Dropped kerb help

Paper_hearts_1

Let me know if this isn’t the right section for this.

I recently put a dropped kerb in, spent a substantial money on it, and now the council is asking me to share with my neighbour (he’s a neighbour from hell).

I understand I may have to, but with me being a property owner and he being a council tenant, I want to know where I stand. Can I ask for half the money? I would like boundaries being set, I don’t want an informal agreement becoming a formal one particularly when it comes to selling.

There’s no rules specifying on the “terms” 

cheers. 

UnderOffer

What do they mean by share with neighbour? They drive up it and access their own drive? I’d not be having that. Let the council install their own on the property they own. 

sheramber

Presumably. the  dropped kerb and pavement area belong to the council so they can allow anyone to use it.
 

Paper_hearts_1

UnderOffer said:

What do they mean by share with neighbour? They drive up it and access their own drive? I’d not be having that. Let the council install their own on the property they own. 

Exactly that, according to the rules the council have the power to do so - you pay for the dropped kerb but the council own it. Seems very convenient for the council if you ask me. 

wilfred30

Paper_hearts_1 said:

Let me know if this isn’t the right section for this.

I recently put a dropped kerb in, spent a substantial money on it, and now the council is asking me to share with my neighbour (he’s a neighbour from hell).

I understand I may have to, but with me being a property owner and he being a council tenant, I want to know where I stand. Can I ask for half the money? I would like boundaries being set, I don’t want an informal agreement becoming a formal one particularly when it comes to selling.

There’s no rules specifying on the “terms” 

cheers. 

Are the Council asking you or telling you?

davidmcn

Paper_hearts_1 said:

UnderOffer said:

What do they mean by share with neighbour? They drive up it and access their own drive? I’d not be having that. Let the council install their own on the property they own. 

Exactly that, according to the rules the council have the power to do so - you pay for the dropped kerb but the council own it. Seems very convenient for the council if you ask me. 

You never "own" the road in front of your house if it's adopted by the council, whether or not you've paid for them to drop the kerb. I don't understand the layout though - is the dropped kerb partially in front of the neighbour's house? Are they going to be driving over your property to get into theirs?

es5595

Diagrams and layout please. It’s very difficult to offer advise otherwise!

If any part of this “access” involves your neighbour going into your property, then a straight no. 

Section62

Paper_hearts_1 said:

Exactly that, according to the rules the council have the power to do so - you pay for the dropped kerb but the council own it. Seems very convenient for the council if you ask me. 

As davidmcn has said, you don't own the road outside your property - what you have done is to pay the highway authority to make changes to their asset to make it more convenient for you to drive a vehicle on and off your property.

For that reason it is strange that the council have asked you to share with my neighbour. If the crossover is on a public highway then the neighbour can use it by right, there is no need for anyone to ask you to share.

That suggests you've either already had a dispute with the neighbour and told them they cannot use it (in which case the highway authority will help the neighbour assert their rights) or else the neighbour can only access their property by partially driving over yours.

If the latter then it is very odd for the council to make that request - you might want to check your deeds to see if they contain anything about having to allow neighbouring properties access across your property (quite common with LA housing).

Paper_hearts_1 said:

I would like boundaries being set, I don’t want an informal agreement becoming a formal one particularly when it comes to selling.

This is a good thing to think about, but if the area they will be using is entirely public highway then you don't have to worry. The law is absolutely clear on the rights of people to use public highway.

TBagpuss

es5595 said:

Diagrams and layout please. It’s very difficult to offer advise otherwise!

If any part of this “access” involves your neighbour going into your property, then a straight no. 

Also - check your deeds.

I have an Ex-LA house - ours have driveways already but there is a little triangle where the drives  meet the pavement where we each have the right to cross that section of the  other's drive - I am not entirely sure why - the driveways aren't so narrow that you need that space to be able to turn safely, although my neighbour does use it when he is maneuvering his caravan in or out of the driveway, and the fact that the fence between our driveways stops a couple of feet before the end of the drive does mean that there is better visibility then there would otherwise be. 

- you might have something similar but larger allowing the neighbours to cross the corner of your driveway to access theirs?

Paper_hearts_1

Not sure how to do a diagram, but it’s directly in front of my property, and for him to access his, he would have to go up the dropped kerb, either slightly drive into my drive or drive along the pavement. 

They would only have access to their drive (if constructed) if they drive up along my dropped kerb

I don’t mind sharing, if the cost is also shared. I just find it’s not fair for me fork out a few thousand for anyone to use, surely splitting the cost would have been efficient. 

Good shout in checking the title deeds, will see what happens. 

zagubov

Are your houses terraced or semi-detached? I think you're lucky they're allowing it at all. In our area, you need to be substantially set back from the road to park in your front yard, otherwise the council won't let you drop the kerb at all. They used to be more liberal about this then tightened up their rules.

They're restricting your right to drop the kerb and adjust their property (the pavement and the road including parking spaces) unless you do it in a way that means they won't have to lose on-road parking spaces if the neighbour wants to do the same later. Seems a responsible way for them to proceed from some viewpoints.

I'm not sure this is the same kind of a problem as a shared driveway running the length of the houses. It does provide the benefit of off-road parking.  There is a the risk that the opportunity might vanish in the future if the council change their rules.

In your shoes, I'd bite their hand off and get it done before the opportunity gets withdrawn. Which, from personal experience, can all too easily happen.