Farmers access on my driveway

user1977

ThisIsWeird said:

R33, please stop, and find out the info you have been asked to do. What does it say in your deeds, and the farmer's deeds?

That's not necessarily the whole story - as I said above, if access has been exercised for long enough then rights can become established, even if the deeds are silent about it.

But it would help if the OP answered any of the queries so far.

R33nwk

user1977 said:

I'm also curious as to the layout which made it non-obvious on viewing that the farmer and/or school are using this driveway.

Especially if it's covered with sheep poo.

I was told the driveway was 100% ours, the previous owner didn’t have/need a job and was happy to go straight out after the farmer past and put the droppings in compost bin. 

My wife and I both work during the day. 

The previous owners allowed the school to use the driveway because off covid and there are other entrances to school grounds. 

user1977

R33nwk said:

user1977 said:

I'm also curious as to the layout which made it non-obvious on viewing that the farmer and/or school are using this driveway.

Especially if it's covered with sheep poo.

I was told the driveway was 100% ours, the previous owner didn’t have/need a job and was happy to go straight out after the farmer past and put the droppings in compost bin. 

My wife and I both work during the day. 

The previous owners allowed the school to use the driveway because off covid and there are other entrances to school grounds. 

But how are the farmer and/or school getting in? A "driveway" doesn't suggest something with immediate access points to neighbouring land. Did you see gates and get told they were never used?

martindow

R33nwk said:I was told the driveway was 100% ours,

You may well be the owner of the land , but that does not mean that the farmer and school staff or pupils do not have the right to pass over it.  Either because that right is in the deeds or it has become established by use over a period of time. 

Can you give more details of what the paperwork says on this matter and/or the history of the farmer and school using this access?

propertyrental

My kitchen tap is dripping.

ThisIsWeird

user1977 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

R33, please stop, and find out the info you have been asked to do. What does it say in your deeds, and the farmer's deeds?

That's not necessarily the whole story - as I said above, if access has been exercised for long enough then rights can become established, even if the deeds are silent about it.

But it would help if the OP answered any of the queries so far.

Fair do's, user. In practice, how would/could the farmer evidence such a right? Witness statements? Folklore?

And could it not, in practice, be equally 'easy' to counter this with a witness statement to confirm, "Yes, I did give the farmer permission to use the driveway to help him out, but it was never suggested, or be on the basis of, it being a permanent arrangement! My driveway - when I say 'stop', he stops. Like me telling my other neighbour - it's ok, bring your wheelbarrow across here - clearly he ain't going to think it's now a 'right'..."

What if neither set of deeds make any reference to this 'right'? If R33's deeds just shows this driveway as being theirs?

I dunno. But interesting.

ThisIsWeird

R33nwk said:

I was told the driveway was 100% ours, the previous owner didn’t have/need a job and was happy to go straight out after the farmer past and put the droppings in compost bin. 

My wife and I both work during the day. 

The previous owners allowed the school to use the driveway because off covid and there are other entrances to school grounds. 

Who 'told' you?

Something lax here. Whether it's your conveyancer not bringing this to your attention (but, why would they, if no mention of it in your deeds?), or you not twigging that this is something you should have clarified before purchase. 

You seemingly knew that both the farmer and school kids used 'your' driveway before you exchanged?

Eldi_Dos

R33nwk said:

sheramber said:

propertyrental said:

sheramber said:

Farmer can open gate and take cattle though it. Slow process will probably result in even more mess.

in the absence of information, what makes you think "Farmer can open gate"?

the same reason he uses the drive. until the OP can prove he does not have a right to use the drive.

If the land was originally part of a croft/farm then it could have been sold with a condition that the farmer retains the right of access.

I recently lived in a crofting area in the north of Scotland and a crofter  who owned the adjoining land had the right to  pass through their gardens and down their  drives.  Not an unusual situation when the land was originally croft land. 

The prob I have is that he does not clean up after and my driveway is full off droppings. 

That’s my only access. I do not want my garden/house covered in it. Also the health of my two young children (aged 2 and 3) they are spotting it and rushing over and trying to touch it. 

I’m the only user off this road other than the farmer. 

Surely there is a law for him to leave it in same condition? 

You mention in your first post that you have spoken to the farmer previously and he was not listening, I would imagine that would be the reaction of most farmers if someone asked them to pick up sheep droppings when they moved the flocks about.

I can just see the raised eyebrows and rolling eyes and comments about bianco settler attitudes when the story is retold in the local community.

When your kids go to school they will be ribbed about this by the other kids who pick up on things.

My advice is just let it go and if the droppings are annoying you just brush them onto opposite verge and let nature deal with them

sheramber

user1977 said:

sheramber said:

Be prepared for noise of tractors working long into the night to get the hay in before the weather breaks, the sound of  bird scarers going off or the sound of gunfire during the night when they are lamping for foxes.

Then there is the fresh country air when they spray the fields with the slurry.

To be fair, there's not much of any of that in the Highlands.

Plenty of sheep though!

There was where I lived. I speak from experience.

Skiddaw1

I think I may be the only person in the world who actively likes the smell of slurry. I love it when the local farmers are muck spreading.