Property access rights

Ham131

ValHaller wrote: »

If it is his path, then end of. By agreeing to your access he is no longer free to stop off the path - you effectively have an easement which to some extent trumps his ownership.

Sorry...I think I'm being a bit stupid here. I don't fully understand your reply. I think what your saying is that I should let it drop as its his path. If he agrees to the access for me then it impacts his use of the path?

Thank you

Mojisola

Ham131 wrote: »

Only thing is....I think the neighbour owns the path (even though anyone can walk along it) and not the council...I guess this changes things?

ValHaller wrote: »

If it is his path, then end of. By agreeing to your access he is no longer free to stop off the path - you effectively have an easement which to some extent trumps his ownership.

Can "anyone" walk along it or just people from other houses which have a right of way along the path and their visitors/workmen/etc?

As I understand it, he could give you permission to use the path without you gaining an easement - there are things like having written permission for less than a year which has to be renewed and/or making sure the gate is locked and unusable for several days a year. You need 10 to 12 years of uninterrupted use to gain rights.

However, it's his land and his decision.

Ham131

The pathway leads from the road to the houses and is a continuation of the path on the main road. Anyone from the street could walk down the path...there is no gate at the end or sign to state it is private.

ValHaller

Ham131 wrote: »

Sorry...I think I'm being a bit stupid here. I don't fully understand your reply. I think what your saying is that I should let it drop as its his path. If he agrees to the access for me then it impacts his use of the path?

Thank you

If he agrees to the access for you, it does not so much impact his use of the path as it impacts his rights over his property. Mojisola rightly says he could give an annual permission or whatever - but if he does not take legal steps and advice to control your access, effectively you gain rights of access which trump his rights. And that in turn reduces the value of his property.

If you want to do it, you could negotiate - but you would have to cover the cost of his legal advice and legal fees for whatever arrangement was acceptable to him. You are looking at probably £1200 before you even pay him a nominal £500

Mojisola

Ham131 wrote: »

The pathway leads from the road to the houses and is a continuation of the path on the main road. Anyone from the street could walk down the path...there is no gate at the end or sign to state it is private.

In that case, I'd be inclined to put in a gate. If he comes up with a valid legal reason why you have to stop using the gate, just padlock it and stop using it. He won't be able to make you reinstate a fence.

Ham131

Another question....and one to test you all ;-)

To the other side of the house is a public bridal/footpath. We have been told that this is owned by another neighbour. Now anyone can walk along this footpath, so I assume this means there is full public right of way. However, once again, in my gate prevention village, the chap who owns the land won't allow any if the neighbours to have a gate into the footpath. Is this in anyway different as it's a public footpath?

Thanks

ValHaller

Ham131 wrote: »

Another question....and one to test you all ;-)

To the other side of the house is a public bridal/footpath. We have been told that this is owned by another neighbour. Now anyone can walk along this footpath, so I assume this means there is full public right of way. However, once again, in my gate prevention village, the chap who owns the land won't allow any if the neighbours to have a gate into the footpath. Is this in anyway different as it's a public footpath?

Thanks

Nope. If you put a gate in, either could stop you using it, by court order if necessary - or they could simply put a fence across the gate. Although they could not force you to remove the gate.

Mojisola

Ham131 wrote: »

To the other side of the house is a public bridal/footpath. We have been told that this is owned by another neighbour. Now anyone can walk along this footpath, so I assume this means there is full public right of way. However, once again, in my gate prevention village, the chap who owns the land won't allow any if the neighbours to have a gate into the footpath. Is this in anyway different as it's a public footpath?

Sometimes the situation is that there is a ROW down the path but not over the verges. That means the land owner can restrict people making openings in their boundaries because they would have to walk over the strip of private land to get to the ROW.

Strapped

Ham131 wrote: »

I live in a small village where there are cotrages of all shapes and sizes. As the village has grown, cottages have been built in odd positions and all residents have strange access. To the rear of my property is a pathway leading to a number of neighbours houses. I believe that some of the walkway is private and other sections are owned by the local council (I need to confirm this though). I would like to add a gate to the rear of my property from this path. The gate would in no way obstruct my neighbout using the path and have found a position for the gate which is tucked away and in no way can be seen by those living behind me. There are 2 properties directly behind me and I recently raised the matter with one if the owners. In a friendly chat, I described where I would like to position the gate and the limited use it would receive. He said he needed to think about it and a day or 2 later, a note appeared on my doormat saying no to my suggestion. The gentleman felt that the addition of a gate from the pathway would devalue his home (which I find very hard to believe).
So my question is simple, what rights do I have? Is there anything that those currently using the path can do to prevent me adding a gate? Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcomed! Before I spend large sums of money on legal consultations, I would really like to get an idea of if I have a "leg to stand on". Thank you

I'd say that this hinges on whether you have a right to use the pathway or not. This is what you have to check.

moneyistooshorttomention

Ham131 wrote: »

Only thing is....I think the neighbour owns the path (even though anyone can walk along it) and not the council...I guess this changes things?

What's most frustrating about all of this is that the gate would in no way obstruct the path or be in view from his house. Very frustrating as we have been nothing but model neighbours in the 5 years we've lived here and he has no reason to be so obstructive to us.

Thanks

I would think his concern is that you having a gate onto his path means that you would probably use his path more often than at present and, with that, his privacy is compromised more often.

I presume that anyone walking along his path can maybe see into his garden and he is therefore having to reluctantly accept someone walking along it in the normal course of events, but doesn't wish to agree to anything that will mean further "looks" into his garden happening? Of course, if he has done something like plant a blimmin' great leylandii hedge along his garden boundary anyway then it won't be possible to see through into his garden, but I'm assuming its only a "normal height" boundary planting he currently has there, rather than the "Rottweilers of the Tree World"?

People can be very very conscious of how often others are looking into their garden and they aren't having the amount of privacy they want/need. I found on my house that a neighbour used to continually use the communal back alley to walk up and they just didn't seem able to do so without peering into my back yard each time they did so and I was glad when they stopped doing this eventually.