Neighbours claiming land our side of a boundary wall

[Bubba Ho Tep]

We have just had gate posts installed in our driveway in preparation for a gate. The neighbours have rather testily turned up and claimed the land that one of the posts is in belongs to them. This land is an approximate 12" wide x 10m long strip of soil at the base of the wall that separates our property from theirs. Not under any circumstances would you presume this land belonged to the other property. Given the narrowness of the strip, Land Registry plans are useless as although they currently show it as ours, once scaled up the dividing line itself is more than a metre wide so too wide for this strip to be clearly defined.

We have told the gate people to pause the construction of the gate while we resolve this. In theory, it is not impossible for us to move the post but it would leave a gap down the side through which the dog could escape, somewhat defeating the object of putting the gate in, as well as having an additional cost to re-siting the post. However, there is an obvious principle in play here. In essence, someone has just claimed that a bit of land, albeit small, belongs to them. They claim to have evidence of this but given that these are both 19th century buildings, I don't hold out a lot of hope for clarity to this level of precision. Also, presumably I would be able to deny access to this strip of land on the grounds that they would have to come onto my land to tend to it?

What I don't want to do is go down a legal route that will cost a sizeable sum and may still rule against us. But I also don't want someone to just claim some land of mine as theirs without recourse. Upon whom is the burden of proof?

[des8]

What do your neighbours have by way of proof to substantiate their claim?

What do the land registry files say (if anything) about the boundary wall and its maintenance?

If you wish to avoid court action (sensible!) you are going to have to come to some agreement with your neighbour.
Perhaps you both contribute to the cost of having the boundary determined

https://www.gov.uk/your-property-bou...ary-determined
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ned-boundaries

[IdefixUK]

You can use the .gov Land Registry website ( use the .gov one) to check if the neighbouring property is registered. If so you can download the title plan and the title register for £3 each. If there is mention in the title register stating " copy filed" then that document is available for £7 by an application in writing using a form downloaded from the website. If this is a copy of previous conveyance then it is possible that measurements are noted about the size of the Land conveyed. Perhaps there is something old documents which leads them to this belief, but see below about AP.
That said, how old is the wall? Is the height of the soil on each side of the wall similar?
If you can show , perhaps by historical aerial photographs that the wall has been in the same place for many a year then you may be able to claim this strip of land up to the wall, by Adverse Possession.This would be relatively straight forward if you can establish that the wall has been in with for at least the 12 years up to October 2003 and that the owners of your property during that period can give and sign Statement(s) of Truth that the neighbours never used this strip of land, and that the owners of your property did use and maintain this strip. The rules about adverse possession became more strict after 2003 but you could still gain the Land .
The burden of proof can swap sides as things develop.
The idea of the previous poster about getting a written agreement with your neighbour that the decision of an independent Land Surveyor will be accepted by both parties is probably the way forward. This can be lodged with the Land Registry as Determined Boundary and will be noted on the deeds of both properties. It would seem sensible to share the cost of the survey with the neighbour ( but not all neighbours are sensible!). So if needs be pay for it all yourself provided you have a written undertaking ( draughted by a solicitor) that they will accept the result. This route is soooooo much cheaper than starting a civil case.

Regards

Ps. The neighbour might be basing his claim on the fact that the foundation of the wall must extend into the strip. It is common to find foundations for buildings on neighbouring land but this doesn't alter the position of the boundary between the lands. The boundary line itself has no actual width.