Shared access - odd question.

circuit

Something I forgot to mention:

Number 6 could, in theory, put their house up for sale next year complete with a photo of their nice off-street parking bay. Or they could just leave their car parked there for viewings and let the new owners assume that they had sole rights to park there. New neighbours put up locked metal gates. Whose space is it now?

Granted, it might still say in the deeds that it's not their land. But realistically, if it is implied that this space belongs to that property (either unofficially or "by arrangement") you are going to have a fight on your hands to change that.

Do not underestimate the stress, expense, and anxiety associated with this kind of dispute.
God forbid if you had an accident and needed the access you would certainly not want the court costs to get it.

One of our neighbours claimed a parking space which was not theirs when marketing their home, and now the new occupants park there daily because they assume that's the way it is. This is why I urge extreme caution when any neighbour encroaches on shared land. What the deeds say and what people actually do are two different things.

Smodlet

We have gut feelings for a reason. I think we ignore them at our peril. Let us hope you can get this resolved and acquire a key to this gate.

AnotherJoe

Smodlet wrote: »

We have gut feelings for a reason. I think we ignore them at our peril. Let us hope you can get this resolved and acquire a key to this gate.

New neighbour turns up (the OP) , asks for keys, No 6 says "no" - what happens then? get a solicitor? Get the gates ripped down? Force them to move their car which is parked on your ROW?


Good luck with all that.



To reiterate, Steer Well Clear.

YoungBlueEyes

The parking - I'm not sure what this is called but they park on the street in front of the houses. There's a box painted on the road in long white dashes.

I'm not sure about the access at no 1, I think it was a ginnel rather than a fairly wide path. I've just checked on steetview, it's a ginnel.

So the nub of the issue is the difference between what is legally correct and what actually happens on a daily basis. Could I realistically get a key if none of the other neighbours have been bothered... Or even worse - they are bothered but failed and so backed down....

This isn't a niggle, it's a worry

YoungBlueEyes

Just thought. This isn't my worry cos it isn't my house! The vendor needs to provide me with a key before we go any further. Let her p1ss off no 6. If she doesn't, I'll want a lump knocked off the AP

Ms_Chocaholic

I wonder if the current owner of no 5 or indeed anyone in the street, gave their consent for no 6 to put up the gate and keep it locked

Ms_Chocaholic

YoungBlueEyes wrote: »

Just thought. This isn't my worry cos it isn't my house! The vendor needs to provide me with a key before we go any further. Let her p1ss off no 6. If she doesn't, I'll want a lump knocked off the AP

It's more than just a key, no 6 could easily hand over a key but have changed the padlock before you move in

moneyistooshorttomention

YoungBlueEyes wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Moneyistooshorttomention and ReadingTim have cracked it - it's the 'being told what I must conform to, without choice' aspect that doesn't sit well with me.

.

Precisely - and I found a lot of that sort of malarkey going on with current house after I bought it.

You don't want to know just how "firm" I had to be and how many blazing rows there were before the tryers-on here had to "shut up and behave themselves":cool: I still write the police telephone number for "breach of the peace" written in current diary, next to my mobile phone - just in case. I've never had to use it to ring the police to say "Neighbour is creating a breach of the peace" - but I was prepared to if I had to.

ReadingTim

YoungBlueEyes wrote: »

Just thought. This isn't my worry cos it isn't my house! The vendor needs to provide me with a key before we go any further. Let her p1ss off no 6. If she doesn't, I'll want a lump knocked off the AP

You're either comfortable with the arrangement or not, and a few thousand off the price won't change that - the 'win' of saving money will fade pretty soon, but the daily problem with access will persist until the day you sell....

It may also unnecessarily p!ss of the vendor who may even put it back on the market... but I guess that will resolve whether to proceed or not...

moneyistooshorttomention

ReadingTim wrote: »

You're either comfortable with the arrangement or not, and a few thousand off the price won't change that - the 'win' of saving money will fade pretty soon, but the daily problem with access will persist until the day you sell....

It may also unnecessarily p!ss of the vendor who may even put it back on the market... but I guess that will resolve whether to proceed or not...

....and vendors can be pretty darn evasive about covering-up any discord there is (or might be) when it suits them. I'm thinking very fondly (not!) of the vendor of my current house - as to what they skated-over or downright lied about.