Blocking footpath on my property used by people to walk on my garden

kaotix

I'm looking to get some help regarding erecting a fence/wall on my property as outlined on my title plan. The fence would terminate the end of a footpath that exists to allow people to walk from the back of their houses down towards a set of parking spaces which are owned by the property owners and myself included.
The way the path is positioned means you're meant to walk down the path and then left onto the parking spaces but people simply continue straight on, walk across my front garden and across the front of my property.
I'd like to prevent this by erecting a fence that would actually terminate the end of the path so it couldn't be used to easily allow people to walk on my property.

The layout is awkward in the sense that, my house is a corner plot, there is a row of 6 parking spaces (2 of which I own) and the path runs alongside my boundary wall.
On my title plan it shows that my boundary clearly encompasses the open section of the footpath, along to the parking spaces and around the front of my property all in one piece.
The path itself leads down an incline between my boundary and the parking spaces so there is a brick wall on one side. The open section where you exit the footpath is right inside my boundary.

Am I at risk of any legal repercussions for basically fencing off the bottom of this footpath? I'm actually looking at increasing my fence boundary out more to cover the actual boundary so I don't see why I would be limited to building on my own land. I've checked my title for covenants relating to the path but found nothing at all that says there is a public right of way leading through or on my property.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

kaotix

This is where it's a bit of a grey area, it's my understanding that the land is mine. It's within my title plan clearly shown as my boundary. I simply want to erect a fence within my boundary, however that area is currently part of a footpath where people walk down onto my property.

So if you imagine the footpath is say, 30ft long, the end 2-3 feet of it where it ends is within my boundary. It's this 2-3 feet I want to start my fence extension to encompass my own boundary.

housebuyer143

kaotix said:

I'm looking to get some help regarding erecting a fence/wall on my property as outlined on my title plan. The fence would terminate the end of a footpath that exists to allow people to walk from the back of their houses down towards a set of parking spaces which are owned by the property owners and myself included.
The way the path is positioned means you're meant to walk down the path and then left onto the parking spaces but people simply continue straight on, walk across my front garden and across the front of my property.
I'd like to prevent this by erecting a fence that would actually terminate the end of the path so it couldn't be used to easily allow people to walk on my property.

The layout is awkward in the sense that, my house is a corner plot, there is a row of 6 parking spaces (2 of which I own) and the path runs alongside my boundary wall.
On my title plan it shows that my boundary clearly encompasses the open section of the footpath, along to the parking spaces and around the front of my property all in one piece.
The path itself leads down an incline between my boundary and the parking spaces so there is a brick wall on one side. The open section where you exit the footpath is right inside my boundary.

Am I at risk of any legal repercussions for basically fencing off the bottom of this footpath? I'm actually looking at increasing my fence boundary out more to cover the actual boundary so I don't see why I would be limited to building on my own land. I've checked my title for covenants relating to the path but found nothing at all that says there is a public right of way leading through or on my property.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Someone near us with the same problem erected posts and ran thick rope between them. Seemed to do the job and much cheaper than a full on fence and doesn't block your view out the front. 

kaotix

housebuyer143 said:

kaotix said:

I'm looking to get some help regarding erecting a fence/wall on my property as outlined on my title plan. The fence would terminate the end of a footpath that exists to allow people to walk from the back of their houses down towards a set of parking spaces which are owned by the property owners and myself included.
The way the path is positioned means you're meant to walk down the path and then left onto the parking spaces but people simply continue straight on, walk across my front garden and across the front of my property.
I'd like to prevent this by erecting a fence that would actually terminate the end of the path so it couldn't be used to easily allow people to walk on my property.

The layout is awkward in the sense that, my house is a corner plot, there is a row of 6 parking spaces (2 of which I own) and the path runs alongside my boundary wall.
On my title plan it shows that my boundary clearly encompasses the open section of the footpath, along to the parking spaces and around the front of my property all in one piece.
The path itself leads down an incline between my boundary and the parking spaces so there is a brick wall on one side. The open section where you exit the footpath is right inside my boundary.

Am I at risk of any legal repercussions for basically fencing off the bottom of this footpath? I'm actually looking at increasing my fence boundary out more to cover the actual boundary so I don't see why I would be limited to building on my own land. I've checked my title for covenants relating to the path but found nothing at all that says there is a public right of way leading through or on my property.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Someone near us with the same problem erected posts and ran thick rope between them. Seemed to do the job and much cheaper than a full on fence and doesn't block your view out the front. 

It's technically on the side of my house but we deem it the front garden due to the separation between the back garden and front (fence for the back garden - no fence for the "front" garden) i actually want to extend the fence to increase the enclosed space around the side of the house.
I'd thought about posts/rope previously until I wanted to better use the space. (although mine was more sinister and the rope would be about 6 inches off the floor with a camera pointing at it and a direct feed to you've been framed)

MattMattMattUK

kaotix said:

This is where it's a bit of a grey area, it's my understanding that the land is mine. It's within my title plan clearly shown as my boundary. I simply want to erect a fence within my boundary, however that area is currently part of a footpath where people walk down onto my property.

So if you imagine the footpath is say, 30ft long, the end 2-3 feet of it where it ends is within my boundary. It's this 2-3 feet I want to start my fence extension to encompass my own boundary.

Is it a footpath in the legal sense, do the other properties have right of way and/or access based on deeds to cross this land to access the parking spaces? Is there another way for them to access the spaces? Do you want to go to war with your neighbours? 

silvercar

You can't block anything that is a right of way or someone else has access rights over, even if you do own the land.

As well as checking your deeds, you may need to check neighbours deeds to see if they have any rights.

UnderOffer

I can’t visualise this, I need a diagram. 

Sea_Shell

Can you post a picture or a drawing/diagram?


Are people just short cutting across your front garden (being lazy) or is that the official access point?

74jax

Could you post a Google map, looking down on the area for us to visualise? 

RAS

Is this Highway land? It would be within your boundary but you'd be severely limited as to what you can do with it.

kaotix

The image below shows my title plan. The red area being my boundary which is a continuous red line around my property and my parking spaces.
The blue line is the footpath in question which shows where it falls into my boundary.
The green dashed line is where I'm looking to build said fence.

People are lazy and use my garden to get to the footpath.
Just before the green dashed line there is a 1ft wall as the path starts to ascend.