Four Year Legal Battle Over Six Inches of Land

See the attached link for an update on a costly boundary battle in the heart of London: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8019859/Millionaire-neighbours-spend-70-000-four-year-legal-battle-fence.html

Although this particular boundary dispute has made the papers, the sad fact is that this is far from unusual. Disputes over inches of land can regularly erupt between neighbours, and as the Land Registry does not guarantee your boundary line location it does indeed fall to the Court, if all else fails, to make a determination on the exact location of the boundary. The legal costs involved in such claims are often significant, as the parties end up rifling through the extensive history of the properties, the minutia of what is on the ground, the historic and current positioning of fences, hedges and other distinguishing features, and engaging experts to battle it out in Court. On top of this the losing party is likely to be ordered to pay the majority of the winning parties costs, as well as shouldering their own.

If at all possible it is better if this is all avoided through correspondence, compromise and settlement. There are numerous alternate avenues to explore before pushing the button on Court or Tribunal proceedings, including mediation, arbitration, the joint instruction of experts, and simple correspondence to talk through the issues. There are other advantages to dealing with the matter out of court: the court can only determine the boundary as being in one specific place, regardless of the implications for the parties. However in negotiation anything is possible, and certain other elements (land, access rights, foliage) can be brought into play in order to reach settlement.

Hewetts have a very strong record of resolving boundary disputes before litigation becomes necessary, but have also fought and won many boundary disputes claims in the courts and tribunals.

For further advice please contact Oliver Kew at o.kew@hewett.co.uk or on 01189 559612

Published on 24/02/2020