new home & new to gardening

Kristen, just seen the post, will post a reply back in the next few mins, just gotta nip to the shop.

 

whoops, guess what I did!
I cut everything down as it was 5+ ft high and sprayed it. so thats not going to work then?

we planned on turf simply for the fact results would be instant, even if we were unable to 'use' the lawn instantly.

this was my plan to be honest, to treat and re-treat with weedkiller and let it die
and then cultivate/rotavate the soil and level off etc
then whatever preparation is needed done before the turf
and lastly law the turf.

any good?

the flower beds we wanted raised if I am honest, using sleepers,

could we:

1. install the sleepers and put a weed control fabric inside
2. fill with topsoil
3. plant in that

forgive me if I am way off, I am so new to this.

right so its a case of pull it all from the soil and off the concrete posts/wall?

the land never gets waterlogged or too dry so I assume drainage is good.
I will need drainage installed for the patio area, but will use a soak away most likely

 

They show exactly that in the 1st pic
without the green lines, just the red.

is there anyway of verifying what is what?

if its ours I would most likely seek to develop it.

 

will go down that route then of contacting the solicitor
as I say, nothing was signed over, that I recall at least, if it were surely I would have record of it?

pain in the backside this is. as its probably quite valuable land

 

I'd say that everything delineated in red is yours. We've got a similar thing with a bit of adjacent land which we rent off the estate, although our house and garden is ours.

 

will do my best to find out this week,
thing is if it is not mine, I want it cleared as the council once said it harboured rats!! and its above 10ft high!

the only reason I haven't touched it is because I was never sure exactly who it belonged to.

but will keep this updated throughout.

as a side note; our rear garden is raised by 5ft or so, and the retaining wall actually collapsed
thankfully nobody was out there when it happened as it would have been lethal.

we have no idea how to begin restoring the wall and we are honestly ashamed of the state out there!

would this be better as a new topic?

 

I'm a bit confused now. I'm struggling to understand how you buy property without knowing its boundaries

If its on a mortgage, the the lender would have wanted a surveyor to work out exactly what they were securing the loan against. Even if you bought it cash, the solicitor would still have done a thorough a check of everything you'd hope, which would have included a search of the land register. If its inherited, that's a slightly different story. There is an alley out the back of my mam's that is disputed (or would be if anyone cared enough, given that its about 5 square yards of useless land that has to be kept clear for access to neighbouring properties), but that's because the house is so old that the deeds still show it as being part of the farm that is now several streets and a main road.

 

Was a cash buy.

as mentioned earlier the deeds that I have here that I had when we bought it have 1 red line outlining the whole area including the land to the side..
the registry online if i search for my property is just the front and rear gardens

if i search for next door, there is no plans available

but if i search for a plan titled " land east of nant y ..."
it shows the whole plot like my deeds do, but with a green outline of my fron and rear garden.

so its all very confusing and makes no sense.

 

I think I might understand now. It sounds to me, but I'm no expert, like you bought in effect two lots.

What was the tenure (if that's the right word) of the house? eg freehold, leasehold etc?

It is quite possible that the smaller area, which includes your house but not much else, is just the house (and bit of the garden), which might be leasehold, meaning that you own the property but not the land it stands on (in that lot), but then the land it stands on, which you'd expect to freehold, is the larger area.

Which could mean that every 100 years (or whatever is the term of the lease) you as a leaseholder in the smaller plot have to pay you as the landlord of the larger plot that the house stands on

If the deeds show you as the owner of the larger chunk, then you are the owner of the larger chunk, end of story. I'd stick a fence around it and if the neighbours get upset, advise them to make a legal challenge.

 

I may be wrong and i'm not sure, you asked about the green line, is the green line anything to do with any cautions that maybe/ or caneled on the boundrys of the property,


This is only some thing in the back of my mind so not sure if correct

 

I have my deeds with me now and will upload a photo and ill type what is said along with the pic of the land map I have here..

bare with me.

 

It won't work as effectively. However, cutting it down will make it grow back and you can re-spray anything that looks healthy in a few weeks time. Watering it (if dry) will make it grow back sooner / stronger and you'll get a better kill then.

My opinion has changed recently. I now recommend that you use branded Roundup rather than a 3rd party generic Glyphosate-based weed killer. You can buy Roundup Pro Bio/Biactive off eBay (its intended for people who have the appropriate certificate for spraying). Reason being that (assuming you don't subscribe to a conspiracy theory that Monsanto have "bought" accreditation) Monsanto's newer formulations are not toxic (they don't carry a hazard warning at all AFAIK) and thus, apart from the environment, they are much less toxic to you than older formulations - which the 3rd parties are still using, and probably what makes them cheaper. People say that Roundup Pro Bio/Biactive is more effective too, but personally I have had excellent kill rates with Bayer's Glyphosate generic product (sold for Amateurs rather than Professionals, so probably less efficacy anyway)

If you want to do it "now" then Turf would be important. If it will wait until the Autumn, and you don't need to walk on the lawn routinely during the winter, then seed would be better and a lot cheaper (keeping in mind that ground preparation is the same work for either Seed or Turf, so nothing in it on that score)

I would still dig the ground under the raised bit. Otherwise the plants have restricted root run. Raised beds dry out much more quickly than in-ground ones. Note also that sleepers are quite wide, so they take quite a lot of "width" from either lawn or bed to make that edging - I have them here so I'm not anti! just something to be aware of.

Suggest you don't use old Sleepers - full of tar that seeps out on hot summers days (remember them?!!) and gets on your clothes etc. plus probably carcinogenic - definitely, IMHO, don't use old/reclaimed sleepers on vegetable area / food crops and probably best used not near aquatic life too.

Where abouts are you? (Putting that in your profile in "Location" would help ). I got (brand new, treated) sleepers at a good price in Corby - but that may be miles from you.

If you cut it at the bottom the tops will die, once dry they may be easier to remove. They burn well - if you want to then use them to start a bonfire, for example.

Good info on http://www.pavingexpert.com/drainage.htm (and excellent info on Paving on that site too, if you need help for your patio area)

No doubt a strong/safe retaining wall could be built. An alternative is "gabions" - mesh cubes that you fill with rocks - depends whether you like the "look" of those, or not.

You'll also be suing the conveyancing solicitor for the value of the land and also your "loss" in winding up with a property much smaller than you thought you were buying ...

I don't know diddly-squat about it, but Land Registry is all on-line now, so might be possible to see what was "conveyed" in your purchase transaction on their site. That ought to be definitive (i.e. accepted without question by your neighbours). If they have been squatting on it, or renting it, for umpteen years they may still have a claim though ... but I would have expected conveyancing to have brought that up - previous owners would have been required to disclose that, so they will be liable if there is an issue in that regard.

There was conveyancing though (must have been, surely?) It was their responsibility to get the "lot" defined correctly. If the Sellers misappropriated it then the buck will stop with them. If the "lot" was recently sold, prior to you buying it, it will be on the computerised land registry from the previous sale(s). Can't remember how long ago that all came in, but its a reasonable time - 10 years perhaps? So if there was a previous sale within that period that will help.

Anyway, I don't suppose any of us here can solve that, you need to pass the problem to the conveyancing solicitor.