Boundary Dispute Law

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Welcome to the Boundary Problems website. This web site deals with boundary disputes in England and Wales and also rights of way and other forms of neighbour disputes.

The description of the boundary is to be found in the earliest conveyance deed or transfer deed that deals with the present piece of land: this describes the boundaries of the land that the vendor intended to sell to the purchaser. The description may take the form of words in the deed, or it may be illustrated by a plan that is bound into or attached to the deed.

Most owners of registered land assume that their boundaries are defined by the Land Registry title plan. This is not the case. Land Registry can only record their interpretation of the boundaries descriptions that they find in the pre-registration conveyance deeds. There is a long British tradition of conveyances containing very inadequate descriptions of the boundaries of the land being transferred. Why is this? Cost! It costs good money for a surveyor to draw an accurate plan and to adequately describe in words a boundary, so vendors don't describe properly the boundaries of the land they are selling. When the time comes for the land to be registered, Land Registry has a problem, from which they are rescued by the concept of general boundaries: this allows them to show only the general position of the boundary.

Far more 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.

For more details on boundaries please visit our boundaries section.

Labels: boundary dispute law