Domestic Boundary Dispute
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Here on the Jon Maynard Boundaries website, you will find all the information you need to deal with a domestic boundary dispute. Using this site can help to give you the confidence to deal with any boundary dispute matters yourself, but if you wish to discuss the matter further with a professional then I shall be glad to hear from you.Far more domestic boundary disputes occur between the owners of two adjacent residential properties than between commercial or agricultural neighbours. Residential landowners tend to tackle their disputes emotionally, standing by their principles and seeking what they perceive as justice, rather than rationally evaluating the relative merits of a number of alternative, pragmatic solutions to the dispute. But the landowners should not shoulder all of the blame. Conveyancing practice routinely produces boundary descriptions of an appallingly low standard, with sometimes misleading plans of the boundaries. The power of the law is felt only in the courtroom, there being no equivalent authority in boundary disputes to the policeman who can intervene in a potential civil unrest to ensure that no breach of the peace or riot ensues.
Insufficient use is being made by residential landowners of alternative disputes resolution procedures such as mediation and arbitration, whilst the office of Adjudicator to HM Land Registry is still too new for its impact on boundary disputes to be assessed yet. If only landowners would act rationally and pursue a solution that minimises the cost to themselves in money, time and anguish then they wouldn't pursue a two- to four-year-long battle through the courts costing themselves tens of thousands of pounds in an argument over a narrow strip of land that is probably worth only one thousand.
Labels: domestic boundary dispute
