Scaffolding over my back wall using private road

Section62

Divorcing_Dad said:

TheJP said:

Divorcing_Dad said:

I live on a private road. There are some strong signs at the front of the road signifying that you can't enter, turn round or park in the road.

Realistically, it's poppycock. 4 of the houses on the main road we branch from have no access officially to the road, but they have all adapted their back gardens to park. Another on the other side parks his motorhome on the road and has modified his side gate to encompass a garage in his back garden.

People get funny about these things, but unless they can prove you are doing something to damage their property, there's nothing they can do. The Police would laugh at them. Especially as you're trying to get access to your own property.

What I would suggest, however, is that you notify them. Do it in a strong way - say "We WILL be doing this and that to access my property, however, we will also be keeping this to a minimum"

Make it clear to the scaffolding company that they need to move their vehicle as soon as possible. I'd probably make sure that you're about too, in case one of the owners comes out remonstrating.

They could obstruct the scaffolders from completing the job/leaving the private road by blocking access which they have the right to do as only they have right of way.

Your aggressive approach in telling the owners you WILL be doing this now lands you with a neighbour dispute so that's a great bonus for when you want to sell. I often think about peoples usernames and their personalities...

Ah, OK, I apologise. I didn't realise I was talking to a Justice of the Peace.

Anyhow, it's irrelevant. They're not going to block it, any more than if I decided to park on your drive, there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Block me in? I'll call the police. Do something to my car? That'll be criminal damage.

I can see the TA6 now....

"Yeah, so I had a dispute with the cronies in the private road behind who thought they had more rights than they did when I needed access to the rear of the house"

"ooh, we shan't be buying that house"

They can obtain an injunction prohibiting you from entering their private land, or they could sue for damage caused to their property - damage is quite likely when scaffolding and lorries are involved, especially on a private drive that may not have been constructed to highway standards.

There's more of them (7 or 8) than there are of you, so sharing the legal costs between them makes it a viable course of action.  Bear in mind that scaffolding requires at least two visits, so whilst there probably wouldn't be time for legal action to stop the first visit, there would be ample time to get an injunction preventing you (and the scaffolders) from going onto the private land to facilitate removal of the scaffolding at the end of the job. So then they'd have to carry it piece by small piece through the house anyway.

The landowners would have the right to try to prevent you trespassing on their land - it isn't clear why you think they don't. What might apply on your road isn't universally true.

You (if you were the owner of this property) would have no "rights" to use this land to get scaffolding into your rear garden, unless a RoW was in the deeds. You could try to obtain a court order under the provisions of the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992, but an application is likely to be refused since you have access - through your own house - to the area requiring maintenance.  The fact you want to make it easier for the scaffolders, when the alternative of using short poles is perfectly reasonable, doesn't give you grounds to use someone else's land without their permission.

The scaffolders will probably have more sense than to use private land without permission anyway.  Working on private land without consent would likely invalidate their public liability insurance - and a letter to the insurers pointing out the unlawful use of private land may result in cancellation of the policy.  The insurers won't want to carry the risk of insuring a business involved in a dangerous activity in public spaces if the business adopts such a reckless approach to the law. So one word from the neighbours saying the scaffolders can't use the private road would probably see them back in the lorry and off to another job.

Having to record on your TA6 that there is an injunction against the occupier of the property, or that you took action under ANLA and failed, is a rather bigger deal than you seem to think.  Anyone wanting to buy the property with a mortgage would need to convince the solicitor acting for the mortgage co that the dispute with the neighbour isn't a big deal, and in general the people working for/advising mortgage companies have a better idea of the law and the implications of neighbour disputes than the typical housebuyer.

Much better to ask nicely and hope the neighbours are willing to help, rather than throwing your weight around in the mistaken belief you have "rights".

ManuelG

Divorcing_Dad said:

TheJP said:

Divorcing_Dad said:

I live on a private road. There are some strong signs at the front of the road signifying that you can't enter, turn round or park in the road.

Realistically, it's poppycock. 4 of the houses on the main road we branch from have no access officially to the road, but they have all adapted their back gardens to park. Another on the other side parks his motorhome on the road and has modified his side gate to encompass a garage in his back garden.

People get funny about these things, but unless they can prove you are doing something to damage their property, there's nothing they can do. The Police would laugh at them. Especially as you're trying to get access to your own property.

What I would suggest, however, is that you notify them. Do it in a strong way - say "We WILL be doing this and that to access my property, however, we will also be keeping this to a minimum"

Make it clear to the scaffolding company that they need to move their vehicle as soon as possible. I'd probably make sure that you're about too, in case one of the owners comes out remonstrating.

They could obstruct the scaffolders from completing the job/leaving the private road by blocking access which they have the right to do as only they have right of way.

Your aggressive approach in telling the owners you WILL be doing this now lands you with a neighbour dispute so that's a great bonus for when you want to sell. I often think about peoples usernames and their personalities...

Ah, OK, I apologise. I didn't realise I was talking to a Justice of the Peace.

Anyhow, it's irrelevant. They're not going to block it, any more than if I decided to park on your drive, there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Block me in? I'll call the police. Do something to my car? That'll be criminal damage.

I can see the TA6 now....

"Yeah, so I had a dispute with the cronies in the private road behind who thought they had more rights than they did when I needed access to the rear of the house"

"ooh, we shan't be buying that house"

Tbf the way you've phrased it would put me off buying that house!

MultiFuelBurner

That does look like a lovely maintained and pristine light grey block paved private road.

Upon seeing those pictures if you were to have the scaffolding passed over the back fence be prepared for any repair damage to arrive in your letter box.

Could be an oil leak from the scaffold lorry (very likely) any chipped bricks etc etc.

Weigh that up against your other options.

JohnJ76

whatever happened to just knocking on, expalining the situation in a calm and polite manner and seeing what they say? Unless your house is a mansion for any decent scaffolding company they would be informed of the situation beforehand, pull up, drop off and go. looks like you've already taken before photos and give the scaffold company/builder 2 options - 1) through the house (you can use smaller poles and boards but they may charge a bit more in labour) or 2) run the risk that they may be liable for damage caused to the road, which if you were pursued by the residents for you would look to reclaim the costs from the contractor.  The ironwork is certainly HGV type not the plastic rubbish found on driveways and whilst the road may not be up to trunk road standards I'd imagine its seen the odd delivery lorry over its time without any ill effect. I'd be surprised if a local scaffold firm used 26t lorries (thats a big big payload of scaffold) to do deliveries, more likely to be a 7.5tgvw dropsider.  
Why does everything have to be so adverserial nowadays? community spirit in this country has long gone hasn't it.  Bottle of wine always acts as a good sweetener.