header-logo header-logo

29 November 2018 / Mark Whittell
Issue: 7819 / Categories: Features , Profession , Property , ADR
printer mail-detail

Boundary disputes: the solicitor’s nightmare

​Mark Whittell offers a novel solution to the stresses & strains of the boundary dispute

  • Mediation can provide a quick, cheap and practical alternative to the protracted and expensive process of resolving a boundary dispute in court.

To the file we all dread—the boundary dispute.

  • The client is acting on a point of principle.
  • The client will be irrational and not act commercially.
  • The costs will be totally disproportionate.
  • The reality is one party will have to move for them to be happy.
  • No matter how well you conduct yourself, the court is going to be highly critical of the fact you have not settled and the costs you have incurred.
  • And it will hang around in your filing cabinet for ages as it will not have any priority.

It all leads to a worried and dissatisfied client and a frustrated solicitor.

The problem

You will be litigating usually over a small strip or piece of land which will have a negligible value, but because of the complexity of

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

WSP Solicitors—David Ashcroft & Jessica O’Shea

WSP Solicitors—David Ashcroft & Jessica O’Shea

Commercial property and child law teams expand with senior hires

Duxton Hill Chambers—Lucas Bastin KC & Joshua Hiew

Duxton Hill Chambers—Lucas Bastin KC & Joshua Hiew

Set expands London and Singapore offering with senior international disputes hires

Gilson Gray—Gregor Duthie & Stephen Forsyth

Gilson Gray—Gregor Duthie & Stephen Forsyth

Firm strengthens real estate and litigation teams with partner promotions

NEWS
Behind the profession’s polished exterior, lawyers are ‘internally drained rather than physically tired’, according to a stark assessment of burnout in legal practice
Five years after the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into force, concerns remain that the family courts continue to minimise allegations of abuse in child contact disputes
Uber has built a formidable strategy for insulating itself from liability for drivers’ conduct, but the legal terrain differs sharply between the US and England and Wales
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026 marks a constitutional watershed by severing the centuries-old link between hereditary titles and automatic membership of the upper chamber
The Civil Justice Council’s review of Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 could mark the end of what one commentator calls an ‘outdated’ and overly technical regime governing solicitor-client fee disputes
back-to-top-scroll