neighbours blocking our predestrien right of way

stephy103

yes it is on the deeds and the person selling the house made it clear to them when they bought it. it is very clear on the deeds.

stephy103

the person who sold the house is the neighbours uncle who we have known for many years, he has told us that he made it very clear to our neighbours before they bought it that we have the right to use the track. they seemed fine about it but think by bullying us we will give the right of way up. like i said in the first post they said the only way to resolve this is by us giving it up but we dont want to as we regularly use it.

bobthedambuilder

Sounds to me that you have already exhausted the possibility of friendly agreement with your neighbours, so you've nothing to lose by taking this further legally. If the ROW is on your deeds and theirs, they don't appear to have a leg to stand on, and a letter from a solicitor stating the facts and threatening legal action is the next step.

I am guessing that the neighbours are trying to bully you into capitulating, and getting you to agree that the ROW can be removed from their documents - which would increase the value of their property (and probably reduce yours). Don't let it happen.

As far as the dog mess is concerned, if the ROW is on private land, you may struggle to get the council involved, but it's worth a try. I would be shovelling the mess up and depositing it firmly on their doorstep (unless they have CCTV - I guess what I'm suggesting is not exactly legal either:p).

BitterAndTwisted

The only way to resolve it is not by giving up your legal right of way, despite that suiting your new neighbours. I cannot comprehend why you have not consulted a legal professional. Consulting one does not mean that you have to register a dispute or start asserting your rights by legal means. A firm letter from a solicitor stating the facts could make them back down or at least be less obnoxious.

They've already lost you a buyer, so a resolved boundary dispute couldn't possibly make the situation worse than it is now.

Poppa_G

In relation to the dog feces you can give the environmental health people a ring at your local council, regardless of whether or not it's on private property they have a legal obligation to clean up after their pets. Likewise if the feces was in their own garden they can't just allow it to pile high.

DON79

regarding the dog poo - I think if you use a weedkiller or weed and feed on the right of way - the dogs don't like the smell.

Also, we were given a tip that if you mix up a solution of biological washing liquid and water and spray it around (or in our case for our puppy mop the floor) it removes the previous scents of the dog poo etc and makes them less likely to do it there again. It has worked with our puppy - three days and no accidents on the floor and we just used a cheap bottle of bio washing liquid from Aldi.

But definitely time for solicitors/legal letter. Nasty people!

somethingcorporate

Get some CCTV and start to capture some of their behavior.

It does sound like they are well aware of the situation and are trying to bully you into giving up your ROW.

Check your home insurance for legal cover and give them a call.

DVardysShadow

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

... They've already lost you a buyer, so a resolved boundary dispute couldn't possibly make the situation worse than it is now.

The above is the salient point. If the rights are on your deeds, they have a leg to stand on, but the usual legal advice is to avoid a fight in order not to have anything to declare on any future sale.

In your case, that threshold has been breached, so I suggest you now budget several thousand pounds on legal fees and go in hard. Get a solicitor on side to write and demand that they sign an undertaking to respect your deed rights and not to undertake any of the list of harassing actions which they have taken so far, nor to harass you in any other way. And pursue them hard so that they need to take legal advice themselves - which will be to leave you alone.

But before you get your own solicitor, get your case looked at by the CAB. That should prevent them using the local CAB, due to conflict of interest.

And don't trust or rely on the police in any way or have any expectations of them. On neighbour issues they don't give a damn, and if they are connected to your neighbours via the rugby club, they will actually cause you more problems.

paddyrg

Have a look at your household insurance, you may have some legal costs included, and this is the ideal kind of thing to consult them on.