Boundary demarcation is a complicated area which requires specific skills and abilities that many non-specialist surveyors do not possess. All too often general practice surveyors become overly focused on Ordnance Survey mapping or Land Registry Title Plans which lack the accuracy to resolve the dispute in question. Surveyors who have a limited understanding of boundary matters quite often exacerbate the situation by producing a result which is clearly wrong and which in turn leads to wasted time, wasted costs and a significant amount of stress.
If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in the situation of falling out with your neighbour over the position of the legal boundary you will need sound, well-thought-out, professional and experienced advice on the simplest, cheapest and most effective route to resolve your problem.
The platform which enables an expert to provide that advice is his or her Boundary Survey. This is a survey of the 'physical boundaries' and other significant features which exist at any given site. The survey needs to be accurate. The survey needs to be reliable. Once collected and processed and plotted, an Expert Boundary Survey provides the major backcloth upon which the true position of the legal boundary can be determined.
Even a court or tribunal which does not wish to receive expert opinion as to where a legal boundary might be will ultimately need a plan upon which to record the line which it determines. The Expert Boundary Survey is the obvious choice of plan for such a task.
See Our ReportsTypes of Reports
Imagine that you have become involved in an issue. It may be that you’ve just cleared away the ‘jungle’ at the bottom of the garden and suddenly realised that you were in another garden without ever passing anything which resembled a hedge or a fence. It may be that your neighbour has told you that your ‘old garden shed’ is a bit over onto his land. It may be that you have received a solicitor’s letter informing you that court proceedings will be issued unless....!
You need advice. You need expert advice. You need advice in the form of a report but what type of report do you need?
This is the type of report that you will need if you are involved in formal proceedings in either a County Court or a Land Tribunal. The production of such reports is regulated by a strict protocol established by the Civil Procedure Act 1997. Each and every ‘Part 35 Report’ is required to include a ‘Statement of Truth’ which confirms that the Expert understands his duties in producing the report. Part 35 Reports are typically laid out in a formal style with different sections setting out details of the Expert’s experience, instruction, assumed facts, assumptions made, reasoning and conclusions to name but a few. Supporting documents are normally set out in accompanying appendices.
The Part 35 Report is best suited to clients who are engaged in a matter where civil proceedings are already issued, imminent or inevitable. If you find yourself in this position legal representation is strongly recommended. Typically an instruction for a Part 35 Report is received from a legal practitioner by way of a comprehensive ‘Letter of Instruction’ together with documentary evidence that the Expert is asked to take into consideration when preparing his or her report.
It can take anywhere from between a week to three months to produce a Part 35 Report.
What’s Included In This Report:
- The Expert’s methodology
- Expert Plans
- Expert Photographs
- The Expert’s independent reasoning
- Summary of conclusions
- Expert Statement of Truth
This is the type of report that you will need if you are ‘unsure’ either of your held contentions or if you are uncertain as to whether a problem exists at all. These reports are colloquially referred to as ‘Heads Up’ reports because they are intended to provide a heads-up perspective or a reality check on a potential issue. They can be used to gauge the probability of success in an action and indeed this form of report is regularly provided to legal expenses insurers in order that they can gauge whether cover is available or relevant to the householder. The advisory report is best suited to clients who are unaware of their legal footing and require advice as to whether their held beliefs have merit.
Advisory reports run to between six and eighteen pages of written advice and sufficient plans to explain the Expert reasoning. They are not formatted into distinct sections and they do not normally append the documentary evidence supplied by the client to the Expert. They do not normally attach the site photographs taken by the Expert unless there is a point which is difficult to explain without reference to a photograph.
Although the production of an advisory report does not include the obligation to sign a statement of truth, the professional constraints under which such a report is produced ensures that the opinion given must be the Expert’s honestly held impartial and un-biased opinion. To that end, each advisory report makes clear that the opinion expressed within is the honestly held impartial opinion of the Expert and that if required that opinion would be repeated in a Part 35 Compliant Report.
It typically takes less than a week to produce an advisory report.
What’s Included In This Report:
- The Expert’s methodology
- Expert Plans
- The Expert’s independent reasoning
- Summary of conclusions
This is the level of service supplied to clients who do not wish to commission a report of any kind. Some clients simply require a record of what exists on the ground at a point in time. Some clients are clear in their own mind that the legal boundary runs from one particular feature to another and they do not need an Expert report to confirm that fact. They simply need an accurate plan with a line drawn concisely according to their contended position.
The form of this report is that there is no formal report and typically an e-mail accompanying the produced plans explains in a few short paragraphs what each plan shows and the size and scale at which the plan should be plotted.
Although the Expert may carry out a form of analysis such as a simple graphical overlay of the Boundary Survey over an old Conveyance Plan, no formal written report upon that exercise is supplied with the results plan. The client is obliged to form a view on what the plan shows based on his or her own reasoning.
It typically takes less than a week to produce a Boundary Survey and Expert Analysis only.
What’s Included In This Report:
- Expert Plans