With news that house sales are at post-recession record levels, it is unsurprising that the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is updating new home owners on how to establish the exact position of their boundaries, as that is where they are most likely to have problems in the future.
In guidelines published earlier this month, RICS says that there are some simple steps a new owner can take to avoid these, preferably before exchange, so that they can be ironed out before the sale goes through,
Firstly, the Institution says, buyers should ask their solicitor for an Official Copy of the Land Registry title plan, which shows the general boundaries of the property.
This is based on large scale Ordnance Survey mapping, so will be generalised to some extent and does not show the exact legal extent of the property, such as any small juts in the boundary or bay windows.
However, this can still be compared to the property and, if there are any major differences, the solicitors on both sides can clarify what the differences, if any, are.
Having established who owns what and where the boundaries are, the final step is to speak to the neighbours to find out who maintains what, as it is vital to ensure that they do not fall into disrepair.
Also, as RICS points out, if some or all of the boundaries are not clearly defined, it is important to ensure that the buyer and the neighbours understand and agree where the boundary is and, if possible, to erect an appropriate boundary feature.
However, the key words here are ‘understand’ and ‘agree’ as the news headlines are full of horror stories of neighbours erecting, removing or amending boundaries while home owners are away, which generally lead to bad feeling at least and court cases or even worse if relationships break down.