Adopting and unadopted road

Cotterv

We have just bought a house with land and we are starting a little campsite. The access to the campsite is from a lane we share with the village church. The road is currently unadopted and unregistered. The parish council have looked in to this, as did our solicitor and no owner can be found. The church dates back to the 11th century but the house was built on farm land in the 1970’s. The access to our land pre dates the house. We don’t know if we need to do anything. We’re worried if the church in the future objects to the campsite and adopts the road, this would be a problem for our campsite. We did get insurance as recommended by the solicitor, but we’re worried this won’t protect our access in this circumstance. We may also be over thinking it and it’s been this way for years so why rock the boat.  Can we apply to adopt the lane and allow access for the church? Can anyone advise? Thanks in advance. 

AdrianC

Adoption of a road means the local authority accept responsibility for maintaining it, no more than that.

The church won't, can't adopt the road. The local authority could, but are massively unlikely to.

It's incredibly unlikely anybody can do anything to remove right of access to your land.

You do know that you need a local authority licence in order to run a campsite, yes?

davidmcn

I think you're getting confused. "Adoption" means the road authority taking on responsibility for maintenance, it's not something other people can do.

What risks does your insurance cover? Does it anticipate your proposed change of use? Didn't you get advice on all of this from your solicitor?

princeofpounds

You have an easement (right of way) over that land. It is probably prescriptive (established by long use). Legally, that's as good as having an easement expressly granted to you in your deeds. The main difference is in how easy it is to evidence. But your solicitor would/should have satisfied themselves of that. It was clearly considered as you have indemnity insurance in case of of the worst, but it's pretty inconceivable that it would ever need to pay out. The landowner probably doesn't even know they own the road.

The Church is in the same situation as you. They have no more rights to the road and they cannot take it over through adverse possession because they cannot take exclusive use (neither can you). It's already been explained that adoption relates to the local authority and has no relevance here.

IF the landowner suddenly showed up, they could do nothing about your domestic use of the road. The only thing they can do is challenge a 'change of use' of the easement. The bars for change of use are remarkably high, and need to involve a change in the fundamental nature of use, not just intensity.

If, for example, your house became a quarry and heavy plant was driving up and down it all day, that could be challenged. If three more houses were built on your land, that could not be challenged. A campsite is somewhere in the grey area in between. I suspect a court would not uphold a challenge, unless large motorhomes were coming in and out, otherwise it's quite similar to domestic traffic.

But you 99.9% don't need to worry about this, as the landowner is off the scene.

If there is going to be a dispute, it's far more likely to be about maintenance. Both you and the church have an ancillary right to repair - not improve - the road, but it one of you uses it much more than the other, there can be quibbles about how to arrange it. Possibly obstruction is another issue if you kick people out when services end and all the traffic ends up on the road at the same time. But I suspect a small campsite is not going to be a bother.

Cotterv

AdrianC said:

Adoption of a road means the local authority accept responsibility for maintaining it, no more than that.

The church won't, can't adopt the road. The local authority could, but are massively unlikely to.

It's incredibly unlikely anybody can do anything to remove right of access to your land.

You do know that you need a local authority licence in order to run a campsite, yes?

Thanks for this. Reassuring comments.  We have gone with the caravan and camping club so have the exemption certificate through them. 

Cotterv

davidmcn said:

I think you're getting confused. "Adoption" means the road authority taking on responsibility for maintenance, it's not something other people can do.

What risks does your insurance cover? Does it anticipate your proposed change of use? Didn't you get advice on all of this from your solicitor?

We did discuss at length with the solicitor, hence the insurance. I guess now we’re here and villagers are talking about the lane, it’s just made us a little worried. I have emailed our solicitor for clarity. Thanks

Cotterv

princeofpounds said:

You have an easement (right of way) over that land. It is probably prescriptive (established by long use). Legally, that's as good as having an easement expressly granted to you in your deeds. The main difference is in how easy it is to evidence. But your solicitor would/should have satisfied themselves of that. It was clearly considered as you have indemnity insurance in case of of the worst, but it's pretty inconceivable that it would ever need to pay out. The landowner probably doesn't even know they own the road.

The Church is in the same situation as you. They have no more rights to the road and they cannot take it over through adverse possession because they cannot take exclusive use (neither can you). It's already been explained that adoption relates to the local authority and has no relevance here.

IF the landowner suddenly showed up, they could do nothing about your domestic use of the road. The only thing they can do is challenge a 'change of use' of the easement. The bars for change of use are remarkably high, and need to involve a change in the fundamental nature of use, not just intensity.

If, for example, your house became a quarry and heavy plant was driving up and down it all day, that could be challenged. If three more houses were built on your land, that could not be challenged. A campsite is somewhere in the grey area in between. I suspect a court would not uphold a challenge, unless large motorhomes were coming in and out, otherwise it's quite similar to domestic traffic.

But you 99.9% don't need to worry about this, as the landowner is off the scene.

If there is going to be a dispute, it's far more likely to be about maintenance. Both you and the church have an ancillary right to repair - not improve - the road, but it one of you uses it much more than the other, there can be quibbles about how to arrange it. Possibly obstruction is another issue if you kick people out when services end and all the traffic ends up on the road at the same time. But I suspect a small campsite is not going to be a bother.

Thank you. Your comments are really reassuring. There are some pot holes that need repairing and we’ve asked the parish council if we can do them and they’ve said yes as it’s not there road. 

In light of all these comments I think we are best just repairing and maintaining the road to the entrances to our land and not worry. It’s only a very small 5-10 tent site so traffic should never be a problem. Thanks again.