8 yr old new build - developer wants to change driveway

Snuggles

I bought a new build on a new housing estate eight years ago. It has a tarmac driveway at the front which is separated from the adjoining road by a metre wide gravel strip (this gravelled area is part of my property and the gravel was laid by the developer).


Out of the blue I have received a letter from the developer. They are currently in the process of getting the roads adopted by the local authority. The letter says that they are doing various alterations to comply with the local authority in order to have the roads adopted, and that they intend to tarmac the gravelled area next to my driveway, and they will do this free of charge "as a gesture of goodwill".


The letter is written as though they are just informing me, not asking for my permission. Although they have sent me a form to sign which says "I confirm to the works being undertaken". I don't know whether it's meant to say "consent" rather than "confirm".


Am I right in thinking that they absolutely do need my consent to do this - it is my property after all? Or is it usual for there to be some clause or something with a new build estate which would allow the developer to make such alterations (8 years later!) without the owners consent?


I am actually quite happy in principle to have tarmac laid in this area, however I'm not happy with certain aspects of their plan. Obviously I am going to speak to them, but I'm not sure whether I have any leverage here to ask them to do what I would prefer?


Has anyone been in a similar situation or heard of this happening before?

ging84

What are you asking about doing?
refuse to give them access to make the changes?
Spend a year in a court battle with the developer trying to work out if the transfer agreement gives them permission to enter your land and make the change without your permission.
Then if you win and get to keep you strip of gravel spend, spend 5 years in court battles with your neighbours, the developer and the council about who will pay for the maintenance of all the estate roads, and hope you don't end up in the daily mail facing a £100k legal bill over a battle for 12" of gravel

bouicca21

What does your documentation of the purchase say? What result do you want to achieve?

PS when I was at school a metre was just over 39 inches, not 12. It was of course a very long time ago so things might have changed:)

Snuggles

ging84 wrote: »

What are you asking about doing?
refuse to give them access to make the changes?
Spend a year in a court battle with the developer trying to work out if the transfer agreement gives them permission to enter your land and make the change without your permission.
Then if you win and get to keep you strip of gravel spend, spend 5 years in court battles with your neighbours, the developer and the council about who will pay for the maintenance of all the estate roads, and hope you don't end up in the daily mail facing a £100k legal bill over a battle for 12" of gravel

Given that I said I'm quite happy in principal for them to lay tarmac, I'm not sure why you think I would be going to such ridiculous extremes.


I didn't spell out in my original post exactly what I don't agree with as I didn't think it was necessary - I was simply asking whether they need permission to make changes to land which I own. So that I know if I have any leverage to request that they make the changes in a way which is agreeable to me, as well as them. I don't think this is unreasonable and it doesn't mean I'm going to be awkward or idiotic about the situation.

davidmcn

It sounds like a condition for getting the road adopted (and I've seen similar anti-gravel conditions in planning consents), so you'll probably have to get it done one way or another.

Also normal for developers to retain certain rights to vary the development etc, so what does your title say?

Thrugelmir

You own the land so only right they should permission.

Maybe a technicality but legally correct.

AdrianC

Snuggles wrote: »

It has a tarmac driveway at the front which is separated from the adjoining road by a metre wide gravel strip (this gravelled area is part of my property and the gravel was laid by the developer).

Out of the blue I have received a letter from the developer. They are currently in the process of getting the roads adopted by the local authority. The letter says that they are doing various alterations to comply with the local authority in order to have the roads adopted, and that they intend to tarmac the gravelled area next to my driveway, and they will do this free of charge "as a gesture of goodwill".

This gravel area's definitely shown on the LR plans as yours? It sounds almost as if it's being viewed as part of the pavement, hence the council demanding it be tarmaced before adoption.

Snuggles

bouicca21 wrote: »

What does your documentation of the purchase say? What result do you want to achieve?

I need to dig out the paperwork and check, but I don't recall anything which would seem to apply to this situation.


What I am wanting to achieve is that they do the work in such a way that it doesn't leave me with a weird mixture of surfaces at the front of the house. They seem to want to just tarmac the entire gravelled area right up to the front of my house. I would prefer them to tarmac up to the same point as the existing drive, and then extend an existing flagstone path which runs across the top of the drive. It's hard to explain without posting pics, but this will look much better and is a more logical arrangement than simply covering the lot in tarmac.


Also, the gravelled area slopes down from the drive towards the kerb. I don't want to end up with a step down from the existing tarmac to the new tarmac - I would rather it was sloped.


I am concerned that the developer will just want to do whatever is easiest and cheapest, and obviously I'm going to speak to them, but I'm not sure whether I just have to accept what they want to do, or if I have any say in it, hence why I was asking if they need my consent or not.

AdrianC

Snuggles wrote: »

What I am wanting to achieve is that they do the work in such a way that it doesn't leave me with a weird mixture of surfaces at the front of the house. They seem to want to just tarmac the entire gravelled area right up to the front of my house. I would prefer them to tarmac up to the same point as the existing drive, and then extend an existing flagstone path which runs across the top of the drive. It's hard to explain without posting pics, but this will look much better and is a more logical arrangement than simply covering the lot in tarmac.

Sorry... They've said "We'll tarmac the gravel" - and you're saying "Great, that's fine - but only if you pave the existing tarmac drive, too."...?

Snuggles

AdrianC wrote: »

This gravel area's definitely shown on the LR plans as yours? It sounds almost as if it's being viewed as part of the pavement, hence the council demanding it be tarmaced before adoption.

Yes it's definitely part of my property. The problem is that because it's sloped, gravel sheds onto the road, and that's why the local authority have asked for it to be changed prior to the roads being adopted.

Snuggles

AdrianC wrote: »

Sorry... They've said "We'll tarmac the gravel" - and you're saying "Great, that's fine - but only if you pave the existing tarmac drive, too."...?

No, not at all. I am saying I would rather this area matched the existing tarmac driveway which has a flagstone path across the end of it. This might explain it better - F is the front wall of my house, G is the gravelled area, P is a flagstone path, T is the existing tarmac driveway. I don't want all of the gravel (G) to be tarmac, as I think it will look odd being longer than the drive (T). So I would like them to tarmac up to the level of the existing drive and extend the path across. Hope this makes sense.


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