boundary issue

shovel

Hi guys. I need some help
I live in a one off house on a site that was built in the 70's.there is a housing estate on one side of me that were built in the early 70's.
there is a ditch as a boundary between me and them.
the owner of the house next door has told me that he is getting a engineer to measure his site and that the ditch that I would consider to be a natural boundary is not the boundary after all and that some of my back garden is his.
no experience of this
any advice please such as how impartial is an engineer.do I need my own engineer and how do they measure a site
thanks

BryanF

Wait and see what the neighbour comes back with. If you are not happy get your own eng to assess.

shovel

thanks for that.i will do that
any idea how do they work it out.
I just want rough idea of what is involved in what the engineer actually goes about it.
there is a discussion going to happen when the survey is done and I don't want to seem clueless
thanks

Rabbo

The engineer will compare the registered folio boundaries with what is on the ground. If the registered boundary does not correlate with the apparent boundary on the ground he will tell you. To be clear, this doesn't necessarily mean that your neighbour owns part of your back garden. The folio maps are indicative only and established boundaries on the ground generally take precedence. Your neighbour generally won't have a right to claim part of your back garden if there is a clearly defined boundary that has been in place for a significant amount of time, the folio maps are often found to be incorrect. If your neighbour offers to sell the piece of land to you or suggests relocating boundary fences, get need to get an engineer to look on your behalf asap.your neighbours engineer won't necessarily be looking at the issue with your interests in mind. A solicitors advice may also be necessary in these circumstances.

Rabbo

To answer your other question, the engineer will generally measure with a scale the registered boundary on the folio map from clearly defined features. They then measure this on the ground to compare. They can also compare the folio map with aerial photographs or survey the land digitally to prepare an accurate map to compare the folio map with.

shovel

thanks lads for all the info

where would I get a folio map for my site and would it be any use to me myself prior to my neighbour coming to me

Rabbo

Yea, it would be no harm for you to be familiar with it. You should be able to view it at landdirect.ie. Find your property and you should be able to toggle on an aerial photo over the folio lines.

You can order an original scaled print of your folio there for €40

shovel

will get that so
thanks to all for the advice

GerardKeating

shovel wrote: »

will get that so
thanks to all for the advice

You might also google "adverse possession" and get the oldest photos you have of you using the back garden.

shovel

Rabbo wrote: »

Yea, it would be no harm for you to be familiar with it. You should be able to view it at landdirect.ie. Find your property and you should be able to toggle on an aerial photo over the folio lines.

You can order an original scaled print of your folio there for €40

sorry to be thick, found my property on landdirect but how do I toggle an aerial photo?

Rabbo

On right hand side of screen should be a tab called 'show/hide layers', click this, then 'osi orthophotography'

shovel

cheers,think I have it