Neighbour wants access way path back? Please help!?!

DRP

dominoman wrote: »

I'd love to hear the neighbour's position on this. She's moved into a house with a loft conversion that wasn't done to building regs standard (a very common situation). As soon as she does she starts getting complaints that she is using her room to live in and not just as storage (nobody's business but hers).

At the same time the person complaining about her loft not meeting building regs has unilaterally acquired a piece of common land that provides access to her garden and is now preventing her from having access to it.

She is quite justified to feel aggrieved in my opinion.

^exactly.

There are definitely 2 sides to this story. It certainly sounds like OP carrying the issues with the old neighbour forward to the new 'innocent' neighbour, certainly hasn;t helped.

Grenage

Unfortunately the bottom line is that the neighbour has had her rear access removed. The neighbours (and yourself) probably shouldn't have extended your gardens to include that land.

phoenix_w

dominoman wrote: »

She is quite justified to feel aggrieved in my opinion.

I agree, but she should have known about the dispute unless the seller deceived her. If she hasn't known about the dispute she should be contacting the solicitor that did her conveyancing and seeking recompense from the seller.

stator

dominoman wrote: »

I'd love to hear the neighbour's position on this. She's moved into a house with a loft conversion that wasn't done to building regs standard (a very common situation). As soon as she does she starts getting complaints that she is using her room to live in and not just as storage (nobody's business but hers).

At the same time the person complaining about her loft not meeting building regs has unilaterally acquired a piece of common land that provides access to her garden and is now preventing her from having access to it.

She is quite justified to feel aggrieved in my opinion.

She either knew or had a very bad solicitor and surveyor.

Mojisola

2596 wrote: »

I have lived in my house for 3 years now.

when we moved in we exstended our garden onto the right of way path at the end of the garden

I know legally it should be an access path for bins and a window cleaner but is there any loop holes?

No. You shouldn't have removed the access to the right of way without a legal agreement and changing the deeds of the relevant properties.

It doesn't matter why your neighbour is now insisting on the ROW being reinstated - she has the law on her side.

phoenix_w

DRP wrote: »

It certainly sounds like OP carrying the issues with the old neighbour forward to the new 'innocent' neighbour, certainly hasn;t helped.

If the loft extension was causing structural damage (reading between the lines, that was the basis of the complaint to Building Control, and it appears to have been upheld), what is the OP to do?

Aylesbury_Duck

All the talk of the loft conversion is irrelevant. It's a separate dispute. The two issues may be emotionally connected but they are entirely separate and it's already clear that the OP sees the access issue as a vendetta/revenge, which is not helping the situation.

The OP should reinstate access in accordance with the deeds, if that's what the deeds require. They have knowingly taken a gamble by appropriating land for their exclusive use, and it's backfired. What the other neighbour did seven years ago is entirely irrelevant as well, and any ensuing dispute between the OP's neighbours is not their concern.

moneyistooshorttomention

TeamPlum wrote: »

. . . Then buy an Alsatian, just to discourage her from using said gate

..and wait for the compensation claim and article in local newspaper if the Alsatian damages her when she uses the path....

Mustn't forget the poor dog either - which would be put down for having attacked someone.

Not the world's best idea I think...:rotfl:

TeamPlum

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

..and wait for the compensation claim and article in local newspaper if the Alsatian damages her when she uses the path....

Mustn't forget the poor dog either - which would be put down for having attacked someone.

Not the world's best idea I think...:rotfl:

(It's why I mentioned it as a joke )

wooooosh.

Ozzuk

Make it a non-issue. As others have said put gates in (you can even secure with a key as long as she has a copy) and tell her you are very happy to comply and hope it hasn't inconvenienced her. Remind her the RoW is for access only and not storage.

Then go on to say, as we are talking about compliance...where are we with the building regs issue and is there anything you can do to help/hurry it along.

All the time being friendly, smiling but clear and assertive.