Potential Driveway boundary problem

worthy64

Both the house has enough space in front, There is no need to park inside.  Other houses nearby have fences and they park in front of their house. 

ProDave

I can't see there being a boundary dispute.  There is a clear line and a slight change of level.

I count 19 paving blocks in the sodier course at the front of the house.  I think they are about 100mm each, so that is 1.9 metres.  Best of luck parking a car in that width and opening the door to get out.

It does look to widen out towards the back and is that a pair of double gates into the back garden?  Does that lead to hard standing?  Even that would be a squeeze.

If there is parking in front of the house, use that, if you really want parking alongside the house and vehicle access to the back garden, look for another house.

gwynlas

Installing a fence that possibly hindered parking is likely to cause a dispute. To my mind that is not a drivewway simply block paved land between the houses with marked boundary. There appears to be an off road parking space at the front of each house but neither would feasably be called a driveway.

HampshireH

Personally I wouldn't buy this house.

But if you intend to could you have a chat with the vendor about how parking works.

The neighbour has clearly used this space to park and it may be that they have operated a 1st come 1st served approach but to park on either part it looks like a vehicle would need to drive across the others land to do so.

I also think a fence will cause an immediate issue with the neighbour.

worthy64

ProDave said:

I can't see there being a boundary dispute.  There is a clear line and a slight change of level.

I count 19 paving blocks in the sodier course at the front of the house.  I think they are about 100mm each, so that is 1.9 metres.  Best of luck parking a car in that width and opening the door to get out.

It does look to widen out towards the back and is that a pair of double gates into the back garden?  Does that lead to hard standing?  Even that would be a squeeze.

If there is parking in front of the house, use that, if you really want parking alongside the house and vehicle access to the back garden, look for another house.

Yes, there is a pair of double gates into the back garden.

35har1old

worthy64 said:

Hello!
I am a first-time buyer and am in the process of buying the house in the attached picture, right side of the picture with a white gate.

My  Surveyor mentioned that "The driveway provides off road parking. The driveway is likely to be partly shared with your neighbour. You should ask your legal adviser to check your rights and responsibilities."

I asked the solicitor about any shared driveway arrangement, solicitor mentioned that  "Driveway is not shared, There are no restrictions which would prevent you from installing a fence at the front boundary subject to the height of the fence not exceeding 5 feet in height.  I would recommend that you discuss this with your neighbour before installing the fence to avoid any disputes.  You would also need to ensure that installing fence would not interfere with the neighbour’s parking on their driveway."

It is obvious from the picture that both house has the same paving, I think, there is a possibility of dispute in the future regarding the maintenance of the driveaway, as well as dispute in the boundary.  when  I placed the offer I did not know about the concept of a shared driveway.  I don't want to place myself in any future dispute or issue with selling the house in the future. 

Should I walk away or ask the vendor to put a fence in the driveaway?  or if I am worrying over nothing. Any advice is gratefully received.  Thanks. 

Can only see a white door
The white pin kerbs is the boundary line.
I can't see the vendor erecting a fence.
Erecting a fence would require the paviors being lifted for post holes also it would require concrete removed from pin kerbs to allow the posts to be placed against same and the post would reduce the width by a minimum of 75mm.Fence panels would have to fitted between the posts to prevent encroaching beyond the boundary line.
The solicitor is correct that it is not a shared driveway if you keep to your side of the pin kerb but solicitors never view the property in person the best you can hope for is they view it on google 
The area beyond the frontage the pin kerbs should have been continued.in the future they might need to be added

 

worthy64

I think the Neighbour may also add a right of way covenant if there is no fence, which can affect the property valuation in the future. 

ThisIsWeird

worthy64 said:

Hello!
I am a first-time buyer and am in the process of buying the house in the attached picture, right side of the picture with a white gate.
My  Surveyor mentioned that "The driveway provides off road parking. The driveway is likely to be partly shared with your neighbour. You should ask your legal adviser to check your rights and responsibilities."
I asked the solicitor about any shared driveway arrangement, solicitor mentioned that  "Driveway is not shared, There are no restrictions which would prevent you from installing a fence at the front boundary subject to the height of the fence not exceeding 5 feet in height.  I would recommend that you discuss this with your neighbour before installing the fence to avoid any disputes.  You would also need to ensure that installing fence would not interfere with the neighbour’s parking on their driveway."
It is obvious from the picture that both house has the same paving, I think, there is a possibility of dispute in the future regarding the maintenance of the driveaway, as well as dispute in the boundary.  when  I placed the offer I did not know about the concept of a shared driveway.  I don't want to place myself in any future dispute or issue with selling the house in the future.
Should I walk away or ask the vendor to put a fence in the driveaway?  or if I am worrying over nothing. Any advice is gratefully received.  Thanks. 

You say you have concerns about possible future disputes over the driveway's maintenance and the boundary?
Good news - neither of these should be an issue, or would certainly be easily resolvable; your paved area is quite separate, so maintenance on just yours should be straight forward. The boundary line has helpfully been highlighted in white, so that's equally simple to ascertain.
That's the good news. The rest is fraught with potentially hellish outcomes.
The solicitor mentioned the word 'shared'. I suspect they didn't mean in any legal sense of actual shared 'rights' such as to cross over the other neighbour's area (unless this is specified in the deeds), but just in the practical sense that anyone exiting their parked car would almost certainly have to swing their car door over that line, and even temporarily step on to the other person's driveway during the getting in&out process. Quite understandable, and not an issue for two reasonable and friendly neighbours. But a complete minefield should just one of you not be.
The actual true boundary line is likely to be in the centre of that white band, or at least that would have been the intention if measured accurately. If you want a physical boundary such as a fence, it would have to be built entirely on your side, so the posts could theoretically 'touch' the centre of the white line, but would need to sit fully on your side. So you would lose ~75mm of your width (assuming a timber fence). And your neighbour would almost certainly still be highly p'ed off if this made it more difficult to access their vehicle, even tho' they haven't lost any width from their side.
The current arrangement requires significant consideration and restraint from both parties. If one person is an 'ole - and all it would take is for them to buy a wider car that sits toooo close to that centre line - the resulting nightmare will be hellish to resolve. What will the other neighbour do? Park their narrower car equally close to the boundary 'just to make a point'? Or, squeeze closer to their own house to avoid a clunk?! 
Given the almost certain fact that a good 50% of the British population are, to some degree, a'oles (Ie, they actually 'are', or could easily 'become' given a tetchy situation), there is nothing on this planet that would make me buy such a property.
I find the fact the boundary line is marked very clearly in white to be 'interesting' - like emphasising the boundary so's folks don't encroach? But that area looks simply far too narrow for folk to park two cars on it. I'd only entertain purchase if, say, the deeds or some other enforceable agreement stated that area as access only, allowing parking beyond these gates.

Cit6

Parking 2 cars there at the same time? dont look possible. You say you dont intend to park there, when you sell it your buyers might.
Parking and boundary disputes are the main cause of massive problems, been there and read the book, NEVER AGAIN!!!!  

UnderOffer

Is the narrow part (red arrow) the shared area, as you would need to encroach on neighbours drive to then proceed down to your gates? Can you park beyond your gates in back garden? 

This was a similar set up in an old house of ours, the drive was shared, no parking or stopping on entrance, but it widened towards bottom so you could park directly outside your garage. You were only permitted to drive up and down to enter or exit from your garage/parking. No fence could be erected as neither neighbour would get a vehicle down there as too narrow.