side access land of semi detached house

happypie

I am not sure if this depends on street or title of the properties. However if there is some general rule then I would like to know.

On a street of semi detached houses, who owns side access land?
Is it shared between two houses?
If access land isn't separate (no fencing) then does it matter who owns it as long as we've right of way?
Does it make a property less valuable not having its own side access land and having to share it with other house (with no ownership but right of way).

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

Look on you deeds. The strip of land to the side of my house is owed by my neighbor.

Davesnave

I don't fully understand the question because when I owned a semi, both houses had their own side access.

In your case, who owns it will be shown on the title plans available from the Land Registry at £3 a pop:
https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/QuickEnquiryInit.do

Access over the land will be determined by rights of way, usually detailed in the title documents, also available from the address above.

Obviously, sharing an access will have some impact on the desirability, and thus the price of a house, but it's not possible to put a general figure on it.

davidmcn

happypie wrote: »

I am not sure if this depends on street or title of the properties. However if there is some general rule then I would like to know.

On a street of semi detached houses, who owns side access land?
Is it shared between two houses?
If access land isn't separate (no fencing) then does it matter who owns it as long as we've right of way?
Does it make a property less valuable not having its own side access land and having to share it with other house (with no ownership but right of way).

As you should be able to figure out for yourself by walking down a few streets, the norm is that the boundary between the houses is at the midpoint of the gap between the houses. There are probably a few cases where houses have merely a right of access along the side rather than ownership, but it's not commonplace. If all other things are equal (e.g. same garden size) then it probably doesn't affect the price much.

Are you asking about a particular situation or just hypothetically? I see from your other posts that you're buying.

-taff

Davesnave wrote: »

I don't fully understand the question because when I owned a semi, both houses had their own side access..

Some of the semis in my area each have side access delineated by a boundary, whether that's a wall or a fence or flooring changes and are wide enough [or were wide enough] for a car to drive/park on

Some of them only have a wide enough space bewteen the two houses for one car to fit between them which can then drive between both houses and to their respective garages which are offset either side of the access point.

happypie

thanks all for your response.

yeah i am buying a property.
and this property doesn't have its own side access. a common/shared access is there which i thought is part of this property's land (because other semi connected to this house has their own access) but now solicitor's enquiry confirmed that its owned by other neighbor but we'd have right of way.

we are feeling bit disappointed with this fact. as ultimately land is less for this house compare to other houses on street. though not really sure if this matters much as no one can built on it anyway. we also have access of it to go to our garden. what else this could be used for?
is there anything i am not not considering? like we can't open a door or window in extension or existing dwelling because we won't own that?

happypie

obviously some privacy and security is compromised because of this, when compare to separate fence divided access.

Cakeguts

happypie wrote: »

thanks all for your response.

yeah i am buying a property.
and this property doesn't have its own side access. a common/shared access is there which i thought is part of this property's land (because other semi connected to this house has their own access) but now solicitor's enquiry confirmed that its owned by other neighbor but we'd have right of way.

we are feeling bit disappointed with this fact. as ultimately land is less for this house compare to other houses on street. though not really sure if this matters much as no one can built on it anyway. we also have access of it to go to our garden. what else this could be used for?
is there anything i am not not considering? like we can't open a door or window in extension or existing dwelling because we won't own that?

You have access over it but you can't leave anything on it. So you would not be able to park your car on it.

happypie

Cakeguts wrote: »

You have access over it but you can't leave anything on it. So you would not be able to park your car on it.

it's a narrow access, suitable for walk only. so that is not concerning.

Davesnave

-taff wrote: »

Some of the semis in my area each have side access delineated by a boundary, whether that's a wall or a fence or flooring changes and are wide enough [or were wide enough] for a car to drive/park on

Some of them only have a wide enough space bewteen the two houses for one car to fit between them which can then drive between both houses and to their respective garages which are offset either side of the access point.

Thanks, I get it now.

Silly of me, because we've had several threads involving one party restricting the vehicular shared access to a garage in situations like this and causing a dispute.


However, this one seems to be pedestrian only, so less likely to cause problems.

KittenChops

Our house is semi detached and the plot is the width of the house. We have a right of way down the side of my neighbour's house (the one the house isn't attached to) which is only wide enough for pedestrian access. I'm on good terms with the landlord and tenants so this has never caused me an issue. I much prefer it being this way round rather than someone else having ROW over our land. The only downside is that the other 5 semi detached houses all have their own rear access and have wider plots / gardens than ours, although only by a couple of foot at most. Our house and the one we're attached to were built slightly later than the other two pairs, which probably explains it.