non adopted/private road problem

Strapped

mbenno wrote: »

Hi All,


we have an access road that runs down the side of our property - not sure yet whether it's non adopted or private (no signage to say it's private). We have had some building work done and had to take down part of the fence (which we own) that runs down this 'access road'.
We have now come to reinstate the fence and thought it would be ok to put a gate in to give us access to our garden.
The people who live in the properties at the bottom of the access road have gone mad saying that what we've done is illegal etc.
We had no idea this would be an issue and if we've made a mistake then we'll take it down.
I've been to my local planning office and they've advised me to fill in a form and ask for 'retrospective planning permission'. They also advised going to the land registry office to find out who owns the road - but their website isn't that user friendly.
Can anyone here offer any ideas as to whether we are breaking the law?


thanks

Do the general public use this roadway?
Could the general public use this roadway (ie is there anything stopping them, or is there a sign to indicate that it is only for use by certain people)?

Strapped

AnnieO1234 wrote: »

OP what do you actually gain by using this roadway? If it's worth the time and effort, write to every single house that obviously has rights over it and see if you can come to an amicable solution.

To those PPs who aren't seeing why there's such a fuss, how is this different to someone suddenly sticking a gate in your boundary fence just because they can?

I can understand people being cautious (as in the ones who have told you you have no rights) because if this is indeed a shard driveway/private road, they're potentially opening themselves up to a lot of problems allowing anyone to use it.

My situation in similar to QTPie in that we have a private access road, no it's not signed or anything, but the opposite homes have no right of access over it other than the usual maintaining their property thing. They don't contribute to it's maintenance, each portion of the road is cared for by the house it is outside of, and the opposite homes have no vehicle or pedestrian rights to use it.

Get hold of land registry copies of the titles and plans to a couple of the houses on the road itself, hopefully it will be fairly clear from them and recorded on the register.

Xx

I'm surprised that no-one has advised you to at least erect a sign indicating that the road is only for the use of x/y/z, because otherwise you could find that it becomes a public highway over time.

System

Until somebody can prove ownership of this road then nobody is in a position to say yea or nay to the OP. Only the owner can stop the OP using it for access no matter what other people living along it think - they only have a ROW granted in their deeds (I presume) not a right to dictate who uses it.

There is absolutely no illegality in placing a gate in your fence. If the owner doesn't like it then they would have to block it from their side