Shared access and driveway

Fire_Fox

JES1963 wrote: »

With regards to putting markers down the centre of the drive she told my husband that the council was doing this but this part of the estate is private and not been adopted by the council so how can they.. Look forward to addressing this too...

And to add her son-in-law is a Solicitor and we have had letters (not on letterhead) from him on her behalf with regards to this saying she owns the shared joint access and we are trespassing etc.
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snilloct1957 wrote: »

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Here's something to throw into the mix... If it's correct that whilst she will own the freehold on the driveway, you will still have ROA over it, it seems her son, the solicitor, doesn't know the law. How about writing to the firm that employs him, asking if he is acting in an official capacity on their behalf, as you believe what he has said is incorrect in law and that you would expect a solicitor to be competent? Address the letter to the senior partner at the firm and say you are considering a complaint to the SRA about his involvement in this dispute. Shame you handed the letters back, they would have been good evidence.

Assuming the neighbour's son is a solicitor.

Assuming her son, a solicitor, wrote the letters.

snilloct1957

G_M wrote: »

Can you use the 'quote' function to differentiate your response from the OP?


As for the suggestion, if the son is writing in a private capacity, he can say whatever he wants. What he writes does not necessarily indicate a lack of legal knowledge - he may well know the law but be simply supporting his mother.


The SRA would not be interested as he is a private individual.

Still worth a letter to the senior partner. If he's wrong about this, what does it say about the quality of his work the rest of the time?

Norman_Castle

When you buy a freehold are you told you now own the land within your boundary rather than it been owned by the freeholder. It sounds like she has misunderstood what she has been told guided by wishful thinking and the need to physically gain something for the cost of the freehold.

hazyjo

snilloct1957 wrote: »

Still worth a letter to the senior partner. If he's wrong about this, what does it say about the quality of his work the rest of the time?

Absolutely nothing to do with his job. Not a good suggestion. If someone turned up at, or wrote to, my work about a private letter one of our solicitors had written, they'd have their @r$e kicked out pretty quickly! Why on earth would you want to contact their work? They're obviously qualified to work there. You also have no idea what the letters said. I should imagine there was a lot of backside-covering in them.

Davesnave

snilloct1957 wrote: »

Still worth a letter to the senior partner. If he's wrong about this, what does it say about the quality of his work the rest of the time?

I think the object of most responses here, has been to clarify the situation, not inflame it.

As has been pointed out, it's in the interests of both sides to avoid a neighbour dispute and achieve clarity about the rights of access, enabling long-term civility to prevail. That's far more important than anything else.

The remaining difficulty is that the OP has not provided sufficient detail for anyone here to know what the exact legal situation is regarding the ownership and use of the driveway. "Shared driveway" is insufficient, which is why there is a problem!

Tom99

G_M wrote: »

Read your Title. It costs £3 to get it from the Land Registry here. What does it say about the drive, and your rights of access?

Read her Title. It costs £3 to get it from the Land Registry here. What does it say about the drive, and her rights of access?

There are several likely scenarios :

1) the drive is split ownership: You own your half, she owns her half. You have a right to use her half for access and she has a right to use you half for access


2) the whole drive is fully owned by one of you. The other has a right of access over it

3) Note the drive cannot be jointly owned. You cannot both own the same bit of land.

4) or potentially she owns the drive and you do not have a right of access. This seems unlikely, and would certainly not have changed by her buying the freehold- if you had a ROA before, you still do .If you never did, then you still don't!

The OP needs to follow the above advice plus the two title plans so £12 for a complete answer.

xylophone

The OP needs to follow the above advice plus the two title plans so £12 for a complete answer.

The OP's last post (13) says

Had reply from Wainhomes confirming Freehold irrelevant as these rights will exist I perpetuity

Now comes the part where we tell her and happy to do so, although, we have had this conversation many times over the years! But this time we will be providing deeds, evidence and information we have gained.

Thank you for your reply will keep you updated.