Neighbour refusing access over their property to our drive.

mmmikeyb

Whilst I cannot add anything of value to this thread I hope by commenting it will get some more exposure for you moreland.

I'm just about to enter a similar scenario and am interested in what advice can be given on this subject.

Good Luck and hope you get it sorted.

chappers

This needs to be sorted but could take some time.
Just because your neighbour owns the land doesn't mean he can necessarily build on it, access may be granted to you(have you downloaded his title registration from the land registry as this may throw some light onto the situation)accross your land.
You need to speak to your solicitor as there may be some way of preventing him from blocking your access until the problem is resolved.
To be honest I would even consider finding another solicitor as your last one did a very poor job, they should have advised you not to proceede whilst there were outstanding access issues or at the very least warned you of the future consequences.
If unresolved this problem could prevent you selling in the future particularly if your future purchasers solicitor is more on the ball than yours was.

My brother-in-law bought a house which had similar problems, which originated from the wrong registration several sales back, it took nine months of work and money exchanging hands between previous owners before he could complete

Vincenzo

Do you have legal cover on your buildings insurance? I would approach them for advice as there might be a negligence case here against your conveyancing solicitor.

I successfully sued a solicitor for failing to advise that I had no rights to park on the 'driveway' that was included within the demise of a leasehold property. It does sound as though your solicitor brought this to your attention though.

clutton_2

its 12 years and if you could get Statutory Declarations signed by neighbours who say they know that your property drove over the access for 12 years you will have some evidence... but as others say.. talk to your SOl first

pimento

Does the shared driveway lead to a garage each behind your houses? (Even if your neighbour has demolished his?) If it does, then you probably only have rights to drive up and down the drive but not to stop, the driveway being for access to the garage.

G_M

G_M wrote: »

Sorry - does not make sense. A reposession still has Title deeds at the LR.

Spend £8 and get the Title and Plan.

Have you done this yet? And as chappers suggests, spend another £8 and download your neighbours Title and Plan at the same time.

Download them from the Land registry here (£4 each).

MarkyMarkD

If the solicitor brought it to your attention as an outstanding issue, but stated that you had resolved the issue with the neighbour, that doesn't put you in a good position. If you had not, indeed, got the situation firmly agreed with the neighbour, you should have been advised to do so. But I don't really understand why the solicitor didn't do the things that are now being suggested for you to do - checking the neighbour's title wouldn't have been difficult.

moreland

Hello to all of you who have knidly replied to my post.

I have since made several telephone calls and lots of research and have discovered that although my neighbour's deeds state they have right of way, my own deeds do not mention anything about access. I have contacted Land Registry who have advised me that the only paperwork now available is a one page document which I already have. It looks like I am not going to get any further forward with that one.

I have also found out that the right to cross over a piece of land is awarded after 20 years of continual use and is called "prescriptive easement". This needs to be proved with signed statements of all those living in the property over that 20 year period. We now have to try to esablish who have lived here and where are they now?

Many of you suggest that there could be an issue with my Solicitor. I am loathed to pay her more money to act for us but am unsure how we can prove that she has been negligent.

One last comment relates to how the house was advertised. Somewhere along the line we have been informed that we had shared access to the property. It is stated on the Surveyer's report. I am wondering if the property was advertised as such but I do not have a copy of the original advert and we could not really go into the Estate Agents and ask for it without an explanation. Incidentally, the Estate Agent, we have since discovered, is an associate of the Landlord of oir neighbours (prior to them buying the property).

Any further advice is desperately needed.

missile

moreland wrote: »

Many of you suggest that there could be an issue with my Solicitor. I am loathed to pay her more money to act for us but am unsure how we can prove that she has been negligent.

If YOU are not happy with the solicitor speak to your friends for a recommendation for a better one. Don't waste your time complaining about the solicitor to the Law Society.

missile

It seems your neighbours were friendly and accomodating when you moved in. What have you done to upset them?