Neighbours 'exclusive use of outhouse' questions

thinster

We don't stop them from using the washroom we just asked them to stop walking past our windows every hour.

They never use the wash room any way. I think they also have a similar situation with the neighbour below them as they use the outhouse behind their house as storage for a motorcycle.

princeofpounds

there's a gate in the fence they put up. The fence is only about three foot high. They didn't consult us before they did it either.

It is their fence, they don't need to consult you.

Now, you can always put your own fence up without a gate. But if there is no other access to this outhouse than over your land then the neighbours almost certainly have an easement (right of way) to access it. It might be in the titles of either property, or more likely is an easement 'by prescription' or 'by necessity' which do not need to be documented.

http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/property/neighbour_disputes/500501.html

So whilst I can't be sure without know the full historical circumstances, it it likely you cannot stop them walking past your window, as long as that is broadly the route to their outhouse.

You will have to buy the outhouse from them, basically, to change anything.

thinster

princeofpounds wrote: »

You don't own the freehold to the yellow shaded area.

Unless you own a freehold title to all the land, and a leasehold title to everything on the land except the outhouse which is excluded in yellow on that title alone.

Given you have not mentioned the two layer title then I assume it is just one freehold title, and it does not include the yellow area. Does not matter that it is within red lines.

Ahh ok. It's all a little confusing with this titles, deeds, freehold, leasehold business. Why things were made so complicated I don't know lol

thinster

princeofpounds wrote: »

It is their fence, they don't need to consult you.

Surely if it is a 'shared yard' with rights of access to all parties then we should have been consulted as they were basically stopping or at the very least making it difficult for our children to play in the whole area?

princeofpounds

Surely if it is a 'shared yard' with rights of access to all parties then we should have been consulted as they were basically stopping or at the very least making it difficult for our children to play in the whole area?

Why does a gate in their fence stop anything?

It's not a shared yard. It is your yard, from what I understand so far, and they (almost certainly) have a right of way over it. That's a different thing.

thinster

I'll have to do some more reading of the original title documents / deeds we have. I think they were sent to us by mistake as I always thought the mortgage company were suppose to have them until the mortgage was paid in full but I'm not complaining lol

They're hand written and quite hard to understand though :huh:

Guest101

Its pretty simple, You own the land.

they own, or have rights to use an 'island' the only way to access it is by going over your land. So they own a right of way to travel over your land to this outhouse.

The simplest solution would be to build your fence in such a way as to allow a right of way upto the outhouse and fence of the rest.

princeofpounds

I'll have to do some more reading of the original title documents / deeds we have. I think they were sent to us by mistake as I always thought the mortgage company were suppose to have them until the mortgage was paid in full but I'm not complaining lol

In the old days it would work something like that. And of course you would get to see the deeds, just not hold them.

But now title deeds are typically (though not universally) held in electronic form on the land registry, and you and your lender, and indeed almost anyone (depending on the exact document being sought) can download copies.

thinster

Guest101 wrote: »

Its pretty simple, You own the land.

they own, or have rights to use an 'island' the only way to access it is by going over your land. So they own a right of way to travel over your land to this outhouse.

The simplest solution would be to build your fence in such a way as to allow a right of way upto the outhouse and fence of the rest.

I'm not sure if we are also suppose to give them access to the lane that runs down the side of our house too. I'll need to read the deeds again.

AdrianC

thinster wrote: »

I'm not sure if we are also suppose to give them access to the lane that runs down the side of our house too. I'll need to read the deeds again.

Read theirs, too - it'll cost you a couple of quid from the Land Registry website to get a copy.