When neighbours cannot agree on where one property starts and the other ends, the resulting dispute is legally known as a boundary dispute.
Examples of problems could be a wall that needs repairing or who should front the cost of replacing a fence.
Unfortunately, these disputes are known to flare up tempers depending on the relationship between the neighbours.
In these cases, the problems are rarely addressed promptly to the detriment of each party.
Absolutely incredible neighbour beef in Cardiff. pic.twitter.com/pLO3iVqYWh
— Hannah Al-Othman (@HannahAlOthman) November 3, 2022
So, with that in mind, you need to be aware of the laws surrounding boundary disputes, and how you can go about it reasonably.
Citizens Advice states: "Before you can solve the problem, you need to know where the boundary between your homes is.
"This will help you to understand whose property the wall or fence is on or whether it’s shared between you.
"The best way to find out is to check the legal documents you got when you bought your home.
"You can buy the documents from the Land Registry if you don’t have them - it doesn't cost a lot.
"It might be a good idea to buy the documents for your neighbour’s home too - they might give information that’s not covered in yours.
"If you’re disagreeing with your neighbour about where the boundary is, you can get help from RICS - they work with surveyors who can help with property problems."
Here below is what the government has to say on the legality behind wall disputes:
High hedges, trees and boundaries
You must try to settle a dispute about a high hedge informally before the council can intervene.
Ask your council for a complaint form if the hedge is all of these:
- 2 or more mostly evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs
- over 2 metres tall
- affecting your enjoyment of your home or garden because it’s too tall
You might have to pay the council a fee to consider your complaint.
When you can trim hedges or trees
You can trim branches or roots that cross into your property from a neighbour’s property or a public road.
You can only trim up to the property boundary. If you do more than this, your neighbour could take you to court for damaging their property.
If you live in a conservation area, or the trees in the hedge are protected by a ‘tree preservation order’, you might need your council’s permission to trim them.
I’m having a dispute with my other next door neighbour over who owns a boundary wall, and I’ve never felt more British.
— Ariane Sherine (@ArianeSherine) May 26, 2023
My house is white and hers is yellow. The wall between them is clearly on my land, and attached to my front wall and not hers.
Am I wrong? Poll in next tweet! pic.twitter.com/9qGEFYfzon
If your property borders a road
The highway authority can ask you to cut back hedges or trees on your property if they’re obstructing the road.
If you refuse, they can go into your property without your permission to do the work themselves - they may charge you for this.
Property damage from hedges
Your neighbour is responsible for maintaining their hedges so they do not, for example, damage your property or grow too high.
If they do damage your property, your neighbour may be liable.
Boundaries and shared (‘party’) walls
Disputes about the exact boundary between 2 properties can be difficult to solve so get legal advice.
You must give notice to your neighbour if you are going to do work on a shared (‘party’) wall.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has free advice on boundary disputes and party walls (the walls you share with your neighbours).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here