Land / Right of Way

didnof

hi all, I'm not sure if this is the right forum section but it was the closest I could find as it is to do with house.


I have a semi detached house which has a vehicular right of way to the left of the house which runs alongside a lawn area to the rear of the house. here our neighbour has a small garage and we have an adjacent garage.


we agreed with our neighbour to remove the right of way in exchange for some land which includes the adjacent garage and some land to the right our house which borders his house. we discussed sorting the deeds but nothing has been signed off yet.


we are getting landscapers in to change the old drive bit into usable garden area, however I talked to the neighbour today and he suddenly seemed very cold on the idea. what legal position would I be in if I made the changes to the garden and for him to then change his mind?

da_rule

This is difficult unless you have evidence that he agrees to what you said, then it is simply a contract matter. Have you already removed the right of way from your land registry entry? Ideally the two documents (the transfer of the land and the removal of easement) should have been submitted simultaneously.

didnof

hi and thanks for the reply. nothing has been changed on the deeds yet which is why I am concerned. these situations are always tricky as whenever speaking to a neighbour it is always verbal until it is transferred onto the deeds. they've delayed changing the deeds right up until now which is when our garden is being changed.


when speaking to the gardener at christmas we mentioned our garden plans would either have to accomodate a right of way or not depending on whether they agreed to it. when they did we told him and he can confirm that these discussion took place so he knew of an agreement, not sure if this carries any weight though?

da_rule

Not really. Best thing to do is just be upfront with him and ask him if he still wants to go ahead.

didnof

yes this my plan, however if he says he does but then changes his mind once the work is done what position would that leave me?

da_rule

Same situation as you're in now unless you can actually get an agreement from him, in writing, to the transaction.

Do you need to do the work now, can you not wait until this matter is resolved?

G_M

You might have to change it back.

Or the neighbour might decide to drive his car across your newly landscaped garden as he has a right of way.

You would also find it impossible these days to ever sell the house. The buyers would see the ROW in the deeds and see the ladscaped garden and run a mile. And even if they didn't, their mortgage lender would refuse to lend.

Get the deeds sorted, and then landscape etc. not the other way round!

pimento

Don't do any work until after the deeds have been changed.

didnof

g_m at worst case scenario there would be some tyre teacks over my garden so i am believe that at worst it would devalue the house slightly, but not enough to make it impossible to sell. we get on well with the neighbours and this is only a worst case scenario, i think we'll come to an agreement but from everyones replies it seems clear that if we didn't agree then the law is leaning towards him.

anselld

didnof wrote: »

g_m at worst case scenario there would be some tyre teacks over my garden so i am believe that at worst it would devalue the house slightly, but not enough to make it impossible to sell. we get on well with the neighbours and this is only a worst case scenario, i think we'll come to an agreement but from everyones replies it seems clear that if we didn't agree then the law is leaning towards him.

Just postpone the gardening work. It really is not worth putting yourself in such an awkward position.

If he is dragging his heels then it may just be that he doesn't want to do the deal but feels awkward saying no. Digging the garden just makes it worse.

Campervanman

Agree with the posts above. You are potentially creating drama when there is no need. If it remains unresolved after say a further 4 to 6 weeks then invite your neighbour in for tea. Explain you would like to get it resolved one way or another, agree the tasks required to get the matter regularised, a time line and who is going to do what. You can do that in a friendly way that also makes it clear you both need to just get on and sort it out within an agree timespan or not proceed.