Boundary Commission unfair ruling?
We purchased our property at auction over 25 years ago by auction. Wooden stakes were driven into the ground to divide the plots. One boundary was between a row of trees on our land and a fenced tennis court which was a separate plot.
Years later, our current neighbour who bought his property 4 years after the original purchaser, disputed the boundary and engaged the Boundary Commission to prove his case. Unfortunately, the original wooden stakes from the auction have long since disappeared. The sense of how the plot was divided has been altered by our previous neighbour and the current one because the tennis courts and its high boundary fencing has all been removed and the ground landscaped.
When the Boundary Commission (BC) representatives arrived about 4 years ago, all that was visible between the two plots was the line of trees. The BC made a ruling that the trees were the joint ownership boundary which meant that we lost around 2 metres in depth along 40 metres length.
We have a few photos of some of the stakes in position before the neighbour cleared the land and small scale plans from the auction. The architect used to mark out the land for the auction we employed them to design our house, so we have their drawings too.
Do we have any recourse to overturn the Boundary Commission's ruling?
I am slightly baffled by this
I am slightly baffled by this question. The only boundary commission of which I am aware is the one which decides constituency boundaries for parliamentary elections and does not get involved in private matters.
The issue of the precise line of a boundary is a matter to be decided by looking at the description of the land in the deeds or transfers together with an examination of all available plans including Land Registry filed plans.
In the event of disagreement surveyors might inspect the land and provide their expert opinions but ultimately when there is a dispute the matter has to be settled by a judge in a court action after he has heard all the evidence. Such actions are prohibitively expensive.
I am not aware of any agency that comes along and settles boundary lines in the absence of agreement of the parties concerned.
Thank you for your reply. I
Thank you for your reply. I have looked out the details of the visit and I have to apologise to you and the Boundary Commission. It was The Land Registry who made the ruling.