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Driveway Access - Pinch Points - Knowing My Rights for Right of Way
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MattFurious said:Section62 said:MattFurious said:I have a copy of their deeds (one of the letters I got from their solicitor) and the solicitor states:
"the driveway is owned by my client and that you have a right of way at all times and for all purposes over and along the driveway, each of you paying one of the costs of maintaining and repairing it.The BiB is a key point, and why I feel getting advice from a solicitor would be worthwhile.If the right was more limited - say to drive a car or light van to your property - then arguments about what width is necessary to do so may be engaged.However, "all purposes" is exactly that, all (reasonable) purposes. To take an extreme example, if you and a friend want to carry a 3m piece of wood along the RoW sideways then (provided the RoW is at least that wide) you are fully entitled to do so... it is an irrelevance that there are no 3m wide cars (the C&U regs limits the width of cars to 2.5m BTW)Also worth making a point that if you are having things like sand and bricks delivered, or a skip, then the lorry may need considerably more width than 3m to manoeuvre and/or put down stabilisers. Whether or not the lorry is allowed to 'park' on the driveway while loading/unloading could be another point of contention though.What happens at the end of the private drive? Is that the start of the (public) highway or are there estate roads that have to be passed over as well? If it is public highway, then what kind of road is it? At first glance at the plan I would suspect the 'bulge' was designed to allow vehicles to pass... which might be important if the drive leads straight onto highway, less so if it is onto a quiet private road.(INAL)Yes, if the highway authority think there's a risk of a vehicle needing to reverse onto the highway to allow another vehicle out and that potentially poses a risk to other road users, they will often ask for a condition to be included in the planning consent requiring a layout or other means (e.g. 'traffic lights') which either minimise the risk, or give priority to vehicles on the highway side. The 'bulge' in your case would be a sensible solution, allowing vehicles to pass close to the highway so the 'incoming' car gets off the road completely as quickly as possible.I would check the planning consent(s) carefully to see what they say. If there is a condition requiring the driveway layout to be agreed with the highway authority, and/or that it is not to be used for parking, then you may be in a position where you could write to the neighbour's solicitor to point this out, without necessarily needing to get a solicitor to do it for you.
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MattFurious said:Section62 said:snowdrop99 said:...it seems unreasonable for him to pay half the cost of maintaining the whole brown shaded area when some of it is not available to him to use freely and without obstruction (i.e. areas where neighbour regularly parks vehicles).I think there is quite a lot of merit to that argument if it were made in court. If there is equality in paying for maintenance then there should be equality in use - if there was an absence of necessary detail in the deeds then either both should be able to park on the brown area or neither should.In effect the neighbour is seeking to have sole use of an area the OP is expected to pay to maintain.I suppose the neighbour could claim they had to pay the capital cost of purchasing an area of land which they don't have sole use of... but assuming they purchased in full knowledge of the RoW then the price they paid should have accounted for that encumbrance.(INAL)
"the driveway is owned by my client and that you have a right of way at all times and for all purposes over and along the driveway, each of you paying one of the costs of maintaining and repairing it.
This does not entitle you to park on the driveway or any part of it, nor to use it for recreational purposes. You are not entitled to block it or store items on it, including deliveries of sand and bricks which have been made recently..."
So they know I have RoW AAT FaP!! LOL
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MattFurious said:GDB2222 said:
100% Agree. When we first moved it, the kids rode up and down on their bikes, their kids even played in our house at one point, then all of a sudden, dont do this, dont do that. We adhered to everything, but as I said, it seems like it is all one way, so hence knowing our rights. I even got told that I cannot wash my car when it is parked outside of my garage as it is on their drive. So all the suppressed nature of what was free when moving in means it causes headaches now.I wish that I could point you to a definitive guide to ROWs, but the law seems to be what you (rightly) term a grey area.
I don't know what started it, but, between you and your neighbour, you seem to be making each others' lives a lot harder than necessary.
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Ath_Wat said:MattFurious said:GDB2222 said:
100% Agree. When we first moved it, the kids rode up and down on their bikes, their kids even played in our house at one point, then all of a sudden, dont do this, dont do that. We adhered to everything, but as I said, it seems like it is all one way, so hence knowing our rights. I even got told that I cannot wash my car when it is parked outside of my garage as it is on their drive. So all the suppressed nature of what was free when moving in means it causes headaches now.I wish that I could point you to a definitive guide to ROWs, but the law seems to be what you (rightly) term a grey area.
I don't know what started it, but, between you and your neighbour, you seem to be making each others' lives a lot harder than necessary.3 -
Herbalus said:Ath_Wat said:MattFurious said:GDB2222 said:
100% Agree. When we first moved it, the kids rode up and down on their bikes, their kids even played in our house at one point, then all of a sudden, dont do this, dont do that. We adhered to everything, but as I said, it seems like it is all one way, so hence knowing our rights. I even got told that I cannot wash my car when it is parked outside of my garage as it is on their drive. So all the suppressed nature of what was free when moving in means it causes headaches now.I wish that I could point you to a definitive guide to ROWs, but the law seems to be what you (rightly) term a grey area.
I don't know what started it, but, between you and your neighbour, you seem to be making each others' lives a lot harder than necessary.
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Herbalus said:Ath_Wat said:MattFurious said:GDB2222 said:
100% Agree. When we first moved it, the kids rode up and down on their bikes, their kids even played in our house at one point, then all of a sudden, dont do this, dont do that. We adhered to everything, but as I said, it seems like it is all one way, so hence knowing our rights. I even got told that I cannot wash my car when it is parked outside of my garage as it is on their drive. So all the suppressed nature of what was free when moving in means it causes headaches now.I wish that I could point you to a definitive guide to ROWs, but the law seems to be what you (rightly) term a grey area.
I don't know what started it, but, between you and your neighbour, you seem to be making each others' lives a lot harder than necessary.0 -
markin said:Herbalus said:Ath_Wat said:MattFurious said:GDB2222 said:
100% Agree. When we first moved it, the kids rode up and down on their bikes, their kids even played in our house at one point, then all of a sudden, dont do this, dont do that. We adhered to everything, but as I said, it seems like it is all one way, so hence knowing our rights. I even got told that I cannot wash my car when it is parked outside of my garage as it is on their drive. So all the suppressed nature of what was free when moving in means it causes headaches now.I wish that I could point you to a definitive guide to ROWs, but the law seems to be what you (rightly) term a grey area.
I don't know what started it, but, between you and your neighbour, you seem to be making each others' lives a lot harder than necessary.0 -
Ath_Wat said:Herbalus said:Ath_Wat said:MattFurious said:GDB2222 said:
100% Agree. When we first moved it, the kids rode up and down on their bikes, their kids even played in our house at one point, then all of a sudden, dont do this, dont do that. We adhered to everything, but as I said, it seems like it is all one way, so hence knowing our rights. I even got told that I cannot wash my car when it is parked outside of my garage as it is on their drive. So all the suppressed nature of what was free when moving in means it causes headaches now.I wish that I could point you to a definitive guide to ROWs, but the law seems to be what you (rightly) term a grey area.
I don't know what started it, but, between you and your neighbour, you seem to be making each others' lives a lot harder than necessary.I think you are making up extra rules. Having a right of access means just that, It's not for someone else to arbitrarily decide how often the access may be used.We had a similar situation when we began groundwork on our property. This meant driving a dumper truck up and down the private road we have access rights upon. It wasn't long before someone decided our use of the road was 'excessive,' so we asked them to point out the excessive use clause in the relevant documentation. After that there was silence.It would have been quite different if there had been words limiting the use to a certain number of journeys in a given time. As there were not, it could be assumed 'excessive use' had no meaning.2 -
The key issue is a verbal agreement, or acceptance of certain activities, or waiving the necessity to intervene.
In the first year of living here, I could wash my car, the kids could ride their bike and the neighbours even said "Hi" while we were doing such activities, but at a point in time somehow it all changed...
If it was that precious to them, they should have set us straight on day 1. If our usage was annoying them, without us knowing we were doing wrong, then until they say something, we know no different.
So yes, we used the drive for the wrong means/purposes initially, but once discussions escalated, it moved to rules. Accepting rules is one thing, but as the title of this request is labelled, knowing MY rights with my Access at All Times clause.
The main issue is the behaviour, the aggressiveness of the neighbour which is what is the biggest grievance. It costs nothing to be polite, to engage and to help us understand with explanations. Ranting and using bad language is not appropriate.
Thanks for all the input
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Are the kids still friends, Did they have a falling out leading to this, Or are their kids now banned from talking to yours?
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