Re-routing a ROW without servient owner's permission

Newbie22FTB

Section62 said:

Newbie22FTB said:

My question is really aimed at the scenario of that threat being successful and how I can safeguard an agreement to surrender the ROW, in the limited amount of time left (should the deeds not be quick to change)?

The solicitors could draw up a contract that would be legally enforceable - i.e. that the neighbour agrees to the removal of the RoW in exchange for 'x'.  You may want to be a party to that contract to make it easier to enforce yourself, rather than needing the vendor to do it on your behalf.  I would think the most sensible 'x' would be the transfer of the land the neighbour has built on to the neighbour.  I'd tread carefully with anything which could hint at 'blackmail' (e.g. 'we won't report you if you do what we want').  Bear in mind that things like the right to report a planning infringement to the local planning authority can't be signed away.  It is effectively the equivalent of hush money, and if the contract/agreement came before a court the judge may take a very dim view of the whole arrangement.

I'm somewhat sceptical the legal strategy as you've described it will work. But courts are unpredictable.

TBH the biggest issue here is whether you really want to become the neighbour of someone who has been threatened with legal action in this way (and has crossed various lines themselves).  You are effectively buying into a neighbour dispute, and I think it would be optimistic to believe that will go away after you've purchased.

I'm not worried about buying into a dispute, as the vendor is treating it as his issue with them, not mine. He knows the ROW devalues his property and wants to sell to me at the agreed sale price (without the ROW). He knows the leverage he has to compromise without resorting to suing for damage to his property, is an agreement to simply surrender the ROW. It could be interpreted as blackmail, but I see it as a compromise to avoid a legitimate threat of being sued for actual damage to his property. Seems like a no-brainer to me, personally.  I only want to buy a house without a ROW, so I have complete privacy in my home and am not put off by the prospect of living next door to a neighbour who has already done what they have done.

PS - thanks for all the input btw