Fence between halves of a shared driveway

PedsDoc

My neighbor and I each have single family homes with our own detached garage. There is a shared double driveway going the between our houses with a detached garage for each of us at the end. The property line goes down the middle of the driveway, so we each own half of the driveway.

I have been wanting to put up a fence and a gate to allow more privacy and security since I park my car outside (mostly concerned about security from the rest of the neighborhood, not from my neighbor) and am trying to figure out if it is feasible given the "shared" driveway. Can I install either a wrought iron or vinyl fence down the length of the driveway on my half of the property line with an automatic gate at the entrance to the driveway? I would have to drill into the concrete to place the posts, so would that potentially cause damage to the existing concrete (mostly I'm worried about damaging the neighbor's property)? I also worry about having enough driveway width to get past the most narrow part where my house juts out the most so I'd have to carefully measure first.

Any suggestions on getting this to work?

Anything else I need to consider from a legal standpoint, or can I do what I want as long as I stay on my property line? The neighbor just had a survey done and the property line was marked, but is it possible that there is an easement granting us each access to the other's driveway, and by putting up a fence I'd be violating that?

GrumpyDil

Only you can tell if what you are proposing is feasible. You would have to measure up and work out if you will have enough width to do what you want.

My guess is that putting a fence down the centre would make it very tight to get in and out of the car.

Why don't you talk to your neighbour about installing gates across both sides of the driveway rather than just across your side and share the cost. That would remove the need to run a fence or other divider down the driveway.

Oh and you would need to read your title deeds are to check that anything you do will not breach any rights your neighbour may have over your half of the drive.

unforeseen

Since the drive is shared then the neighbour has the right to use the full width.

Putting a fence down the middle would be considered a substantial interference.

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If the driveway really is shared, rather than just being a boundary without a fence, then your neighbour will have a right of way over the half of driveway you own.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If that is the case you cannot just put up a fence, even if it is entirely on your land.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You need to first look at you and your neighbour's title and title plans and than discuss it with them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If your new driveway will be a tight fit then I guess theirs will be too and they may not be pleased with that.[/FONT]

scd3scd4

My friend has something similar. I bet they have complete right over the whole shared drive to and fro from the garage. So its a no from me...............you don't both own half, you both share the "whole"

Furts

Shared driveways usually do not have enough space to allow them to be split up and for individuals get possessive about who owns what. They are built partly because it is cheaper not to put boundary fences in, it saves on land and prevents arguments over ownership. But then consider practicalities. With a shared drive it is easy to have car doors wide open and still walk around the car with bags of shopping. or dead easy to get delivery trucks to park up. Split down into individual drives and this does not (normally) happen.

Your choice here, but if I was your neighbour I would be considering aesthetics, Planning, Covenants, and concepts of open plan estates. Your proposals might end up looking like a blot on the local landscape, they could be in breach of Covenants or Planning. None of these observations have been addressed by you in your post. Which means your post could be interpreted as one from a land possessive resident who wants to rock the boat.

tacpot12

All the above makes me think that GrumpyDil's suggestion about negotiating with the neighbour to put a gate across the full width of the drive is the best solution for you.

PasturesNew

As has been said above: You own your half, your neighbour owns their half. The question is whether you each have the right, in the deeds, to pass over the whole driveway to access the garages.

If there is no right to pass over each other's half, then you can put a fence up. If there is a right to pass over each other's halves, then you can't do it unless the neighbour also wants it ... and if either of you sell then the new owners could wave the deeds about and say "fence comes down because this gives me rights".

You need to check the wording in your deeds and your neighbour's deeds and speak to the neighbours.

Furts

tacpot12 wrote: »

All the above makes me think that GrumpyDil's suggestion about negotiating with the neighbour to put a gate across the full width of the drive is the best solution for you.

I agree fully here. OP has written saying they worry about enough space being present to get past their house corner. Which means there is also no chance for an internet delivery van to fit past. It also overlooks how the neighbour will get past this point when OP has put up the fence!


Me, me, me is a mindset one can come across today. Is that happening here? Hopefully the neighbour will be diplomatic, and savvy enough to guide OP into a sense of reality.

ariba10

If you lwere to put a fence up it would have to be on your land so the neighbors half; would be the thickness of the fence and its supports wider than yours.

ChrisK....._3

A SHARED driveway is just that - The whooooooooooooooooooooooooooole drive is SHARED - So neither you nor the neighbour OWN any specific part of it - albeit it you might ASSUME the bit leading to your garage is your, and the bit leading to the neighbours is theirs - It isn't - The whooooooole drive is shared - In fact you'll notice that some houses "Share" a single driveway. You cant take ownership if it is in fact SHARED. Imagine you need to back a lorry back up to your garage to tow a car away, it should have access to the WHOLE of the SHARED driveway. It's like taking ownership of the road that just happens to end at your house

I have to say that shared driveways (shared anything) can lead to contention between neighbours and I avoid them for that reason - In fact we just turned down a our absolute dream home just because the COMMUNAL driveway was being occupied by a neighbour, where the car looked like it had been ABANDONED halfway up the driveway and directly outside the dining room window of one houses.