Sometimes the title deed of the properties may contain information about that piece of land, thus making the owner fully entitled to it, while other times the information about the property might be omitted.
Some other times the title deed might include wording such as o maintain the boundaries marked with an inward-facing T mark’ which are marked by letter T in the plan.
That wording help to guide the builder in case any developments are done on the property.
Therefore a title deed can only be used to solve disputes if such information is included. It is therefore essential to inform your neighbours in case you want to change an existing boundary. This helps to prevent the raising of a dispute.
Boundary disputes are very stressful and costly. People tend to spend their fortunes in disputes over a small piece of land or sometimes a modest piece of land.
Solving boundary disputes have become expensive, especially in the absence of a negotiated settlement which forces the people in dispute to seek help from the land registry or the court.
Due to these problems when it comes to solving boundary disputes, a property boundary bill has been proposed. This bill is meant to create a mandatory dispute resolution scheme which is meant to resolve boundary disputes and also rights of way disputes.
This bill is similar to the bill used for solving party wall disputes which were formed in 1996 by Party Wall Etc Act.
Although the implementation process of this bill has been slow, it is expected to be passed in the nearby future.
The new mandatory resolving scheme will involve one neighbour notifying the other neighbour about where they believe the property boundary lines are at. If the respondent neighbour disagrees, then the two neighbours select a surveyor or each may choose their surveyors.
The common surveyor or the surveyors in an agreement may choose another a third party surveyor. In case the surveyor is denied access to the land, then this will be seen as a criminal offence.
The surveyors then determine the dispute and make their decision in the form of an award. The award includes who will pay for the cost of the dispute. The final decision of the surveyors will be seen as conclusive unless one party appeals to the high court in 28 days.
If the 28 days appeal period expires with no appeal been made, then the two parties involved will then submit their awards to the land registry. Then the changes made will be noted in both titles.
However, lawyers and surveyor have been seen to differ in their opinions about the new law and how it will be work in an actual situation.
People are usually advised by the property litigation solicitors on how to solve boundary disputes.
The Property Litigation Solicitors use cost-effective methods such as mediation and negotiations and commissioning expert boundary surveyor.
They only consider using court proceedings and tribunal application as the last solutions for solving boundary disputes.