Possible boundary issue

muckwarrior

Just got the keys to our house a couple of weeks ago. It's a 1970s semi D with a side passageway to the back garden. There's a low wall separating our passageway from our neighbour's. Only this evening we noticed that the passageway is narrower on our side than our neighbour's.

As far as we can see, there was originally no wall separating them, as a couple of the other houses on the street have none. Also, of the ones that do have a divide, the walls and gates all vary in style suggesting that owners added them themselves over the years. No other houses seem to have varying sizes passageways, they're divided equally.

Are we too late to go querying a boundary issue now that the sale is finalised? If not how do we go about it? Is there a statute of limitations on these kind of things, like is there anything that can be done if the boundary has already been set like this for decades?

Deeec

What measurements are we talking here - is the size significant..what I'm trying to say is is it worth disputing?

Falling out with or starting a dispute with your new neighbour is not a good start to your new life in your new home. You could be bringing alot of trouble and cost on yourself.

mickdw

You are in 2 weeks and you want to go fighting with the neighbour.

That is a guaranteed way of turning your life into a nightmare.

If there was no wall originally, the neighbour may not have wanted a wall at all so the previous owner of your home may have decided to uild the wall in from the boundary line for privacy.

gipi

That sounds like the wall was built by a previous owner of your house, who had to build on his side only (maybe the neighbour didn't want to know or contribute to a shared wall).

There might not be an issue with the boundary line.

ArtyC

If you bought the house with a mortgage I’m sure your solicitor would Have checked this all before you bought

muckwarrior

Don't want to fall out with the neighbours, which is why we're 99% likely to do nothing about it. Nevertheless we'd like to be aware of our rights and options so that, for example, if the neighbours decided to sell up we could get it rectified.

muckwarrior

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119426148#Comment_119426148

That's what we're speculating. There's actually 3 dividing walls; front garden, passageway and back garden. The front one seems to be central, the passageway wall is offset by about 3 inches, so it could indeed be a case it was built entirely on our side. But the strange thing is that the garden wall is another 3 or 4 inches closer to our side, meaning that the gate on our side is at least 6 inches narrower.

I know it sounds like trivial amounts, but we plan to use the passageway a lot and a few inches can make the difference between being able to get something through or not. We've already decided against getting external wall insulation precisely because of this.

Senature

I don't see how you've much of a leg to stand on. I understand it would be a frustrating realisation having bought the house, but you presumably viewed the house at least twice yourselves with all walls as they are now. Also, if external insulation was a vital part of your plans you could have either measured yourself and/or had a friend/contractor/surveyor assess the viability.

Think I sound more lecturey than I mean to, as I said I sympathise with your issue, but am explaining why I think you'll have to figure out how best to live with it as is.

Esel

If the passageway wall is definitely on your property, you could remove it completely.

Also, it may also be the case the the back wall is on your side of the boundary as well.

Tread carefully.

handlemaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119426169#Comment_119426169

Usually solicitors leave that to the buyer and the engineer they employ to verify maps match actual site

spaceHopper

When you saw the house you were happy with it I'd leave it alone

Claw Hammer

If the wall is there more than 12 years then you are statute barred. In any case, the time to query this was before you signed contracts. You bought what the owner was selling, no more and no less.

Corruptedmorals

Your surveyor would have compared the boundary to the folio map, did they comment on it at all in the survey? It does sound very frustrating but you can order a copy of your official folio map from land registry. If the land is undivided on it then your neighbour would win any dispute outright once it has been more than 12 years the way it is now as squatters rights and continued use is how it works.

ArtyC

My solicitor highlighted a possible boundary issue in mine

mickdw

A solicitor will see an obvious issue such as registered plot clearly extending Into what can be seen to be nieghbouring plot but even at that they will require engineer to check out the situation on the ground.

How you expect a solicitor to identify a boundary wall offset by a few inches from behind his/her desk is beyond me.

Best scale on land registry stuff would be 1:1000 where 1mm is 1m on the ground. It's also highly likely that the original mapping used to register this property was 1:2500.

In short, the mapping won't identify such discrepancy.

Site mapping as per original planning will likely give more info in terms of plot size and dimensions. That would be a useful starting point in any investigation.