Boundaries in garden!

[parisdisneyfan]

Yes, I'm still here and our buyer still isn't happy with our answers to his questions.

Our house is the middle detached of 3 with a double detached garage to the right. "T" marks on the plans show that we are responsible for the rear and left boundaries. The right hand boundary is the responsibility of our rh neighbours. At the front we have hedges on the left and right, these were put in by the developers, not sure who they actually belong to but we all keep our own sides neat and tidy. Our rear is an ancient hedgerow that the council come and cut each year. We can tidy it but not reduce its height or remove it. In the deeds/covenant it states that "a fence, if any, must be maintained" ie it is our responsiblity even though the council cut the hedge. We have no animals and prefer the view of the hedge to that of a fence so have never put up a fence. It has been cut every year by the council and they actually say it is easier for them as we have no fence, whereas others do!

Our buyer has said that he will not proceed if we cannot legally prove the ownership of the front hedges and erect a rear fence. He is also saying that our neighbours need to move or erect a new fence on the rh side. This is due to the fence being erected a posts width into our property rather than putting a fence down the side of the garage Who erects a fence alongside a brick wall, surely that would cause more problems with damp etc?

I tell you if I didn't love the house we want to move to I would tell this chap where to go, . BTW we have a suspicion that he wants to extend the garage and this will possibly annoy our neighbours which is why he wants to have it watertight! A further complication is that English isn't his first language, he misunderstood "recently refitted" as "newly installed" and "water damage" as "leaking bath".

Thanks for letting me rant away, but aside from telling him to get lost, anyone got any ideas how to appease him!

[taylaboo]

Deep breathing and get yourself a beer! Let the solicitors handle it, it's what you pay them for. We had problems with our buyer when selling our hotel. He told us he had the funds when in realty he half owned properties up North with his sister and she wasn't willing to sell any of them. In the end we told him a final date to pay up or we would be selling to another interested party. The money appeared like magic the following week. Good luck and enjoy your new house.

[Orlando 2004]

I feel sorry for your current neighbours! I hope you can get things sorted.

[Feebee2]

Where will it end? We had similar with our buyer, each day another hurdle was put in the way.
Our estate agent cleverly got in touch with the partner and said if they didn't get their act together they would lose the house.
They completed a few days later.

[vhm672]

Practically speaking no one is going to move the boundary features on a timeline that fits (if at all) so tell your solicitors to go back with a no. On the front boundaries the answer is that you have no information beyond what you have maintained. This is totally standard. On the rear fence if pushed insure the breach it is easier and cheaper than doing anything else, your solicitor can get a quote for breach of covenant insurance.

[Guest]

I think I would call his bluff and pull out.

[olgaandcoda]

Originally Posted by Claudette

I think I would call his bluff and pull out.

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I would have done this a while back. Moving house is stressful enough without a buyer like this. He is likely to drag this out and then pull out at the last minute, unless you drop the price. I hope not, but it’s not worth the trouble or worry!
OP your house is lovely and someone out there will love it!

[Anne]

I can see his point re the boundary fence where it has been put on your property as my sister had horrendous problems costing thousands of pounds over a boundary dispute.

However, as regards him wanting you to pay for a fence at the bottom of your garden, no way!

[parisdisneyfan]

Thank you everyone, no further news, but feeling better just for your comments that it isn't us that are being unreasonable. I have also been out and checked the front hedges - rhs is definitely on the neighbours land, so we can say he doesn't have to cut it but can't remove it. Lhs is actually a double row of bushes, the one our side could possibly be on our land, in which case he could remove it but to replace with what? we have covenants that you can't put fences/walls up at the front!

Originally Posted by Orlando 2004

I feel sorry for your current neighbours! I hope you can get things sorted.

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We do too but glad we are moving a long way away

Originally Posted by Feebee2

Where will it end? We had similar with our buyer, each day another hurdle was put in the way.
Our estate agent cleverly got in touch with the partner and said if they didn't get their act together they would lose the house.
They completed a few days later.

See more...

Estate agent has been in touch with the wife and she just said he knows what he is doing!

Originally Posted by vhm672

Practically speaking no one is going to move the boundary features on a timeline that fits (if at all) so tell your solicitors to go back with a no. On the front boundaries the answer is that you have no information beyond what you have maintained. This is totally standard. On the rear fence if pushed insure the breach it is easier and cheaper than doing anything else, your solicitor can get a quote for breach of covenant insurance.

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Cheaper than an indemnity is 2 sticks and a bit of string - according to our solicitor that would constitute a fence! well as long as it was well maintained sticks and string

Originally Posted by Claudette

I think I would call his bluff and pull out.

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The last email to him pretty much said that!

Originally Posted by olgaandcoda

I would have done this a while back. Moving house is stressful enough without a buyer like this. He is likely to drag this out and then pull out at the last minute, unless you drop the price. I hope not, but it’s not worth the trouble or worry!
OP your house is lovely and someone out there will love it!

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Thank you, unfortunately Boris and Brexit mean property doesn't seem to be moving, hence why this is the 3rd buyer as other 2 have both lost their buyers

Originally Posted by Anne

I can see his point re the boundary fence where it has been put on your property as my sister had horrendous problems costing thousands of pounds over a boundary dispute.

However, as regards him wanting you to pay for a fence at the bottom of your garden, no way!

See more...

I see his (and your point) but actually we have only lost 3 inches of garden on a north facing bed, horrible soil! Our neighbours and any future owner know that they are responsible for that fence, and that is indisputable. The only issue is he wants it down the side of the garage and freestanding not attached to the back of our garage. They have to let us on to their property to maintain our garage wall but if a fence was put where he wants it we wouldn't be able to. You also probably couldn't dig out to put posts in due to the foundations of our garage. On the plans the red line marking the boundary is actually on top of the garage wall!

[floridasgirl]

Very annoying. Your solicitor should be the one telling him he is being unreasonsble about the fence, there's no fence, like it or lump it!
With regards the boundaries, that's something else your solicitor should be sorting and maybe an indemnity will appease him!
Weve recently moved and had to settle over the freehold. We wanted the previous owner to purchase it on our behalf but when it was looked in to, it turned out the ones who are listed as the owners of the freeholders have never been registered with the land registry! It all got very complicated so we had to agree to buy as leasehold which wasn't ideal but we wanted the house so proceeded, hopefully we can sort the freehold at some point!