Neighbour says we built on his side of propertyWe recently took over ownership of a holiday home that has been in our family for years. We built a brick fuel shed close to our house - it's a rural area and there is only some light fencing around the perimeter of the property. The shed is where a section of that fencing once was.
Our neighbour, who we don't know, arrived at the house last weekend with an official Land Registry map to inform us that we have built on his side of the property and the shed has to come down. As the shed was replacing an old fence we feel we are in the right, but the map does go in his favour.
The Land Registry office is crystal clear as to what its maps are for - and it's not to settle boundary disputes. The Land Registry map, such as the one you have been shown, is an index map and identifies property, not boundaries.
It could simply be a case that your neighbour is confused about the whole boundary issue and the status of this map. Your first step is to have a calm neighbourly conversation, though in fairness, once boundary issues are involved things can get beyond that fairly quickly.
You need to track down the deeds of your property (with your parents? solicitor?) and look at those maps and get a land surveyor to assess these documents and, if needs be, to map the site and the boundaries. However, you may feel that as there is already a demand to take down the shed, you want to go straight to a solicitor to mediate and help sort it out.
We're building - why can't we get all mortage?
I read with interest your column last week about stage payments and how they have been abolished for people buying new houses. We are in the early stages of planning to build on a site given to us by my parents. We will need a mortgage but we were told that we will only be able to draw down that mortgage in four stages. Why? Surely this is most unfair and will make the building process very difficult - why are we not being treated in the same way as people buying new houses.
Broadly speaking, banks look for two things when deciding whether to give a mortgage - the value of the property and the ability of the borrowers to pay back the loan.
At all times, the bank will act to protect its own money - your house will be worth different amounts at different stages of the build and the mortgage provider will only be willing to forward to you whatever the house is worth at that time.
Factors taken into consideration include compliance with building regulations and compliance with the planning permission as granted. Your builder and architect will be very used to this process and should have no difficulty with it and on signing off on such things as the standard of the sub floors, blockwork, external finishes etc.
The stages will be paid out once these interim valuations are carried out and Stage Payment Certificates are issued. From your point of view, the system does at least help ensure that your house is built in accordance with all the relevant regulations.
Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, The Irish Times Building, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2 or email propertyquestions@irish-times.ie. Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.
