Where is your boundary: Can landowners rely on a Land Registry plan?

Landowners faced with disputes over their boundaries often point to the Land Registry plan for their land as evidence of what they own and their property boundaries. Unfortunately title plans are not definitive and will not necessarily show the precise location of the boundaries.

Unless the owner of registered land has entered into a boundary agreement or had the boundary line determined by a Court or the Land Registry, the great majority of registered titles show only the ’general boundaries’; this means that the Land Registry plan gives an approximation of a property’s extent rather than an exact delineation.

In the recent Court of Appeal decision of Clapham v Narga the Court confirmed that the Land Registry’s plan was ordinarily irrelevant in establishing where a boundary is located.

This case was a long running dispute between neighbouring property owners in Leicestershire. The properties backed onto each other and were separated by a brook: the owners of 24, 25 and 26 The Green were on the south side of a brook (which runs from east to west with steep slopes on either side) and Mrs Nagra owned Brook Barn which was to the north. Mrs Nagra has purchased her property believing that her boundary ran to the south of the brook and through her neighbours’ garden; this belief was based upon the Land Registry plan which she said clearly showed her boundary.

The Court in its judgment in Clapham v Nagra said that title plans ‘do not pretend to be accurate’ and that the purpose of the plan was to identify the property concerned and not to identify where its boundaries are.

If the Land Registry plan does not identify the boundary, how do you ascertain where the boundary lies? Boundaries can be determined by looking at the pre-registration deeds and the position on the ground and by looking ‘underneath’ the Register. The starting point will be the title deeds i.e. old conveyances and plans. If the deeds and old plans are insufficiently clear for the reasonable layperson to determine the position of the boundary, other ‘extrinsic’ evidence including the physical features on the ground can be considered. There are also legal presumptions that might assist, such as the ‘hedge and ditch rule’ which says that where two properties are divided by a hedge and ditch, that the boundary is along the edge of the ditch furthest from the hedge or bank; the presumption being that a landowner digging the ditch would place it up against his boundary and would throw the earth back onto his own land, planting a hedge on top.

If there is any doubt, neighbouring owners can agree the precise location of their boundaries and this can then be recorded in a boundary agreement. If this is not possible then the precise boundary can be determined by the Land Registry, by a Court or through one of the various alternative dispute resolution procedures.

If you are concerned about establishing where your boundary lies contact Johanne Spittle, Director & Head of Litigation & Dispute Resolution on York 01904 716000, Wetherby 01937 583210 or Malton 01653 692247  or email johanne.spittle@warekay.co.uk.