Neighbours - Driveway / Shared access to the driveway .

Section62

Woolsery said:

So, to be clear, there's a covered alleyway between the buildings which both owners accessed in the past to reach their gardens, (although your aunt has another means of access too) Is that correct? Whose house is above the alley, or do both houses meet above it? 

Have the neighbours blocked off this alleyway and is the gas meter in there?

If I understand the OP correctly, the issue isn't really the alleyway (apart from the gate) but instead the strip of land between the alleyway and the road.

The OP has identified that this strip is not included within the red line of either property.

But as canaldumidi points out, LR Plans are very inaccurate at a detailed level*.  The text of the deeds needs to be read very carefully to see if there are any clues as to who actually owns the apparently 'unonwned' strip of land.

The gating of the alley is probably a different issue, but again the wording of the deeds needs to be studied.

(*This forum generally needs to be clearer that most LR title plans are only showing a general location of a boundary, not the absolute truth in tablet-of-stone form)

Twixty3

The triangular marked  area at the end of the path/alleyway strongly suggests shared access where both  would have a gate at an angle attached to the dividing fence/wall.  

zagubov

I've lived in a house with a shared side passage to the back gardens.

There was a gate at the front and the first thing the neighbours did when we moved in was give us our key to the gate, for us to use as and when needed.

I would think that, whatever the law states, at the very least, your aunt should expect this from the neighbours.

theoretica

The issue that is presently annoying is not the alleyway under/between the houses - but the bigger issue seems to be the neighbours making a land grab.  So it is probably worth looking at everywhere they are taking liberties.

canaldumidi

Not sure what the council could/will do or say. Assuming these are reehold properties, the council really won't be interested or get involved.

However you said these are ex council houses. Are they perhaps leasehold, and if so is the council the freeholder? That might well make a difference......

Twixty3

If the alleyway and path are shared and not solely owned by either it’s all connected surely as one leads to the other and what if they park a car in front of ‘their’ alley?   It’s a  land grab of both alley and path really if they have placed themselves as the keepers of they keys to the alley.  

Section62

canaldumidi said:

However you said these are ex council houses. Are they perhaps leasehold, and if so is the council the freeholder? That might well make a difference......

It could also be that the path at the front was excluded from both (freehold?) sales - i.e. that the council still own it.

Assuming one property was sold before the other, the council would have wanted to retain full control of access to the other property.

I think understanding what "1" refers to may be key here - I wonder whether one property has a flying freehold for the first floor above the alley, and the other property (or the council) have the alleyway itself.

homi

here a photo of near identical of how it use to be , the neighbour pulled down the fence on their side and concreted up to my aunts fence   .- they park around as close as the can to the fence to get the 2 cars on the drive - they put a metal gate on the alleyway and put their bins in front of it .  

My aunt has a lower fence of around 2 ft  , the husband who is a taxi driver sits in his car with his engine / lights on  all times of the day which shine into her room  - she has to sleep  downstairs since a fall . 

Is there a right to " claim " by them as she getting fedup and may sell and move on but not sure if what they have done would cause any issues down the line . 
  

Exodi

homi said:

here a photo of near identical of how it use to be , the neighbour pulled down the fence on their side and concreted up to my aunts fence   .- they park around as close as the can to the fence to get the 2 cars on the drive - they put a metal gate on the alleyway and put their bins in front of it .  

...  

Oh wow, it does look like a shameless land grab then.

But we can only speculate. As others have asked throughout this thread, you have to look at the deeds.

Similar to your situation, I actually own the contentious piece of land however, there is a deed of easement in place that requires me to provide my neighbours full and unrestricted use at all times. Obviously putting a locked gate would go against this.

Twixty3

From what I can see on the maps they both have a bit that juts out to include the alley which implies it is shared.  The path belongs to neither house according to the map also. So at face value they have no claim.  

Might be worth your Aunt talking to her solicitor as if it is shared it should be sold as shared. 

How is the access at the other end of the alley shared ? Was your  Aunt able to access her garden via this alley from her own gate or did her previous neighbour have it fenced of?