A boundary wall has fallen into the canal at my parents house.
I've contacted the canal trust who have said it's not their property.
Also tried to go through the house insurance and they have rejected the claim.
I've just found the land registry title plan when my parents bought the house and it clearly shows the canal wall isn't part of my parents property.
Does anyone know the best people to speak to about getting this fixed?
Couple of options.
Find the owner. You might be able to track them via the land registry. You can download neighbouring titles but it's a bit hit and miss. Are there any hints on the text part of the LR document. The council may also know, or even own it. They often own these odd bits of land.
If the owner is tricky to find and no one has been caring for the land recently I'd consider trying to take ownership. Obviously that'll put costs onto your family but it'll likely add some value to the property. Adverse possession is a slow process but lots of people do it.
Send that document back to Canals and Rivers Trust - it becomes their issue when the canal empties itself, taking you folks garden with it. I would assume they are responsible for maintaining the bank !
How does that plan show the wall isn't your parents responsibility?
That just shows the boundaries of the property (red line) not who is responsible for each one.
You may need to find an older plan that has little 'T's' to mark the responsibility. A T on your side of a boundary indicates it's your responsibility. This is mine (red border) - I'm responsible for all 3! 
...
Also - if your parents boundary is the red line, and the canal is the blue section then it seems that bit of the canal belongs to them!
Also - if your parents boundary is the red line, and the canal is the blue section then it seems that bit of the canal belongs to them!
The blue bit had me confused, but I think the boundary in question is the northern one in that plan.
I am currently on the fence*, that plan doesn't really tell you anything other than the blue bit (canal**) and the slightly narrower line hatched (culvert at a guess?) is within the red boundary.
But it doesn't tell you anything about the boundary and who owns what.
*Ownership... Unclear.
** Unique boatique(TM) air bnb potential right there.
Your parents can have that TM on me.
See the post right above yours joshvegas, I think you've misinterpreted the drawing, as did I with no explanation. Looks like the boundary might actually be the wall with the gravel and pots on it in the photo. Which is also subsiding by the looks of it, is the ground under the grass heavily waterlogged?
I wonder if that blue bit on the plan is actually a clue as to the cause? I assume the canal is E-W across the Northern part of the diagram? In the picture, there is a round outlet in the wall, which looks to be where the zig zag is on the diagram, which then runs into the blue strip. Is there a stream or something running under the garden to the canal? Perhaps something has failed there causing that water to travel under the garden, causing this damage, instead of through the outlet into the canal?
I read it as the northern boundary. The canal is the top of the box, then there is a little access area running along all the back gardens, then the OP's property. It also looks they are the last property. Round here there are loads of properties like that and the last property just takes that bit as their own. If it's not owned by the canal then whoever does own is unable to use it. In the OPs case I'd say that is potentially a headache as this problems becomes their problem but having your own waterfront must add a chunk of value.
In the picture, there is a round outlet in the wall, which looks to be where the zig zag is on the diagram, which then runs into the blue strip. Is there a stream or something running under the garden to the canal? Perhaps something has failed there causing that water to travel under the garden, causing this damage, instead of through the outlet into the canal?
That's a good point. Whoever maintains that may be responsible. Might be the water authority. If its classed as a shared drain then it will be in public ownership and up to them to maintain. They came and dug our patio up and fixed an underground pipe and made good at no cost. Not sure what happens if it is just a culverted river.
I wouldn't call that a boundary wall. It's the canal bank. Assuming the canal is at the top of the plan and the boundary is where the pots are, there's no boundary wall. If they've told C&RT it's a boundary wall I'm not surprised they've said it's not theirs.
It would be worth some general Googling as to the ownership of canal banks.
The idea of taking possession does sound worth considering, but it might involve doing the repair.
Deed plans are notorious for not showing boundary responsibility.
This is relevant:
https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/113665-who-is-responsible-for-offside-bank-repairs
Doesn't look good.
Ah okay yep
Solid blue shared access. Blue lined hatch... Rights over private garden to the canal.
The plan still doesn't show ownership though. The redline within the blackline shows that the ownership is up to the blackline the ownership of blackline is still unclear. I mean its seems a stretch that it isn't a canal wall. But historically if its a dead end, is it a dock off the canal? And in which case it might be the ownership relates to the historic use of the land ie private wharf . Which would kind of make sense if the properties all have a lega right to access it.
Either way, where do you keep your paddlebboard?
Also tried to go through the house insurance and they have rejected the claim.
On what grounds? [pun not intended]
Unless you can establish that CRT or someone else owns the strip, and looking at the plan and photos, I very much doubt it, responsibility for maintenance of the bank I suspect will fall to your parents. CRT tend to do works to maintain the navigation - ie fix breaches etc and take care of the towpath, but not other frontage onto the canal.
Then you get into the thorny issue of what sort of approved contractor and permits you'd need from CRT to do work which may affect the canal. Will you have to drain a section of the canal, or just install shuttering and pump out to get at the foundations?
I find it hard to believe that the canal bank isn’t the responsibility of the canal owners. Imagine the hassle of enforcing adequate maintenance on a patchwork of random neighbours when it needs it, or fixing an urgent problem when it fails (as it more or less has here). The water is only there because there’s an impermeable wall!
Thanks all for the replies so far. I should have marked the canal on the drawing.
The insurance has refused as they say it's wear and tear. Ideally I would like to find who is responsible as my mum has dementia and we've spent a lot of her savings the last two years on carers going in to help her.
I'll go to the land registry and contact the council see if they will help.
I've marked the canal on the image below. No idea what the blue is. I'm presuming it's a drain as in the photo there is a pipe to the lh side.
Who owns the bit marked in yellow below? That plan seems to suggest there's a metre or two of unclaimed land which I'd guess the collapsed wall sits within that couple of metres? That certainly doesn't belong to your parents.
You may need to do some digging with land registry as sometimes you get these little pockets of land that are owned by no-one.
Looking further along the area map it may well have been an old towpath as it continues (with a break) to the east.
Who owns the bit marked in yellow below?
That's what I'm trying to find out. The part you've highlighted yellow is the canal wall. My first point of contact was the canal trust as I thought they were responsible for the wall but they're saying they aren't.
So the bit with the collapse isn't your parents land? Personally I'd just dump load of concrete on top of all the rubble to stabilise it. Repairing that properly will require piling and possibly the canal draining. As far as the C&RT even if they are responsible I doubt it's top of their priority list, they have some catastrophic collapse to deal with and very little money.
You need to find out who has the Riparian Rights to the canal at that location. If your parents have the RR, it should be mentioned in their deeds. Land registry may be able to help otherwise.
Imagine the hassle of enforcing adequate maintenance on a patchwork of random neighbours when it needs it
This is what happens on stretches of water that a row of houses back onto. In practice the National Rivers Authority will often carry out works needed (I worked in one project where they asked the householders to accomodate the piling rig in their garden as it worked along the river bank, most were only too happy not to be paying for the works. Those that didn't want their garden shed etc knocked down were reminded of their Riparian Rights (& associated responsibilities) along with a likely bill of tens of thousands as their share of the costs - they soon changed their minds.)
