should i bill them

[Bren.]

If you can prove you have been maintaining that land for that long, and presumably you can, because the council have been asking you to, then you will have the greater claim over it, regardless of how much money he's got. Go for Factual or adverse possession.

[Chalgravesteve]

Start with land registry and get a defined copy of where the actual boundary is. The position of the hedge itself could be irrelevent. You need to get precise measurements from the deeds (which are to scale) from a fixed point that shows on the deeds and is still there....ie the exterior wall of a house etc.

 

Wooden fences fall over, hedges grow, self seed and get thicker and change shape, especially over 20 years or more. I have a boundary line for my business with one of my neighbours. They thought the boundary was the outer edge of the canopy of the trees that "surround" their garden. I pointed out that trees grown and the canopy gets widere over the years so their garden doesnt get bigger as the trees grow!! So I brought the deeds up to show them, which shows their house and, to scale, the distance from the boundary to the western wall of their property. So we measured the distance on the deeds and then went outside with a long tape measure. We only got 2/3rds of the way across his garden before we reached the distance shown on the deeds!!

 

Boundary disputes can be stupidly expensive over a tiny piece of land and the lawyers know that neither of you will give way easily, so they will bicker over it endlessly and send you the bill.

 

I agree that you should go for adverse possession, but I don't think you will get anywhere on this either defending your position or trying to win it outright without spending a few quid.

[NoRush]

We are in the hands of the land registry at the moment but he's using the top lawyer in the country. Money isn't a problem for him. We know we have more right than him but money talks.

[eggsarascal]

We are in the hands of the land registry at the moment but he's using the top lawyer in the country. Money isn't a problem for him. We know we have more right than him but money talks.

 

Money isn't always king. A builder local to me "adopted" about half an acre of land at the back of his property. Persimmons bought all the land around this half acre to build 300+ houses on. Terry (the local) builder went to a local solicitor, who advised him that if he could prove he had maintained the land for "x" amount of years, he could lay claim to it. Terry got a neighbour to go to the solicitor with him, the neighbour swore on oath that Terry had maintained the land for "x" amount of years. Job done for a few hundred quid...... Persimmons must have been gutted, they were building 13 units/acre.

[mendiplogs]

Money isn't always king. A builder local to me "adopted" about half an acre of land at the back of his property. Persimmons bought all the land around this half acre to build 300+ houses on. Terry (the local) builder went to a local solicitor, who advised him that if he could prove he had maintained the land for "x" amount of years, he could lay claim to it. Terry got a neighbour to go to the solicitor with him, the neighbour swore on oath that Terry had maintained the land for "x" amount of years. Job done for a few hundred quid...... Persimmons must have been gutted, they were building 13 units/acre.

 

HI EGGS nice one mate thats cost him over £ million :lol:thanks EGGS jon

[WelshMan]

Start with land registry and get a defined copy of where the actual boundary is. The position of the hedge itself could be irrelevent. You need to get precise measurements from the deeds (which are to scale) from a fixed point that shows on the deeds and is still there....ie the exterior wall of a house etc..............

 

 

In most cases the Land Registry official plan won't give precise boundary indications.

 

Have a look at Land Registry Practice Guide 40 (Boundaries).

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/land-registry-plans-boundaries/land-registry-plans-boundaries-practice-guide-40-supplement-3

 

You may find that the old pre-registration deeds (if they're still available) have useful measurements. However, if after measurement somebody finds that they actually own a few feet of land on the other side of the fence, now within their neighbour's garden, there's usually very little that they can do about it if their neighbour has used the land for 10 or 12 years (depending if it's registered) because the neighbour has adverse possession.

 

After 10 years’ adverse possession, the "squatter" will be entitled to apply to be registered as proprietor in place of the registered proprietor of the land.

 

I doubt that occasional maintenance of a hedge will be sufficient to obtain a possessory title.

 

"Adverse possession requires factual possession of the land, with the necessary intention to possess and without the owner’s consent."

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-registered-land/practice-guide-4-adverse-possession-of-registered-land

 

[The Practice Guide has already been posted by a previous poster.]

 

NoRush, your comment that "We don't own the hedge" is pertinent to the issue, as is making enquiries as to ownership. Likewise, trying to bill a third party for your costs of maintaining the hedge over the last 20+ years would be tantamount to acknowledging their ownership.

 

I suspect that on paper (at least) it may well be owned by the developer of the housing estate. I think that you may be able to defeat the claim of the local rich guy, but I doubt that you'll get possessory title either.

 

You could try going to the local planning office and inspect the file for the development of the housing estate. The more recent the development, the more likely that there are likely to be site plans etc. showing the extent of the developer's ownership at the time of the planning application.

 

Obtaining a copy from the Land Registry of the relevant transfer to the nearest house on the development may also show ownership of the land on which the hedge is located.