Karen Walsh: Land Registry map errors arise but are usually easily rectified
You have not indicated whether or not you have farmed the land for generations, or if it is a recent purchase.
In any event, such situations arise from time to time, and usually they can be rectified.
If the land was purchased recently, it may be that there was a mapping error when the field was acquired by you.
It is also possible that there may even have been an informal swap of fields with your neighbours years ago, which was never formally documented and registered.
Another possibility is that a mistake was made when the Land Registry maps were digitalised in 2005.
The Land Registry is the registering authority in relation to property in Ireland.
The Land Registry in 2005 announced that all existing paper-based maps would be converted into electronic form over a five-year period, in the Digital Mapping Project, and it was finalised in Ireland in 2010.
The title shown on the folio is guaranteed by the State, which is bound to indemnify any person who suffers loss through a mistake made by the Land Registry.
However, it is important to note that the Land Registry map identifies properties, not boundaries, and provides that “the description on the land on the Land Registry map shall not be conclusive as to the boundaries or extent of the land”.
The State guarantee does not extend to boundaries.
You cannot take the Land Registry maps at face value.
Responsibility for the accuracy of the areas and boundaries given in documents rests with the applicant.
Firstly, I would need to inspect your map and read the map in conjunction with your folio.
If the official map confirms that you still have a mapping problem, the next thing to do is to contact the Land Registry, providing them with the details and the folio, and ask them to investigate the mapping of your property.
The Land Registry will check and see if the registration made was in accordance with the deeds and maps originally lodged.
If an error was made in the Land Registry, and it is of the opinion that the error can be rectified without loss to any person, then it can rectify the error after serving notices on any party who may be affected.
It occurs occasionally that the portion is incorrectly included in another’s person’s title.
If the registration made was in accordance with the deeds and maps originally lodged, then you should go to your solicitor, who will take up the matter with the party from whom you acquired the field, and will attempt to remedy the problem, either by way of a deed of rectification or reed of transfer, depending on the extent of the mapping error.
When an error cannot be rectified by consent, it may be that it can be rectified by the court. If an interested party refuses to co-operate then, unfortunately it may be necessary to take court proceedings, but this is the exception.
If there had been an informal ‘swap’ of fields with your neighbour years ago, which was never formally registered, that can be rectified by what is commonly called a ‘squatter’s rights’ application to the Land Registry, assuming that you have been using this exclusively for your own use and without objection from the adjoining owner for in excess of 12 years.
For this, you will need to go to your solicitor. You will have to provide your solicitor with full details of when you or your predecessors originally entered into occupation of the field, and the use and occupation and acts of ownership exercised over the field by you and them over the years.
Finally, once you identify that there is a mapping problem, proceed with caution.
Be careful, if at all possible, not to upset your neighbour. Once you identify that there is a mapping problem, do not do anything without legal advice.
There are good reasons why adages endure the test of time: They contain wisdom that has universal appeal.
One of them comes from Benjamin Franklin: “Love your neighbour; yet, don’t pull down your hedge.”
“Hedges” are boundaries, and we all have them.
But what happens when there is a dispute about where the “hedge” should be?
