Rights of way law on a house

tomodo99

Hi currently in the process of buying a house, it has a large garden with an access road at the back. The next door neighbour has built a garage at the back on their land so that to have access to it they have to drive over the very back of the garden of the house im purchasing. Im trying to work out if they have a legal right of way, it does not say anything on my deeds and I have spoke to the neighbour and they say it does state they have a legal right of way on their deeds. I have downloaded their deeds off the land registry and it says nothing about a legal right of way over my land. Does anyone have any advice ? Does it have to be on the deeds for it to be legal? im thankful for any replys. cheers

eddddy

The best starting point is to ask the person selling you their house.

If the seller says there is a Right of Way for the neighbour - assume there probably is (although you can ask your solicitor to confirm this).

If the seller says there isn't a Right of Way for the neighbour - tell your solicitor to confirm this. The solicitor will ask for evidence from the seller.

(Although, consider whether you want to buy a property where you have a Right of Way dispute with a neighbour from day 1.)

AnotherJoe

Does it have to be on the deeds for it to be legal?
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I thought there could be a right "by custom and usage" or some such similar phrase if they've been doing it long enough?

How long is this garden? Would it be intrusive for the car to drive to this garage? Because otherwise if you got it stopped it doesn't make for a good start to your relationship with your neighbour !

moneyistooshorttomention

If they've been driving over your garden "regularly" for over 20 years they may have acquired what is called "prescriptive rights". It would be a palaver and an expense (to them!) to try and claim that officially.

They may have "prescriptive rights" - but they should be down there somewhere in writing officially if they have. If its not on either their deeds or yours then they don't have these rights. The question would then be whether they would go to the expense/palaver of trying to get them. First point to consider on that being = how long have they been driving over your garden? Start by checking how long they have had their house and there's a good chance it will be less than 20 years.

On the other hand - they could be lying to you.

If neither set of Deeds says they have those "prescriptive rights" - then whack up barriers fast to stop them driving over your garden and prevent them getting to 20 years worth of "regular usage".

AnotherJoe

Thats just what you need when moving into a house, an immediate legal dispute with the neighbour !

tomodo99

Ive just spoke with my solicitor and she thinks the best route of action is to get the current owners/sellers to sort it out legally and give them a right of way and agree not to block one another before I buy, its either that or I fall out with them and cause a dispute on the house do you think that would be more damaging?

G_M

Either get the current owner to resolve this, both legally AND physically (by blocking the access), or walk away.

If you buy this property, irrespective of the legal position as you or your solicitor come to understand it, you will have months, or years, of unpleasantness ahead.

Norman_Castle

it has a large garden with an access road at the back.

If there is an access road why do they need to drive through your garden?.
There is a private right of way at the bottom of my garden. Many decades ago one owner of a large house extended their garden across this right of way. All other properties still have access but now only from one direction. Recently a property neighbouring that one has fenced across the right of way and extended their garden. This affects no-one so there are no complaints.
Is it possible the claimed right of way at the bottom of your garden has been fenced in a similar way by a previous owner?.
Can you find any historic large scale maps which may show access.

tomodo99

Because the access road is not very wide , he would have had to build his garage further back thus taking up more of his own land so that he had room to turn in. That's what everyone else on the street has done. the garage is built right up to the access road ( the edge of his boundary ) with the door facing to the side over my land. Takes up about 3 metres square or so

Davesnave

So, if you follow your solicitor's advice, you would be acquiring 'a large garden,' about 3m2 of which someone else could have the right to drive over.

How do you feel about that?

Personally, if it really is a pretty large garden, I'd be OK with it, provided that the arrangement had been entered into willingly by both parties and formalised in the correct legal manner.

The fact that the arrangement hasn't apparently been organised properly would worry me. I would want to assess whether the vendor was just a lazy fool, or if they'd been taken advantage of by an overbearing neighbour; one who now claims to have legal paperwork that doesnt exist. There are some people I'd rather not live beside!

How you assess the situation is up to you. If it were me, I'd go back to the neighbour. I'd explain that a problem had arisen over the sale, due to his apparent use of the land without a formal agreement. I'd seek his opinion on what the way forward might be.

I think that would probably tell me what I needed to know.

If I decided to go ahead, the formal agreement would follow and the vendor would organise and pay for it as part of the conveyancing process.

moneyistooshorttomention

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Thats just what you need when moving into a house, an immediate legal dispute with the neighbour !

Very true....but sometimes it is a case of "it is what it is" and previous owner/s of the house have allowed a neighbour to take liberties and the neighbour carries right on trying to do so.

You have to put your foot down firmly in these cases and be prepared for all sorts of screaming and "huffing and puffing" etc etc - but chances are that at some point the message will get over to the selfish neighbour concerned and peace will be restored and everything is sorted out.

If I sell my current house at any point - I will turn round and say that the neighbours had been taking liberties and were trying to continue to do so. I put a stop to it. End of....and all has been peaceful for x amount of time now. Neighbours firmly "back in their box" and no problem any more.