Should I take a land dispute to court?

[Seanpadro]

I am in an awful situation on my farm with my brother.

Our father gave us each a separate farm and a wonderful start in life, over 25 years ago.

Unfortunately, our father had merged the two farms into one and when he passed them over, there were no physical boundaries. We went about putting the boundaries in place and engaged a surveyor to do so but unfortunately did not register these boundaries.

Everything seemed fine for a few years but it all went seriously wrong when my brother (or rather his new wife) began to revert to what he believed were the original boundaries, where it suited. This was about twenty years ago.

I have tried so many types of mediation. etc and my own family and I can no longer cope with the situation. I have always feared going to court due to the costs and effect on my family. I do not want, what I feel has been bullying to win out. For that reason, I cannot give in to my brother. I want an official boundary in place and then hope to sell up so my family and I can get on with our lives.

I would readily give my consent to an independent third party to decide where the boundary should be but that is only available by way of a judge.

How do I take this to court and is there any limit to what it could cost?

 

[j26]

The initial advice is to get up to date copies of the folios involved from the Land Registry to see what the current registered position is.

If these moved boundaries have been in place for 20 odd years, it may be well that you have lost your rights to the lands affected. Your brother may have acquired title by adverse possession, more commonly known as squatters rights.
I know it's not nice to hear, but if that is what happened, unfortunately it is your own fault as you acquiesced to the new boundaries for a long time.

If the above is not the case, you mention that a surveyor marked the sites out. Is there an agreed map? If there is, you can ask him to move the boundaries back to the agreed lines. If there's no map, you might have some difficulty proving your right to the land in question.

If you are thinking of going to court, really you need to see a solicitor to get an idea of how long it is likely to take (probably a couple of years at least) and how much it will cost. Make sure you get advice on the specific to the topic of adverse possession.

 

[Billo]

Our father gave us each a seperate farm and a wonderful start in life, over 25 years ago. Unfortunately, our father had merged the two farms into one and when he passed them over, there were no physical boundaries.

So your father gave you one farm between you and not a separate farm each.

Get a solicitor

 

[ajapale]

Hi Sean and welcome to AAM!

You should consult a solicitor one that will act solely on your behalf.

When you checked the land registry folios what do they say? Is the entire farm registered in both your names?

aj