All you need to know about boundaries and why good fences make good neighbours

A site plan shows the limits of your site. File picture

In spring, many of us take a look at the fence line for the first time in months. We might be painting it, pruning it, or replacing it, but how often do we engage with the limits of our property front and back?

The regulations surrounding boundaries are contained in Class 5, Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001. If you have a site plan, you’ll have a clear demarcation of the limits of your site, or you may have a highly specific title deed or title map showing your boundary. Down the country, you may have had a chartered surveyor work it out for you, as I did, using the latest digital versions of the land registry — walking a larger area or even a field to look into every hedgerow and ditch. Ideally, the registered boundaries held by the Land Registry in the file for that property should correspond to the physical boundaries on the ground.