Boundary Disputes & Mediation

Most surveyors (and nearly all Judges) try very hard to avoid getting involved in boundary disputes. We take the view that everyone is entitled to proper advice and representation; Bruce Collinson FRICS acted on his first boundary dispute in 1975 and he's been doing them ever since.

As well as being a Member of the RICS President's Neighbour Dispute Mediation Scheme, he is an RICS Accredited Mediator and a highly experienced practitioner and Expert Witness in boundary and neighbour matters, including rights of way, easements etc. Combined with his 40 years' experience as a practical Chartered Surveyor and latterly as an Expert Witness, he undertakes numerous instructions, some Court-appointed, to resolve boundary and neighbour matters, from initial informal advice right through to implementation of Consent Orders and Mediation.

Without doubt, the first rule of an impending neighbour or boundary dispute must always be, sort it out with your neighbours, at any reasonable cost. If however you are unable to resolve things fairly or amicably then Plan B must be to get into mediation at the earliest opportunity. Typically, a mediation of an average boundary or neighbour matter is going to end up costing both sides c. £1,000. This is a fraction of the likely costs if the matter gets anywhere near any sort of trial. Even if it does, latterly the Courts are inclined to tell the parties to go away and attempt mediation and in our experience it's a very unusual dispute that cannot be resolved that way (we currently have 100% success rate).

In the unfortunate event that it has to progress, we can supervise the production of the hyper-accurate plans which, for example, the Land Registry now require in order to make a Determined Boundary Application and we can access the sort of good aerial photographs which are sometimes conclusive in placing old physical features.

In summary, we have the experience, the expertise, and the sheer bottle to undertake this work.