Citation
Leverton, P. (1999), "Boundary Disputes", Property Management, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 114-115. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.1999.17.1.114.2
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
This small book, comprising only 88 pages (including the index), attempts to advise the practitioner how to resolve boundary disputes. The book forms part of a series of publications produced by the RICS and is in its second edition. It is written as much for the layman as for the chartered surveyor in a chatty style, with many illustrations.
The author acknowledges in the introduction that he is only dealing with the law in fairly simple terms and is aiming to produce a practical handbook for the layman or the “not very experienced surveyor”. I think he achieves this aim, being easy to read and mainly anecdotal.
The conclusion which is drawn from reading this book is that boundary disputes can be difficult to resolve, the original boundary line becomes lost over time and, furthermore, disputes which go to litigation are extraordinarily expensive, bearing in mind the amount of land which is usually involved. I doubt that this conclusion would surprise its readers and the book is unlikely to impress even a junior surveyor.
Having said that, the book does point out to the unwary the dangers of leaping to conclusions based on the immediate evidence. The stories told by Mr Anstey may encourage those advising on a boundary dispute to be very careful when coming to a conclusion as the evidence available is frequently equivocal.
As this is the second edition published after the introduction of the Party Wall, etc. Act 1996, I was surprised that more attention was not given to that piece of legislation. I assume that, as the book is not written in a technical manner, the author felt it better to avoid the more intricate detail of the Act. Again, this perhaps infers that the book would be of more use to the layman than the surveyor.