Change the Perspective · Property law
The Fence Line
England and Wales (residential conveyancing, general principles). The roles are teaching roles, and the facts are invented.
The facts
Marian Foster owns 14 Alder Lane, a semi-detached house, and has agreed to sell it to Priya Nair, a first-time buyer who is borrowing part of the price from Westmere Building Society. The sale is subject to contract: nothing has been exchanged and neither side is yet bound.
Priya's conveyancer compares the registered title plan with the survey and notices that the right-hand boundary of the garden, as drawn, runs about a metre inside the existing fence. A strip of lawn on which a shed stands therefore appears to lie on the land of number 16. Marian says the fence has stood where it is for the fifteen years she has owned the house, and that the previous owner told her it marked the boundary.
In the seller's property information form Marian answered "no" to the question whether there had been any boundary disputes or complaints. After the form was sent, her conveyancer found in her papers a letter from the owner of number 16, Mr Haldane, dated three years ago, asking to "talk about the fence line". Marian says she never replied and did not think of it as a dispute. Nobody has spoken to Mr Haldane since.
Priya has paid for a survey and given notice on her rented flat. Her mortgage offer runs for a few more weeks, and the lender's instructions require her conveyancer to report anything that affects the security. Marian is buying a home near her family and needs this sale to complete on time.
The working rules for this case
- Until contracts are exchanged neither side is bound, and either may withdraw. After exchange the buyer's remedies are much narrower.
- A seller must answer the buyer's pre-contract enquiries truthfully, and a seller who learns that an answer was wrong or incomplete must correct it before exchange. A false statement that induces a contract can give rise to remedies for misrepresentation.
- A registered title plan shows general boundaries. It does not fix the exact line, so a plan that does not match the ground is a question to investigate, not an answer.
- A conveyancer must not mislead the other side, and must tell a lender client about matters affecting its security. Where the interests of two clients conflict, the conveyancer may have to stop acting for one of them.
- The roles in this exercise are teaching roles, and nothing here is advice about a real property.
Choose a seat
The same facts look different from each seat. Take one, write what you would argue or say in your own words, then see what a strong answer from that seat contains.
Nothing you type here is sent anywhere. Your answers and scores are kept in this browser, on this device, so you can come back to them. Use invented details if you like; there is no need for real names or anything confidential.
← All cases · Invented facts. The roles are teaching roles and the working rules are general. This is not legal advice and does not predict the outcome of any real case.