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Boundary & Parking Dispute
sussexcat
Posts: 3 Newbie
I have recently purchased a cottage which is semi detached, it used to be part of one building, but it was split in to 2 cottages.
There is a large gravelled parking area directly outside my property. Fences have been erected on either side and the gravel drive extends to the public highway.
A small parcel of land was transferred from my property to the adjoining property for their use as a parking space. I have attached a picture of the plans/aerial view below). When I viewed the property the neighbouring property was parked on what is now my driveway (they purchased their property 3 months before me from the same vendor), and not in their transferred parcel of land. I questioned this and the agent said "an old man has been parking in the neighbouring properties space for a few years" and advised I would need to discuss this with the neighbours when moving in.
When purchasing the property I asked my solicitor to confirm exactly what was my parking space and what was the neighbours. You will see on the aerial view that there is a fence with a car parked in front of it. This is the "old mans" car and this is the area the agent said was the neighbours parking space. My solicitor received the following response from the vendors solicitor to her enquiries (the same solicitor/vendor that sold the neighbouring property to my neighbours and also dealt with and lodged the Transfer of part and registered title):
"There is no shared driveway. Walders Cottage has its own parking area, shown as the hatched rectangle on the plan. This is accessed directly from the public highway. Oak cottage has its own exclusive parking area. It is the responsibility of each owner to maintain their respective parking areas."
The only area accessible "directly from the highway" is the area in front of the existing fence, which backs up what the agent said.
In my mind this all stacked up, so I thought I had what I needed to ensure when I moved in I could get the neighbours to park in the correct place.
My neighbours are now disputing the boundary saying that the plans show the parcel of land transferred as being partially behind or perhaps totally behind the existing fence encroaching on what I believe is my land/parking area.
They are suggesting that we take down or move the fence, and I am in agreement that the plans are confusing and if you compare the "real life" aeriel view with the plans it does look like their parking area extends beyond the existing fence.
We are very friendly and want to keep it that way, but want to make sure we do the right thing. Essentially I want space for 2 cars and guests, as I was led to believe I had when buying the property. My view is that the fence was there when we both bought it and the main boundary must be where the gravel ends and therefore the existing fence marks out their parking space.
Any advice on how to proceed?
h t t p s://i.imgur.com/8Ub9vNl.jpg
There is a large gravelled parking area directly outside my property. Fences have been erected on either side and the gravel drive extends to the public highway.
A small parcel of land was transferred from my property to the adjoining property for their use as a parking space. I have attached a picture of the plans/aerial view below). When I viewed the property the neighbouring property was parked on what is now my driveway (they purchased their property 3 months before me from the same vendor), and not in their transferred parcel of land. I questioned this and the agent said "an old man has been parking in the neighbouring properties space for a few years" and advised I would need to discuss this with the neighbours when moving in.
When purchasing the property I asked my solicitor to confirm exactly what was my parking space and what was the neighbours. You will see on the aerial view that there is a fence with a car parked in front of it. This is the "old mans" car and this is the area the agent said was the neighbours parking space. My solicitor received the following response from the vendors solicitor to her enquiries (the same solicitor/vendor that sold the neighbouring property to my neighbours and also dealt with and lodged the Transfer of part and registered title):
"There is no shared driveway. Walders Cottage has its own parking area, shown as the hatched rectangle on the plan. This is accessed directly from the public highway. Oak cottage has its own exclusive parking area. It is the responsibility of each owner to maintain their respective parking areas."
The only area accessible "directly from the highway" is the area in front of the existing fence, which backs up what the agent said.
In my mind this all stacked up, so I thought I had what I needed to ensure when I moved in I could get the neighbours to park in the correct place.
My neighbours are now disputing the boundary saying that the plans show the parcel of land transferred as being partially behind or perhaps totally behind the existing fence encroaching on what I believe is my land/parking area.
They are suggesting that we take down or move the fence, and I am in agreement that the plans are confusing and if you compare the "real life" aeriel view with the plans it does look like their parking area extends beyond the existing fence.
We are very friendly and want to keep it that way, but want to make sure we do the right thing. Essentially I want space for 2 cars and guests, as I was led to believe I had when buying the property. My view is that the fence was there when we both bought it and the main boundary must be where the gravel ends and therefore the existing fence marks out their parking space.
Any advice on how to proceed?
h t t p s://i.imgur.com/8Ub9vNl.jpg
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Comments
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I take it your title is the area outlined in red, under exception of the two areas outlined in green? If so then the bit you've outlined as "neighbours claim" appears roughly accurate - so on what basis do you think you have title to the "my claim" area?
If you compare it with the county council's adopted road map, it looks like the public road goes up to the fence.0 -
My claim is on the basis that that's how it was sold to me and confirmed by the solicitor that sold both properties and registered the transfer... Their quote makes it very clear that their space is the bit in front of the fence. If it wasn't then it in fact would be a shared driveway and their description of "accessible directly from the highway" would be irrelevant...
They very well could have purposely been misleading me to push me to completion... perhaps I have been totally naive in thinking that a solicitor who dealt with the transfer would not seek to mislead...0 -
As said in the initial post we aren't really "fighting" about this and ultimately I am sure we could come to an arrangement on how far the fence needs to go back, which looks like what we will end up doing, I just wanted advise on how to get confirmation on the reality... I just cant believe an agent and solicitor can both blatantly lie and get away with it...0
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Is the "my claim" area the same as the hatched rectangle referred to above? Surely your solicitor could see that it doesn't form part of the registered title? And they should also have seen the extent of the roads adoption. I doubt you're going to acquire any rights over a bit of public road by spreading gravel over it and parking on it.As said in the initial post we aren't really "fighting" about this and ultimately I am sure we could come to an arrangement on how far the fence needs to go back, which looks like what we will end up doing, I just wanted advise on how to get confirmation on the reality... I just cant believe an agent and solicitor can both blatantly lie and get away with it...0 -
I doubt you're going to acquire any rights over a bit of public road by spreading gravel over it and parking on it.
Sounds logical to me.
Out of interest - can anyone possibly acquire any rights over a bit of public road that is unadopted and with a known private owner by "spreading gravel or the like" over it? I'm assuming the position remains that = no they can't.0 -
Easiest way might be to get a professional determination of the boundary. This will involve a RICS (or other suitably qualified) surveyor reviewing the deeds (using the relevant scales) and then overlay this against what is on the ground.0
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So from the plans etc, it looks like:
- The previous owner has extended the gravel over part of the public highway
- The "old man" is parking on the gravel which is part of the public highway. (i.e. The EA was mistaken when they said the "old man" was parking in the neighbour's space.)
- Your neighbour has correctly identified their parking space (in front of where the "old man" parks)
- Your neighbour may have trouble accessing their parking space, because of the "old man's" car - so the neighbour might have to drive over your land to get to their space.
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Yeah, looks like the area where the old man is parking was never part of the property, it's on the public highway. The space that was transferred to the neighbour is behind that, as shown on the ordinance survey map.
Your neighbour is correct.
2009 vs 2018:
poppy100 -
Very useful sometimes to be able to see old Googlemaps photos:D
Looks like previous owner has indeed been very cheeky and put gravel on quite a bit of the public highway trying to make out it belongs to your house - when it doesn't at all and never will.0
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