Hi,
We moved into our house about 6 years ago. Got the house OK'd via the usual channels i.e. Solicitor/Surveyor etc.
However, in the last week, our neighbour has brought it to our attention, that our house extension (which was work carried out by the previous owner of our house), extends about a foot and a half over the boundary into their property.
There is another related issue, whereby when it rains, water pours down from our eaveshoot down onto their kitchen roof. The said that their assessors said that we would liable for any flooding if it happened as our house is too far over their boundary.
I assume that if all this is true, we should have a case with our surveyor who OK'd the house back in 2005. Should they not have picked up on this?
Clearly we would not have bought the house if this had been highlighted to us.
Can you let me know your thoughts?
WGT
Three questions.
If this is in fact the case, is there some reason the alleged trespass wasn't clear to you from wandering around the property and looking at it yourselves?
No it wasn't clear. Actually myself and the neighbour agreed it wasn't obvious. We've lived in our house 6 years and didn't notice it. I think the main point is that the surveyor should have spotted that the square footage didn't tally with the official house map which he should have had at his disposal. I would have thought this is their bread and butter. Why else would a house buyer engage with them?
Why would water discharging onto a roof cause a flood.
Good point. I'll discuss this with the neighbour.
What is an eaveshoot?
Perhaps I'm calling this by the wrong name. It's the gulley or gutter above on the roof where water collects when it rains.
ONQ.
[broken link removed]
All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.
WGT, what is your neighbour actually looking for now at this stage?
He says that when it rains heavily, excess water from our roof gulley floods down onto his kitchen roof. He said his assessors said that we would be liable because our property extends across the boundary. I know he's had a leak before as a result of the previous owner of our house employing painters who broke tiles by putting ladders on his extension which is between the 2 houses. This is the real reason for the leaks, I wouldn't have thought that water falling down on a neighbour's roof is an issue all other thing being equal.
If you've been there six years and you've had amicable relations what are they hoping to 'sort' now?
I was speaking to him and we both agreed that if our house is trespassing 18 inches onto his property. Then the previous owner either shouldn't or shouldn't have been allowed to sell the house to us. In which case the solicitor or surveyor are culpable, or at least that would make most sense as they are employed by the buyer to ensure due process.
Perhaps they are looking for planning on their own side of the fence and maybe when they got their plot measured up for the purposes of planning that it was only then that it came to light.
The neighbour mentioned the fact that because of the trespass, he couldn't extend his house upwards. However, I feel that he wouldn't get planning permissions anyway, because that would then mean 3 houses in a row being attached. This would change our semi-detached into a terraced house. I think I'm right in saying that this would disqualify him from planning permission.
'Tisn't as if you can shave off a foot and a half off your building and give them the ground back.
Absolutely.
The law requires the plaintiff to act to minimize his loss - it appears that your neighbour has not done this.The neighbour seems to have allowed this trespass to occur and apparently consented to it for over six years without raising the matter with you.
How precise are plot maps such as those lodged with Land Registry/Registry of Deeds or (if different) exchanged during a property transaction? I know that when I was buying my house in the mid 90s the only map I saw had the site outlined by a line so thick that if scaled up to full scale would have been several meters thick thus making the precise boundary of the site difficult to ascertain. To this day I'm still not sure what the boundary is even if it's of only academic interest at the moment.
Going forward, I'm just going to give our neighbour our solicitor's number and let them sort it. Either way, I don't think it's our issue to resolve.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?