides to divide his land and sell off a divided part of his land. It is the landowner who sells a part of his land (i.e. the vendor) who decides where any new boundary will be located.

New boundaries are usually formed using one of three methods:

  • Single building plots are offered to individual purchasers by an owner with a large area of undeveloped land that has road access. This practice was in common use between the 1890's and 1930's. Each plot was described as having a road frontage of a particular size and a depth back from the road of a particular length. The purchaser was required, through restrictive covenants written into the Indenture or Conveyance, to erect fences along certain of the boundaries of the plot he was buying.

  • A large area is sold to a single developer. The developer is free to divide the land as he sees fit, e.g. by building houses upon it and separating the gardens of those houses from each other with fences. This practice has been in common use since the 1960's. The boundaries of each plot are usually described by reference to a plan of the development (all too often a plan of the design rather than a plan of what was actually built).

  • A small area is transferred from one garden to an adjoining garden, to enable the purchaser to, for example, build an extension or a garage. Such small portions of land were usually described unambiguously and with reasonable accuarcy.

The photograph below was taken in 2005 during the construction of a housing estate and is an example of the second method (described above) of new boundary formation. The quality of the boundary descriptions for individual properties will depend on whether the transfer plans are based upon surveys of what was actually built or upon design plans.

It is the developer who decides where the boundaries around each new house will be.

How are boundaries defined? In England & Wales there is no legal specification for where boundaries must run. So some boundaries run along the centre of a river, whilst others run along a river bank. Again, some boundaries run along the centre of a road whilst others run along the edge of the road. The only boundary that may be related with some certainty, but not with absolute certainty, to a physical feature is the boundary running along the centre of the party wall that joins two dwellings to each other in terraced or semi-detached houses.

In some countries the law requires that the corner points of plots, and any turning points along the boundaries of those plots of land, be "monumented" with an approved marker to permanently and unambiguously demonstrate the positions of the boundaries. In England & Wales there is no such legal requirement.

How are boundaries described? In England & Wales, with the exception of Determined Boundaries, the standards are particularly lax.

Traditionally, the description of the boundaries is found in the parcels clause of the earliest conveyance relating to the parcel of land. These deeds never tell us who was responsible for writing the parcels clause. We know that the vendor was responsible for deciding where the boundary would be, but was it he who wrote the parcels clause, was it the estate agent who was selling the land for him, or was it the solicitor who did the conveyancing? We simply don't know who wrote the description found in the parcels clause.

Examples of boundaries descriptions in the parcels clause range from the likes of:

  • "ALL THAT piece or parcel of land in the parish of Little Sniggering in the County of Midhamptonshire together with the dwelling thereon known as Magpie Cottage ... "
    which contains enough information to enable us to locate the property but not enough information to locate its boundaries;
    to:
  • " ... Magpie Cottage having a frontage to Mill Street of thirty seven feet and a depth therefom of ninety five feet ... "
    which, although it gives us a general size for the plot of land does not tell us the shape of the land (rectangle, parallelogram, or some other quadrilateral), nor does it tell us what physical features mark the boundaries nor how far each of those boundaries is from the nearest side of the house;
    to:
  • a series of conveyances for detached properties with large gardens in a small town in Scotland where the parcels clause for each ran to a couple of pages because it described each boundary by the side of the land it occupied, the physical feature (wall, fence, hedge, etc) that it followed, the distance for which it followed that feature, and its junction with the next stretch of the boundary.

It was normal practice, presumably to protect the vendor against any accusation that he had misrepresented the land he was selling, to remove any implication of precision in the description by either prefixing each dimension with the word "about" or suffixing it with the phrase "or thereabouts" or even with "be it a little more or less". So anyone who today owns a 100-year-old house and thinks that he can ascertain the position of his boundaries to the nearest inch is simply deluding himself.

In many old conveyances the parcels clause is often expanded by reference to the plan attached. If a picture paints a thousand words then a plan is capable of conveying information about the boundaries far more concisely than is possible than with the words used in the parcels clause. However, the quality of the plan that was either "attached to" a conveyance or "drawn hereon" usually left a great deal to be desired. An inaccurate tracing made from an Ordnance Survey map was quite common, as was a simple sketch map. Neither is capable of telling you exactly where the boundaries are.

Sketch plan from 1925 conveyance is of uncertain accuracy.   1956 conveyance plan for the same property is an inaccurate tracing from an Ordnance Survey map.
The plan to the 1925 conveyance (left) is a sketch map of questionable accuracy whilst its 1956 counterpart (above) is an inaccurate tracing made of an Ordnance Survey map.

Sometimes the parcels clause tells us that the land is "for the purposes of identification only shown in the plan attached ... ". This suggests that you should not attempt to locate the boundaries by means of the plan. At other times the land is "more particulalry delineated on the plan ...", which would be really useful if only the plan was accurate. Other conveyances tell us that the land is "for the purposes of identification only more particularly delineated on ...", which is an example of the parcels clause contradicting itself and leaves us wondering whether the person who wrote the parcels clause had any idea how to describe boundaries at all !

In modern times, shall we say since 1960, it has been more common for the conveyance plan to be based on the developer's plan of the housing estate. The developer's plan is essentially the architect's design drawing for the development. Its accuracy is entirely based on the ability of the builders to construct things in exactly the positions specified by the architect. If they failed to do so then the developer's plan - and the conveyance plan based upon it - is reduced to a fiction and will mislead the unwary.

Boundaries of Unregistered Land

As of 2009, about 30% of the land in England and Wales is not yet registered. If you own unregistered land and need to find out where your boundaries are then you will have to consult your title deeds. You will be looking specifically for the earliest conveyance deed (in the nineteenth century it may have been called an Indenture of Conveyance) and it may have been handwritten or typed (like the example below).

Picture of the first paragraph of a Conveyance Deed

If you are in the process of buying your home with a mortgage then you will probably never have seen your title deeds as they will be held by your mortgage lender as security against the mortgage loan. Your mortgage lender will be happy to supply you with a copy of the title deeds but will charge you a fee.

BOUNDARY DEFINITION: Once you have the earliest Deed of Conveyance relating to the land on which your house stands then you need to locate the Parcels Clause. This usually follows a more or less standard form of words such as: "now this deed hereby conveys ALL THAT piece or parcel of land in the parish of ... having a frontage to the ... Road of Fifty feet or thereabouts and a depth of One hundred and thirty feet or thereabouts as the same is for the purposes of identification only edged in red on the plan attached hereto".

You must take great care in interpreting this information. The use of the words "or thereabouts" and the fact that the plan is "for identification purposes only" warn you that the measurements are not precise. Further, there is no identification of the features that may have marked the boundaries that were present at the date of that conveyance. Even if the parcel of land is "more particularly delineated on the plan" you must consider how to interpret the lines on the plan and how to relate these to the features now present on the ground.

 

Boundaries of Registered Land

If you own the registered title to the land on which your house stands then you will presumably have a copy of the register entry and of the title plan. There was a time when Land Registry would bind these into a Land Certificate, perhaps together with a copy of the conveyance that defines the boundaries of the land. If for some reason you do not have the Land Certificate nor the 'register and plan' then you can request an Official Copy of the register and plan from Land Registry, who will charge a small fee.

BOUNDARY DEFINITION: It is tempting - but quite wrong - to try and identify from your title plan the positions of your boundaries by scaling their distance from other map detail. This is because the title plan shows only the general position of the boundaries, not their exact positions. You should ignore the general boundaries shown on the title plan and refer to the original conveyance that describes your parcel of land. This conveyance is sometimes referred to as the pre-registration title deed. You will again be looking at the conveyance for the parcels clause and at the accompanying conveyance plan.

If the land was registered before your house was built, then there will be no conveyance but instead there will be a transfer deed. This transfer deed will usually include a transfer plan, and this plan may be based upon the architect's design plan for the development of which your house was a part.

General boundaries are discussed further on the Understanding General Boundaries page of this web site.

 

Comparing boundaries with your neighbour

Once you have ascertained from your title deeds the position of your boundary you should compare notes with your neighbour. You cannot assume that his or her title deeds will put the boundary in the same place as yours do.

AGREED BOUNDARY: And if, between you, you cannot decide, from the deeds, where the boundary goes then you would be well advised to agree with each other that the deeds are unclear as to the position of your common boundary. Such a conclusion is actually helpful to you both. This is because the law allows adjoining neighbours to decide between themselves - for the purpose of clarifying the description in the deeds - exactly where the boundary runs.

Such a boundary agreement may be recorded in the form of an annotated plan, complete with a suitable memorandum that is signed by the owners of the land on each side of the boundary. Application may then be made to Land Registry for the boundary agreement to be noted on the register for each property (but if either property is not registered then the agreement should instead be kept with the title deeds).

If you want the boundary that you have agreed with your neighbour to be defined to a high level of accuracy then you will need to instruct a chartered land surveyor who is familiar with Land Registry's exacting requirements to prepare an accurate plan and a precise description of the boundary in support of your Application to Land Registry to Determine the Exact Line of the Boundary.

 

Complications in defining boundaries

Unfortunately, the process of determining the exact position of your boundaries is not easy. The technical and legal hurdles that have to be overcome include:

  • Inadequate descriptions of the boundaries in title deeds;
  • Inaccurately quoted dimensions in title deeds;
  • Unclear or inaccurate conveyance / transfer plans;
  • Title plans that show only the general positions of the boundaries;
  • Legal presumptions, intended to fill any gaps in the above evidence, that may or may not apply in your case;
  • the admissiblity (as proof of a boundary position) of extrinsic evidence, such as old Ordnance Survey maps, old aerial photographs, photographs from a family photo album or from an archive of photography;
  • Whether the legal concepts of adverse possession and of estoppel have caused a change in the position of the boundary;

In attempting to resolve the above list you may need professional assistance.

  • Which expert is appropriate to give a professional opinion in your dispute?
  • Do you have legal expenses insurance, and will this cover your dispute?
  • Do you need a solicitor, and what kind of solicitor should you instruct?

Even if you can resolve everything on the above two lists, you have to remember that your boundary is also the boundary for the neighbour who lives on the other side of it. Your relationship with them, and particularly their reactions to the issues you raise, will determine whether you resolve the dispute:

  • by amicable discussion with your neighbour;
  • by an amicable agreement - or a negotiation - with your neighbour that is assisted by professional opinion or by legal advice;
  • by mediation, in which you and your neighbour engage in a non-confrontational negotiation;
  • by adjudication, in which you present facts to an adjudicator who investigates and arrives at a legally binding decision;
  • by a decision of the Adjudicator to Land Registry - which is a court within the Tribunals Service of the Ministry of Justice;
  • by a judgment handed down at a County Court or the High Court.

This web site's intention is to give you an introduction to all of the above.

 

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