Advice pls - Legal right of way

curlyems

Hello all

Not sure if anyone will be able to offer any advice on this - my fiancé and I are looking to buy out first home together. We have seen a lovely Victorian end of terrace which seems perfect for us. The problem is that there is a legal right of way through the back garden for the neighbouring mid terrace to reach a side access gate. We have been told that this is not used, but it concerns us as we have a dog and wouldn't want people passing through the garden & possibly leaving the gate open so security issues too. Also, although we know that the current neighbours do not use the right of way, if new neighbours were to move in & decide that they wanted to they would have the legal right to walk through our garden. I was wondering if it is possible to have a legal right of way removed? Would we be able to pay the current mid terrace neighbours and have the deeds altered, or is this something that can not be changed?

Thanks

serpico

NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! buy a property with a shared access or right of way across your property or where you have a right of way across someone else's it can turn into the biggest nightmare of your life and will reduce the prospect of selling by 1000's% when you try to sell.

There must have been enough nightmare stories in the papers to warn against it. Todays neighbour who never uses it could be gone overnight and replaced by a nightmare family that wreck your life.

I once owned such a property, out of 42 very red hot keen buyers all but one knocked it back straight away because of the right of way across my land and that was a potential neighbour from hell anyway.

I doubt if you will be able to change the deeds even if the other owner agreed for many reasons, and if you could it might cost a fortune to do it.

DON'T DO IT!!!!

MarkyMarkD

Serpico

I think I agree with you regarding others having rights over your land.

But I don't agree regarding shared access. Many, many houses on modern estates have shared driveways - including mine - and the likelihood of it becoming a major issue is very small indeed IMHO.

MarkyMarkD

Reading the OP again, is the layout of your prospective garden such that you could fence off the end bit of the garden as a "corridor" with a gate onto your main garden and a gate onto the neighbours' garden? Wouldn't that remove your security concerns and make the whole situation a lot tidier?

Nick99

In an ideal world you could try to negotiate with the neighbour and buy a release of the right of way from them. Don't know what it would cost but maybe not too much - after all he is not losing much if he is'nt using it anyway - but he will for sure want you to pay his solicitor's bill

You would need to be sure that it was just the one neighbour who had the right (e.g. not the owners of each of a whole terrace of houses).

I fear in practice though that the neighbour's lender (building society or whatever) wont go along with the scheme unless their approval is bought in some way - no doubt involving a transfer of funds from you to them -and I'll give you a guarantee that they will expect you to pay for their solicitor's fees too.

Sadly, although it would be nicest to have it all legally sewn up and the right of way extinguished, I think MarkyMarkD's suggestion of the making of a corridor is likely to be the easiest practical answer in the long term to keeping the neighbour out of your garden, but dont forget to keep some form of access to the corridor yourself, because you are still going to be legally responsible for it!

serpico

I may be wrong, but I do not think you will be able to buy a release of the right of way.

I think there must be a right of way/access to the rear of domestic properties for emergency services such as fire brigade etc and for local authority and maintenance services.

If you want to take the risk get very expert legal advice first, if in doubt walk away.

MarkyMarkD

Loads of gardens have no rear access at all, so I see no reason why you couldn't buy out the rights.

But it would require their lender's consent as well as theirs.

At the very least you would have to pay both side's legal costs and give them "a bung" too. Probably too much like hard work.

curlyems

Thanks for your comments. In response, it is only the one neighbour that has access through the garden. The lay out of the garden does not allow for a corridor of any type - and the right of way passes directly past the back kitchen window. I think that perhaps, despite the house being beautiful we'll have to let this one go. Hopefully something better suited to our needs will come onto the market soon. Thanks for your help!! ;D

serpico

Wise move, you might have ended up having your dog killed through someone elses selfish neglect or even having to have it put down.

Good luck in your search for your new home, there is always something better round the corner.

hoskins

I agree. Don't go there. But, it might be an idea to find out exactly how much it would cost to alter the deeds(if at all) Then you could negotiate a hefty discount?

spl0dge_2

fack the deeds.

serpico is right. If there is a loophole, people will take the piiss.

If you buy a house, make sure all borders are secure.