Home boundaries

When you are purchasing a property or at some point during your period of ownership of a property, perhaps when you want to carry out maintenance work, you may question who actually owns the boundary fences, hedges or walls surrounding it.

In practice, it is often the case that a definitive answer cannot be found.

There are two concepts to contend with where boundaries are considered.  Firstly, the legal boundary.

The legal boundary is effectively an invisible but exact line that separates two properties, which has no width or thickness and is unlikely to be precisely identified on the ground.

Secondly, the physical boundary.  The physical boundary is a physical feature on the ground, such as a fence, hedge or wall.  When erected or planted, the intention may have been for the physical boundary to follow the legal boundary, but that may not necessarily be the case.

Many people will assume that, where property is registered at the Land Registry, the Land Registry title plan will show the legal boundaries for a property.  However, that is not the case.

Title deeds rarely identify the legal boundaries of a property and the Land Registry does not determine them at the point of first registration.

The Land Registry usually registers a property with general boundaries with the Land Registry title plan showing the general extent of land within a registered title.  Therefore the title plan cannot be used to establish the precise legal boundary.

If you do need a more precise determination of the legal boundary, it is possible by submitting a determined boundary application to the Land Registry or by entering into a boundary agreement with your neighbour.

In connection with the ownership and maintenance of the physical boundaries, there are a lot of unfounded beliefs, such as the boundary features on the right or left are automatically owned and therefore maintainable by the owner of the property or that the post and rails of a fence are always on the owner’s side.

There are no legal foundations to these beliefs and, whilst title deeds may contain covenants placing the obligation for maintenance of boundary structures onto a property owner, perhaps by the use of “T” marks on a plan, the covenants do not confer ownership, unless they are coupled with a statement to that effect.

If there are no such covenants or statements within the title deeds as to the ownership and maintenance of the physical boundaries then the owner of either neighbouring property can erect a fence on the boundary, but, whilst the person who erects the fence will be its owner, that does not impose an obligation to repair or replace the fence in the future.

It is easy to see why the issue of boundaries can lead to disputes between neighbours and, where the title deeds do not confirm the ownership or responsibility for maintenance of a physical boundary, it is always best to regard the physical boundary as a party boundary, with any alterations or replacements being carried out with the agreement of your neighbours and in accordance with the Party Wall etc Act 1996 where applicable.