When ‘I didn’t know’ doesn’t cut it: Edward Blakeney & Ashpen Rajah examine boundary agreements which bind successors in title
- A boundary agreement will bind successors in title irrespective of their (the successors’) knowledge.
- That is the case for binding agreements that are express and those that are inferred.
- This result flows from the nature of boundary agreements, which delineate the property transferred for all purposes.
In Neilson v Poole (1969) 20 P & CR 909, Mr Justice Megarry observed that a boundary agreement is ‘an act of peace, quieting strife and averting litigation and so is to be favoured in the law’. The Court of Appeal’s recent decision in White v Alder [2025] EWCA Civ 392 upholds the utility of these agreements by confirming that a boundary demarcation agreement is binding on successors in title, whether or not they had knowledge of it when purchasing.
The facts in White v Alder
The parties were neighbours. Mr White was the owner of ‘Willow Cottage’ and Professor
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