Ditch boundry question

kosice21

i purchased a propery over 11 years ago, and my to my left is a private lane which is divided by a row of trees between myself and my neighbour.

on my neighbours side was a drain which he has filled in the last couple of weeks and cut back the headge on his side.

im also aware that he has removed some briars / headge row and my concern is that with him driving down this lane each day and having full view into my field should i ever want to build on this field he could object.

should he have filled in this drain,
when the drain is on his side of the ditch does this mean i own the ditch
and can he remove headge row at his leasure.
what rights will he have to ditch going forward if i dont do something.

any advice would be appricated

bob charles

kosice21 wrote: »

i purchased a propery over 11 years ago, and my to my left is a private lane which is divided by a row of trees between myself and my neighbour.

on my neighbours side was a drain which he has filled in the last couple of weeks and cut back the headge on his side.

im also aware that he has removed some briars / headge row and my concern is that with him driving down this lane each day and having full view into my field should i ever want to build on this field he could object.

should he have filled in this drain,
when the drain is on his side of the ditch does this mean i own the ditch
and can he remove headge row at his leasure.
what rights will he have to ditch going forward if i dont do something.

any advice would be appricated

I would think form what you are saying, the boundary between you's is the middle of the drain and the hedge on your side is yours, would have to see the maps and deeds to establish this.

sorry im confused, so when you stand at your boundary looking in the direction of your neighbours there is a hedge in front of you, then a drain and then this lane

kosice21

thanks for your reply Bob,
thats correct.. row of tree's mixed with Briars and then over this on his lane is or was the drain

archtech

The only way to establish who owns what is to review you title maps.
If the extent of what he has done is within the confines of his ownership he doesn't need your consent. If he has encrouched on your property then it's a civil matter between the two parties and legal advice should be sought.
In terms of objecting to a future development of yours unless there's a protected view in the development plan he would not have a valid objection to your development, subject to it not been a general eyesore anyway.

kosice21

aprricate that bob will check maps

dieselbug

Interesting,
I was once led to believe that where there is a bank of soil and a drain marking bounds, that the drain is where the soil was dug from to form the bank. The centre of this drain is where the boundary lies.

I dont know how reliable this is, but the person said, this was how the local councils used to form boundaries some time back.

I think to establish where the boundary is legally, some sort of measuring would have to take place with reference to maps.

kosice21

thanks diesel,
its sure is confusing getting loads of great advice thanks

archtech

dieselbug wrote: »

I think to establish where the boundary is legally, some sort of measuring would have to take place with reference to maps.

Only way of doing it. A land surveyor is best person for the job

kosice21

thanks archtech ,

will keep you posted need to get maps

thanks again

bob charles

how big a drain has this guy filled in? if these is having an effect on water courses then this will raise further issues. So he filled in the drain and made a roadway?

kosice21

the drain is on his private lane - he widened his drive way in which is now flush with the ditch

the_syco

kosice21 wrote: »

the drain is on his private lane - he widened his drive way in which is now flush with the ditch

So he owns all the drain, or just 50% of the drain?

kosice21

the_syco wrote: »

So he owns all the drain, or just 50% of the drain?

That's my problem I dont know who owns the drain

The drain was on his side of the ditch and any access water running from my field I guess would have run into this

Now he has filled it in

reilig

kosice21 wrote: »

That's my problem I dont know who owns the drain

The drain was on his side of the ditch and any access water running from my field I guess would have run into this

Now he has filled it in

Land registry maps €25 from the land registry website and will be sent to you within a few days.

If the drain was on what you accept as his side of the ditch then its his property. However, he cannot block a drain which takes water off your land. He should have piped the drain. Did he? If he did then you should have no complaint, if he didn't then you need to get him to sort it.

Been through a similar situation in the last few weeks where the land owner did not pipe a drain and it caused flooding on my land. After months of me asking politely, my solicitor finally sorted it out and the drain was piped on christmas eve.

dieselbug

The term drain may be misleading, unless it is a purpose dug out drain of course.

What I was trying to describe earlier is where a channel is dug just for the raw material to form the bank. As this material would have to be taken from your property, the theory is, you also own the channel area. These channels are common where local authority houses were built in the 50"s and 60"s in the countryside.

Is, or was this a local authority site?

kosice21

your correct its a channel that was dug out -

kosice21

channel / drain that you would see in any field to separate with high back

kosice21

Hi Guys
you were extremly helpfull to me back in january,
i took your advice and got an engineer to survey my land and he tells me that the boundry is my neighbours side of the ditch,
but my neighbour does not accept my engineers findings and says boundry is my side within my land.

the map i give to the eng was a property registation authority map and this says that the boundry could be hafe a meter either way and that they are not 100% accurate which i find very strange.

is there any other maps that i can get i dont know how else i can prove where boundry is im thinking i may be best to get a second opion from another engineer.

would the Oranance survey office be of any help ?

again any advice would be appricated

kosice21

i forgot to mention that my neighbour is not showing me any of his proof as to his maps ?

ford2600

What's the scale on map?
1:1000 or 1:2500?
Any engineer is limited by scale. 1mm on map equates to 1m on ground.
Does map show watercourse? If so what side of line is it.
Thread carefully this could get expensive and nasty quick, for little gain.

kosice21 wrote: »

i forgot to mention that my neighbour is not showing me any of his proof as to his maps ?

grazeaway

ford2600 wrote: »

What's the scale on map?
1:1000 or 1:2500?
Any engineer is limited by scale. 1mm on map equates to 1m on ground.
Does map show watercourse? If so what side of line is it.
Thread carefully this could get expensive and nasty quick, for little gain.

The boundary between you and your neighbour could well be the middle of the ditch as this is the most common boundary. it is very unusual for the full ditch to be in one side of the boundary. Its probably most likely that the middle of the ditch is were you meet and the drain is on his side.

boundary issues can be a bit mis leading. we have a stream bounding part of our place with a neighbour. part of the boundary is made by the stream, however further down the boundary is actually made by a ditch (mound of earth about 3 feet high) the stream zig zags either side of the ditch so that it flow in and out of our land. The reason for this was to provide drinking water for animals on both farms in the days before electric pumps. Also since part of the stream runs through a flat marshy area the streams path can move over time with builds up in slit. The ditch was built centuries ago to provide a definite line between the farms.

A few years ago part of the neighbouring farm was sold and the new owner went cleaning of the ditches and was about to clear off the boundary ditch (well the contractor he employed was) as he though the stream was the boundary when my dad spotted him. The confusion was caused more by the poor quality of the maps then anything else. Part of the field is in a different townland but this boundary ditch was removed years ago and its location this isn't very clear on the maps, the spit in the river occurs about halfway along the boundary.