'My' Garden doesn't belong to my landlord!

[paulrockliffe]

Just moved into a new house last weekend, just now I've had a chap round warning me that there's a letter in the post notifying me and my landlord of his intent to put a fence between my house and what I was under the impression was my garden.

It turns out that the strip of land that I was told when viewing the property was my garden I was renting doesn't actually belong to my landlord at all, but is part of a strip of land running along the back of four houses that belongs to a warehouse at the end.

My tenancy agreement only says, "and garden thereof (if any)" so I don't think my agreement covers the garden, but the house was advertised as having a patio, offroad parking and a grassed area and I was shown around the house and told the garden was part of the property, so does anyone know where I stand on this?

It's not worth the hassle of having to move as I'm only here for 3 months, but I'm far from happy at losing a garden that I thought I was paying for and the property has clearly been mis-sold.

[Nightmare4banks]

paulrockcliffe,in reply to your post and in my view:

1.It seems that you were told a "porky" when you were shown the property by the landlord/agent whereas your agreement clearly states "garden if any".
Assuming that there is/ARE no grassed area(s) elsewhere within the boundaries of the property.

2.However,I have another idea - how do you know that the neighbour that has issued the letter is not telling a "porky"?For all you know your landlord and this neighbour could have a dispute about ownership of this particular grassed area.

3.In order to find out the truth and which of the two - your landlord or the neighbour is telling a porky - I would suggest that you should make enquiries
with your local council - planning department as the records of all the boundaries etc would be with them.You could also possibly approach HM Land Registry office but this would be at a cost.My suggestion opt for the planning dept. because it does not cost you anything.

4.I have suggested the above course of action as you do not want to ruin what could potentially be a good relationship with your new landlord.

I hope you find this information/suggestions useful.

If you have any questions,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!