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I am currently in a land boundary / encroachment dispute with a neighbouring property of our land parcel and thought that I would reach out to the internet and see if anyone would be able to provide any advice or insights on how to take this forward. For your information, I have provided a brief background below:
First of all, the land in question is a vacant plot and and was purchased by myself at the back end of 2019. Following the purchase and receiving the title deeds, it quickly became apparent that adjacent land owner had significantly extended his industrial building over into our land parcel. I decided to do some more investigation online and found the planning application submitted in 2017 to the local council for the extension in question, and on the application it detailed that the proposed extension was to be built on land designated as 'urban open space'. This is not true as the land parcel is designated as 'private property' to the previous land owner who we purchased it from and of which they confirmed this. Following the investigation, I confronted the neighbour who jokingly indicated that 'they had been expecting a nock at the door' in relation to the encroachment and that they would like to cooperate and get a land surveyor involved to quantify the boundary breach and try to come to a resolution.
Following this, we then instructed a specialist land boundary surveyor to conduct a survey of our site boundary and quantity the encroachment from the neighbouring building. The report concluded that the extent of the encroachment was just under 3000sqft. Following receipt of the surveyors report, it was then presented to our neighbour for review and negociation. Our neighbour then highlighted that they have done an independent survey and the extent of the encroachments do not match and that they are in disagreement with the findings. That in itself is fine, and we are open to consideration of ours is wrong, however they will not even provide us with his surveyors report to review. - Which is think says a lot!
Following this, all communication has broken down and they will no longer respond to any communications to try and resolve the matter amicably. As such we appointed a legal representative and issued a Letter Before Action (LBA) outlining our position including the surveyors report and all supporting documentation, to which 3 months later he still has not responded to - despite timelines been given for a response.
Currently, the only way forward that I see is to initiate legal action to try and resolve the matter. My question is, considering the above information, how likely are we to win legal proceedings? Or does anyone have any advice on how to move forward with this situation? Or is it just not worth the hassle going to court etc.?
Some other noteworthy information:
The neighbouring property/ person we are in dispute with is actually a tenant (25 year lease tenant that rents the land but has built their own industrial building / yard area on it).
Through our investigation, it is clear that the building / yard area not only breach our boundary, but they also do not follow what was submitted/accepted in their planning application.
Many thanks for taking the time to read and I would appreciate any advice you may have on this.
First of all, the land in question is a vacant plot and and was purchased by myself at the back end of 2019. Following the purchase and receiving the title deeds, it quickly became apparent that adjacent land owner had significantly extended his industrial building over into our land parcel. I decided to do some more investigation online and found the planning application submitted in 2017 to the local council for the extension in question, and on the application it detailed that the proposed extension was to be built on land designated as 'urban open space'. This is not true as the land parcel is designated as 'private property' to the previous land owner who we purchased it from and of which they confirmed this. Following the investigation, I confronted the neighbour who jokingly indicated that 'they had been expecting a nock at the door' in relation to the encroachment and that they would like to cooperate and get a land surveyor involved to quantify the boundary breach and try to come to a resolution.
Following this, we then instructed a specialist land boundary surveyor to conduct a survey of our site boundary and quantity the encroachment from the neighbouring building. The report concluded that the extent of the encroachment was just under 3000sqft. Following receipt of the surveyors report, it was then presented to our neighbour for review and negociation. Our neighbour then highlighted that they have done an independent survey and the extent of the encroachments do not match and that they are in disagreement with the findings. That in itself is fine, and we are open to consideration of ours is wrong, however they will not even provide us with his surveyors report to review. - Which is think says a lot!
Following this, all communication has broken down and they will no longer respond to any communications to try and resolve the matter amicably. As such we appointed a legal representative and issued a Letter Before Action (LBA) outlining our position including the surveyors report and all supporting documentation, to which 3 months later he still has not responded to - despite timelines been given for a response.
Currently, the only way forward that I see is to initiate legal action to try and resolve the matter. My question is, considering the above information, how likely are we to win legal proceedings? Or does anyone have any advice on how to move forward with this situation? Or is it just not worth the hassle going to court etc.?
Some other noteworthy information:
The neighbouring property/ person we are in dispute with is actually a tenant (25 year lease tenant that rents the land but has built their own industrial building / yard area on it).
Through our investigation, it is clear that the building / yard area not only breach our boundary, but they also do not follow what was submitted/accepted in their planning application.
Many thanks for taking the time to read and I would appreciate any advice you may have on this.
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