Neighbours made driveway over new home’s boundary.

[BraOffPjsOn]

So we’re buying a house and have received the boundary doc.
It shows very clearly where our land would be and we also brought the neighbouring plot’s boundary doc.
When we were there and from Google satellite view you can clearly see they’ve taken a chunk of ‘our’ land to make themselves a driveway (without it they only have a tiny path to their house and no space for a driveway). The solicitor is not giving much advice but I am pushing.

what would others do/suggest?

Back away now. That's a red flag if I ever saw one!

See what you can find out. You might get a price reduction

You’d be mad to buy it. Presumably you can’t start a boundary dispute before you own the house anyway so not much you can do? I’m not a lawyer though. Having bought a couple of houses I would run screaming from this one.

I’m guessing this is a new build from the OP, but maybe not. I would be interested what the current owner has to say too. I’d also be looking for a new solicitor if I went forward with a different house in future. How can they not have an opinion on this?

yup, back out of purchase now

As everyone has said, do not touch this with a barge pole.

It’s not a new build. It’s also an inheritance so has been through probate so I don’t think the current owners will know much.

we still have a large front garden with it but it is just niggling me along with the solicitor seeming to want to ignore it.

What can I actually ask them to do?

Other than if they claim adverse possession and then pay to get the title docs put it in their boundary - where we’d lose a bit of land it seems like it’s mainly them that would have a nightmare selling theirs as their current boundary shows very clearly they don’t have access to their front other a path.

Would just rezone it personally, obvs after you've bought it. Fence in your land. We are just doing it at the minute. Over the last 50 years our neighbours have encroached inches all around. We have spoken to them, shown them the land registry and informed them we will be putting up fences this weekend re-establishing the boundary's. They both said fine

I would not purchase it.

If you really want to buy it you can tell the neighbours that you will be using the driveway as it is hour land but I would check legal positions first.

"It’s not a new build."

In that case, it all depends on how long ago they did this. If the neighbours did this more than ten years ago and genuinely believed that it was part of their property then you are likely stuffed and they may well have a claim to the land.

Everything is very fact specific in these sorts of situations.

If it was done less than ten years ago then you would likely win if you went to court.

Do you want to go to court to reclaim this bit of the property that you intend to purchase?

Frankly, with CF neighbours like this, I'm not too sure that I would want to live next door to them.

"They both said fine"

You were lucky. If you live in England & Wales then it would likely be the case that if your neighbours did not agree, and it went to court, you would not be successful.

They’ve brick paved and a curved path of it goes through our boundary meaning they can get a car onto the rest of theirs.
So not easy to put a fence on…

I didn’t think it was this big a thing so shocked a lot of you are saying to pull out.

I definitely don’t think it’s worth going to court and the cost of that!

I would absolutely not buy this house. If the neighbours are willing to steal a bit of your land, what else are they willing to do. 🤯

"Other than if they claim adverse possession and then pay to get the title docs put it in their boundary"

Yes, that is a real possibility. As long as they genuinely believed that that part of the land belonged to them for at least ten years.

They are both in their 90s as was the previous owner of our house and pretty much housebound only getting out with carers. We certainly wouldn't be going to court, a polite conversation was all that was needed. If they had any concerns we would have waited till they died and reinstated boundaries at that point.

Get another solicitor or if it's still possible, pull out of the sale.

Don't buy the house! I had no end of bloody trouble when I had the same!! Awful awful time trying to claw it back from them even when showed the boundaries.
And then, if you buy it and don't push for the land back, when YOU come to sell it, you may get he same trouble because folk won't want to buy it!!!

This sort of thing is WHY you have a solicitor, so if you want to continue, then I'd look at changing your current wet lettuce for someone who actually wants to earn their fee.

The neighbours should purchase the land they have taken and everything should be documented. I would not buy a property where this had happened without due process. It can cause all sorts of problems later, including making the property unsaleable. Insurance and mortgage companies won't like it either.

"I didn’t think it was this big a thing so shocked a lot of you are saying to pull out."

Only buy it if you are happy accepting that you will likely no longer own that bit of land. If you are happy with that situation, then by all means buy the property.

But, depending on the exact circumstances, don't think that you are getting that part of your property back without a fight.

And you will then be living next door to neighbours that will really not like you at all.

You probably need to confirm your boundary with the neighbours and the grant them right of access so they can actually get up their driveway.
We don’t own our drive but have permanent right of access. It was the same with our last house and really not an issue.
You can probably negotiate a price reduction but I wouldn’t walk away if you like the property.
All problems are resolvable with good communication

No way would I buy a house with a disputed boundary. Back out.