Where is your boundary?

You could be buying a property without knowing exactly where your land ends, and your neighbours' begin, particularly if you are purchasing land in a rural area.

Under the Standard Conditions of Sale (Fifth Edition), which most residential contracts incorporate, a seller of a residential property is under no obligation to:

- prove the exact boundaries of their property,

- or prove who owns any fences, ditches, hedges or walls at the property.

Similarly, there is also often a lack of clarity as to the precise position of the boundary of commercial property and agricultural land.

However, there are several sources of information that we can use to help establish where a boundary lays.

Land Registry Plans – General Boundary

The Land Registry are responsible for recording the ownership of land in the UK, and hold records of all land which has been registered. This information includes plans showing the boundary of each property.

It is a common misunderstanding that the boundary line on a Land Registry plan shows the exact position of the boundary of a property. However, in the majority of situations, the line only demonstrates the general boundary. This means that the line is no more than an indication of the location of the boundary, based on the current Ordnance Survey Maps. The exact position is open to some interpretation and this can often lead to a dispute over where an exact boundary should be placed.

Ordnance Survey Maps indicate boundary lines based a wall or fence boundary feature (usually taken to be the centre line of the boundary feature) and are often a good guide to the boundary of a property. Although, there is no guarantee that the feature has been erected in the correct place!

Land Registry Plans – Determined Boundary

A Land Registry title plan occasionally shows a boundary which has been determined and registered under section 60(3) of the Land Registration Act 2002. This means that there has been a successful determined boundary application and the boundary line on the plan is considered to be “the exact line of the boundary of the registered estate”.

In order to apply for a determined boundary to be designated, the boundary should be measured from permanent features (eg a building) or by using Ordnance Survey National Grid coordinates. Measurements for a determined boundary application should be precise and accurate to +/-10mm. The Land Registry will notify the owners of the properties sharing this boundary. If those notified object to the location of the boundary, the matter will be referred to the Land Registration Division of the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) for the court to decide if the boundary is in the location suggested by the applicant.

Old Deeds

If a property is registered with the Land Registry, old paper deeds will often be considered to be redundant. However, they may contain historic measurements or plans that can help show how a boundary location has been decided. Therefore, it is worth keeping them (or asking to have them passed to you on completion of a purchase).

Presumptions

There are several legal presumptions regarding the location of boundaries. These presumptions can be argued against if there is evidence to the contrary, but they are a basis to work from.

• Ditch & Hedge Presumption – where a property’s boundary is marked with hedges and ditches, the boundary is presumed to run along the edge of the ditch furthest from the hedge. This comes from the old assumption that if a person dug a ditch along the edge of their property, they would have put the soil on their own land and planted a hedge on it.
• Rivers and Streams – where a property’s boundary runs along a non-tidal river or stream, it is presumed that the boundary follows the centre line of the water resulting in the neighbours owning half of the river bed each.

Boundary Agreements

Boundary agreements set out an agreed position of a legal boundary. They can also document the responsibility for maintenance of a boundary feature (for example a fence). Boundary agreements can be entered into where neighbours come to an agreement about the boundary between their properties. For example, an agreement may set out that neighbours agree a boundary line is the middle of the hedge dividing two properties.

If you have any questions about the contents of this article, please contact us on 01603 610911, or if you would like assistance in settling a boundary dispute please call 01603 610911 and ask to speak to a member of our Property Disputes Team.

Please note: the contents of this article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Specific legal advice should be taken in any particular circumstance.