What happens if two parties to a property dispute produce statutory declarations which contradict eachother?

[somerford]

I have a dispute with my neighbour with regards to services from my house crossing over her land. What is undisputed is that we have a right to connect to the drains which run under her rear yard. The dispute relates to the route to drains, i.e. the soil pipes leading from my house to the drain.These soil pipes were moved 7 years ago, before she owned her house and before I owned mine. Without going into all of the detail, she claims that when the soil pipes were moved, it was done without the consent of the then owner of her house. She has a stat dec to this effect from him. I however have a stat dec both from the previous owner of my house and the builder who did the work on her behalf to the contrary, i.e. consent was gained verbally and there was never any arguement or dispute about the work.

How would a judge view two opposing stat decs if this went to court?

[sandyRoe]

The judge might wonder what harm or inconvenience the drains were doing to your neighbour.
I think that after 7 years the judge would not find for the neighbour.
There are a few legal eagles on AB who might give a more informed answer.

[buildersmate]

Rather than get dragged by her into a futile discussion about whether pipes were moved or not 7 years ago, I would try and engage her in a conversation as to what she thinks she now wants done about it. In other words, call her bluff.
Does she want the pipes moved and if so why, or is she just trying a money-extraction attempt - because of something that happened 7 years ago.
If you have to go to court over this it will cost both sides a shed-load of money and the only sure winner will be 2 sets of solicitors.
It is impossible to guess what a judge would say, we don't have the facts.

[1PrincessPink]

You need to give more information regarding this problem. Firstly, how old is the house? Are you on registered land? Do your title deeds refer to the right, or do hers? You can look up both title deeds online at the Land Registry. There is a small charge for this (approx £4 for each one). Check these before you do anything. The court would look at any easements in the title deeds first and order a survey of the properties. There is substantial cost involved in any court action. Look into insuring yourself with legal insurance, although this may not be possible because you are already involved in a dispute. It may be worth engaging a barrister specialising in land law to give you an opinion on the merits of your case. Approx cost of this £1200. This may prove persuasive if your neighbour is also concerned about the huge cost of litigation.