Right of way

njs1999

Hello

Wondering if anyone can advise please...

We have been in our property for nearly 3 years and a neighbour who is 2 houses away has right of way over next door’s garden and our garden. They’ve never used it as there is absolutely no need to - it doesn’t benefit them whatsoever.

However, today it was used and the neighbour isn’t particularly considerate in terms of closing gates between properties.

The agreements seems to be quite an old one. How would I go about challenging the right of way? As mentioned, it serves no purpose to use it.

Thanks

da_rule

It can be removed by deed. This means getting the person with the benefit has to agree for it to be extinguished.

You can apply to the court and argue that it has been abandoned, however given that he used it today you might struggle on that one.

You could put a gate closer on the gate or a sign asking him to close it.

PasturesNew

You can't challenge it. They have a right of way, and that's it.

If they're not good at closing gates then that's annoying and you can ask them to be more careful, but some people simply waft through life in a world of their own simply not giving it a second thought....

In the long run, the only solution for you is to fit "self closers" to the gates, "just in case" they do it again.

njs1999

Thanks for replies.

I dont think theyll agree to it, as they havent been particularly amicable in the past about other matters.

Hopefully its a one-off as there is no benefit for her using it.

franklee

I suppose you could offer to buy her out, if you got together with next door to see if you can rise enough money. Obviously the risk of raising it may mean she starts using the row more to make you more desperate to sell upping the price.

kazwookie

Is it written down in the deeds as a right of way, or is it just here say?

What made them / her / him use it today, if there is no benefit?

Tigsteroonie

I would hazard a guess that the neighbour is using the RoW once a year, so as to be able to say that it is indeed still in use. They probably have it marked on their calendar

njs1999

They’ve been pretty awkward in the past with some of the neighbours, so I guess they probably are using it just for the sake of it to keep the right of way relevant. That’s the only reason I can suggest.

It’s an official agreement (looking on the land registry copy of register of title that we got when we bought the house) dating back to 2004.

The strange thing is that we also have right of way over a path which runs in front of their house. However, this would mean going through our neighbours garden to get to it. Neither right of way serves any purpose, which is why I was asking about getting it revoked.

moneyistooshorttomention

franklee wrote: »

I suppose you could offer to buy her out, if you got together with next door to see if you can rise enough money. Obviously the risk of raising it may mean she starts using the row more to make you more desperate to sell upping the price.

That one incursion may have been a set-up (ie she did it deliberately to put the wind up you and my guess would be she'd do it a few more times - ie just to put the wind up you again) - and then get fed-up with "playing that game", as she'd decided her attempt to get you to offer her some money had failed.

Personally, I'd play a waiting game for some months and monitor the situation and, if she was still doing it in a few months time, then put the self-closer on the gate. That might be sufficient to stop her using it at that point - as she'd then think "Looks like they're not going to buy me out - darn - I'd been hoping that would be a way to raise that odd bit of cash I need/want" and might give up at that point.

I'd estimate that she deliberately didn't close the gate in order to add to the pressure she's hoping you'll feel to "buy her out", rather than just "wafting through it thoughtlessly".

It doesn't seem logical on the face of it to use that ROW - but trying to get money out of you to not use it is logical (it gets them some money).

I wondered why on earth neighbours kept trespassing in my garden when I first moved here - as it's not logical. It's actually wrong in their case - as they have no "Rights" at all in my garden and so it definitely was trespass. Their logic turned out to be that they were trying to get "Rights" in the first place and it would appear to be in order to increase the saleability of their (not very saleable) houses. I was able to stop it before they were able to acquire any "Rights".

Davesnave

njs1999 wrote: »

The agreements seems to be quite an old one. How would I go about challenging the right of way? As mentioned, it serves no purpose to use it.

You cannot challenge it. It exists. It existed when you purchased your house and you agreed to buy the house with it in place.

Your contention that the RoW serves no purpose is clearly not factual. Only yesterday, it served the purpose of getting your neighbour part-way from their house to wherever they were going. What you think about their route is irrelevant.

I'm being harsh, of course, but the RoW is a legal benefit, so you must look at it in that cold, legal way.

If the neighbour's right and actions annoy you, then you might fit self close mechanisms and overcome most of the inconvenience. That looks like a good option to me.

Otherwise, it could be much more expensive to extinguish the right via a payment to her and alterations to two sets of title documents. There's also a possibility that the neighbour won't be tempted by the amount you'd be willing to pay, so the option might not even exist.