There are certain Ordnance Survey map rules and conventions that might need to be considered and adhered to when evaluating boundary disputes.
Ordnance Survey maps will ordinarily be used where a plan is taken from the map and forms the basis for a conveyance or transfer of registered land. The Ordnance survey map rules will usually prevail over other presumptions and rules which might otherwise apply. The boundary line in relation to boundary features, such as a hedge or fence, is generally interpreted as the centre line of the boundary feature. Where there is a boundary dispute which is based on Ordnance Survey maps, the boundary line should be interpreted in accordance with the above rules except as provided below.
However the above rule may not apply in circumstances where the parties to a conveyance have chosen to describe land merely by reference to an Ordnance Survey plan, as opposed to using the actual Ordnance Survey map, and they intended the boundary to be where that plan indicated.
In Alan Wibberley Building Ltd v Insley [1999] the House of Lords gave judgement that using words such as "for the purposes of identification only" in reference to an Ordnance Survey plan used in the conveyance or transfer may indicate that the parties intend for the plan to indicate only the general boundaries. Therefore in such circumstances in a boundary dispute it might not be the case that the boundary line would automatically be interpreted as the centre line of the boundary feature, and other factors may need to be considered and interpreted.
Summerfield Browne Solicitors are specialists in commercial property and boundary disputes. We have offices in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Northampton and Market Harborough, Leicester
