Joint ownership Legal rights

[Cassie]

Hello

We recently purchased a small coniferous woodland to the rear of our property jointly with our next door neighbour, who verbally agreed at the time of purchase that they would split the woodland by Deed of partition so that both parties own 50% of the woodland.

They have now gone back on their word will not agree to the Deed of partition and intend to stop us carrying out any work on the woodland as were planning to thin out the coniferous trees allowing light onto the woodland floor, could anyone please advise where we stand legally with this.

Your advise would be greatly appreciated as we can see this becoming a legal battle, which they can afford to fund but we can't and don't want to go down this road.

Thank you

[jillybean]

Did Your Solicitor not ask you to clarify the joint purchase? If you buy a house jointly you must say whether its as tenants in common or joint tenants. I might be inclined to involve the Forestry commission who will be able to throw some weight behind the correct method of management.

[Cassie]

Our solicitor was involved from the outset, the woodland was purchased as joint owners with a verbal agreement to divide the land once the sale had gone through,the solicitor was aware of this and the neighbour agreed as witnessed by the solicitor and her brother that the Deed of partition should go ahead, in fact the neighbour asked the solicitor why the Deed of partition was taking so long to complete,now she is stating she does not want to divide the woodland to enable her to control what we do.

Forestry will advise regarding management of the woodland which is not my concern at the moment, I really need to address the legal side of this as to whether or not a joint owner can stop me carrying out work in my own woodland.

[Exeldama]

The first piece of advise is that anything you hear on here is no substitute for legal advice from your solicitor.

However i would suggest that you have your solicitor sending a suitably worded letter drawing attention to the conversation they themselves witnessed. The reason being that verbal admissions/agreements can form part of a contract, and particularily as you have said they chased it themselves..a little common sense should prevail.

That all said... a neighbourly sit down over a cup of tea, as grown ups is usually better.... explain to them what you intend to do, and as said previously. Without becoming a bore... draw their attention to the official position..ie Forestry commission/wildlife trusts/woodlant trust etc... we are assuming they bought it because they like the outdoors and wildlife so common sense should prevail... do not get embroiled in a protracted fight, a member of my family made that mistake over a piece of land..bad idea..

I would also strongly..very strongly recommend that you get your studying head on and forearm yourself should it be required with the law.... understanding the law takes much of the mystique from it... this isnt my own area but i have fought several legal battles against cooperations having first learnt the ropes myself....it makes a real difference.

Finally keep asking the questions on here there is a lot of experience and useful advice about. Best of luck.

[Cassie]

Well here I am again 6 months into the purchase of the woodland no further forward and wanting to start maintenance work....but the neighbour who will not speak to me and deals only through her solicitor has said if I do not agree to selling her 13% of my 50% giving her 63% and me 37% which will move the boundary line encroaching on my privacy, she will have an embargo put in place to stop me carrying out any work whatsoever on the woodland without her permission which she will never give, what a terrible situation when all we want to do is work in our woodland which hasn't had any maintenence for over 30 years and some of the trees are dead and others leaning quite dangerously, the only way forward I can see now is County Court I can't tell you how much this has stressed me out and is making me feel quite unwell but I will not be bullied or intimidated by her.

Any advice most welcome

[Exeldama]

Thats the idea... stress you out then you are more likely to cave in. So you have tried to be a grown up but it sounds like its beyond your fellow signatory. Make sure you have kept a record of all your pertinent conversations, dates etc. Put in writing that you are prepared to go to proffessional mediation, thus its clear you are being cooperative etc and actively seek to do so.

2 questions... firstly your solictor...? What is their view.? Have they confirmed the verbal agreement being witnessed. ? How clear was this suggestion, ie implied, passing chat etc.

Secondly, clearlyPerceptions can be very different. Why did you agree with this particular person to buy it together.? Entering into such an agreement is crazy unless you have it tied up or you are 100% confident in the Person and a neighbour wouldnt be a good choice....is their anything else behind the scenes going on. Why are they after the additional percentage of the land..i smell a rat...it doesnt add up with an issue of purely what work you are doing.

If they are unhappy with your potential forestry work then it makes zero difference whether you have 43/25/37 or whatever... there is more to this that is obvious. If you dont know what it is you need to find out..... know the oppposition.

Dont forget that you have a legal duty of care and thus if you have dangerous trees on your land , have such confirmed by a proffessional (in writing), then write to the otherside to confirm this duty of care, give them a copy of the survey and point out that they share this responsibility. Give them the oppurtunity to resolve the dangerous trees or put forward an alternative solution. Give them 28 days then go ahead...if in doubt of course talk to your solicitor.

I would also suggest you actually consider what your work would actually constitute... what would they actually do....sue you for maintaining the safety of the wood, coppicing... you dont sound as if you are causing damage persae.....

Lastly if you are saying her solicitor is effectively trying to negotiate an agreement that gives away part of your property in return for permission to work on maintainance i suggest you write to the legal ombudsman and make a complaint against the solicitor, it appears wholly unproffessional.....it really sounds as if this about access and boundary demarkation rather than what your doing in your wood.

[Cassie]

Thank you Exeldama for your comments I'm still waiting to hear from my solicitor but yes it was an oral agreement made at the time of signing the deeds in my solicitors office.

I will seek proffesional mediation, which the neighbour did not do sending her brother to act as mediator which he claims her solicitor had requested?

Also thank you for the advice regarding the Legal Ombudsman very interesting website and something I was not aware of.

[Exeldama]

Hmm ... no solicitor with any credibility would ask a relative of one of the parties to act as a mediator..an obvious conflict of interest. Either she is blagging it or the solicitor is unreputable... i suggest you dig a bit and see who this solicitor is connected to... dont be suprised if they are all interconnected or have some vested interest.

Best of luck, dont be imtimidated by legal jargon its largely smoke and mirrors.

[Cassie]

Thanks again Exeldama ever thought of taking up mediation? I'll be your first customer, I'm trying to find out more about embargos but not getting very far at the moment

[Dennis]

I think you'll find that only Governments can impose embargoes, e.g. machine tools not to be exported to Iraq under Saddam Hussein. So the solicitor is probably bluffing, all of a piece with what others have said earlier.