Right of Way - Right to Park?

Harpo84

Hello guys,

I want to get a car but I'm concerned about where to park it.

I know that my property deeds mention a right of way around my boundary and it'd be great if I could park in the small garden that I have.

Problem is, the only boundary that I have that doesn't face someone else's garden faces the carpark of a care home. And they've put a fence up between our properties and park cars on what I assume is my right of way.

Do I have a legal right to get them to remove their fence and stop parking against my property so I can park on my land?

If not, could my right of way and their use of it give me any sort of leverage for a request to use their carpark?

Thanks in advance!

ChumLee

Why don't you have four boundaries, one one each side of your property? Access into your garden should be from the road so you'll need to address this with the council and get a dropped kerb fitted.

Harpo84

Hi ChumLee,

I technically do have four boundaries, of course. But one is a the wall between me and my neighbour, one is the back wall of my house which is on the boundary of someone else's garden, and the third is a fence between my garden and someone else's garden.

There is no road. The only potential vehicular access is through the carpark.

ChumLee

Without a road you'll struggle to park in your garden as you can't access it.

Harpo84

Would the right of way mentioned on my deeds (that the carpark's owner has blocked) count for nothing?

neilmcl

Does it really state "right of way" or merely that you have a right of access. Right of access does not equate to a right to drive a vehicle on to your land.

NBLondon

Harpo84 wrote: »

Hi ChumLee,

I technically do have four boundaries, of course. But one is a the wall between me and my neighbour, one is the back wall of my house which is on the boundary of someone else's garden, and the third is a fence between my garden and someone else's garden.

There is no road. The only potential vehicular access is through the carpark.

Presumably there is a footpath to your front door - otherwise you would have to be climbing over fences and walls every time you went out. So is that the right of way? Not necessarily right of vehicular way...


If your back wall is also the back boundary; I'm assuming the fence and wall are to left and right so the fenced carpark and your garden-to-become-parking space is at the front. However, if you have right of way all round your boundary - I would expect that to mean you also have an alley or something to a side door and neighbours cannot put up a barrier to stop you accessing that.


You could try asking nicely if you could use their car park?

Norman_Castle

I know that my property deeds mention a right of way around my boundary and it'd be great if I could park in the small garden that I have.

Problem is, the only boundary that I have that doesn't face someone else's garden faces the carpark of a care home. And they've put a fence up between our properties and park cars on what I assume is my right of way.

Do your deeds say you have vehicular access across their property?. Was there access before they put a fence up?.
http://www.boundary-problems.co.uk/boundary-problems/priv-r-o-w.html

Rambosmum

I think I understand what you are saying - you want to park your car in your back garden, which currently you only have access to through your house as the care home at the back has put a fence up between your land and their land? You think, from your deeds, that this shouldn't have been done, as you have right of access across their land?

You need to clarify what the right of access means - I would assume at the vey least it is to walk across the car park with something such as a wheelbarrow to enter your back garden. How old is your house? Are the deeds pre- 'everyone having a car', If they are vehicle access is unlikely to have been considered. Currently, unless they put a gate in their fence you can't even do this though?

If I were you I would write a nice letter to the care home owners, explaining that you have 'right of access' to your back garden across their land, that you were hoping to use this to access the back garden as a parking space and suggest that you come up with a mutually agreeable solution - which to me is that you put a gate in the fence and they let you park in the car park.