A widely reported boundary dispute causes a wry smile amongst lawyers, while providing fun to journalists who don't know or care about law or procedure.

Briefly, a couple of neighbours have been fighting over a strip of land and a fence; the Claimant wanted to move the fence 2½ feet closer to his neighbour along a boundary line some 108 feet long.

The boundary is defined on a land registry plan drawn up in the 1960's with a scale of 1 to 1,250, meaning that the strip of land concerned was practically impossible to discern on paper.

Nonetheless the parties fought the claim not only through to a trial but also up to the Court of Appeal.

Almost all solicitors have come across the client who wants to have a fight "on principle” - and many such fights are both time consuming and hugely expensive.

But, how many people on buying a property actually walk its boundaries to see if the plans upon which their lawyer has sent them and will rely upon actually reflect the position in reality. Given a strip of land this wide it's possible that no problem would have been visible, but many questions can arise about eg foot paths, fences, extensions and other problems when a site inspection takes place.

Before buying, take a moment to walk the boundary and, if you have any questions, why not ask your solicitor to accompany you: it may increase the costs of the Conveyancing, but not to the estimated £100,000 this litigation is said to have reached!!

Shefali Talukdar is managing partner at Clough & Willis Solicitors and specialises in residential conveyancing.