Rights of Access and Parking on Private Driveway

Hayleyjj

I have lived at my home for 58 years and have always parked in the driveway next to my house.  5 new houses were built at the end of the driveway and I had an agreement with the owner of the land who built the houses that I could park on this driveway.  He put tarmacadam on the driveway and I paid to have it put along the strip next to my wall as he was only goingtodo the middle.  The other side remains untarmaced as the neighbour didn't want to pay for it but maintained the grass growing on it. They have just moved so no-one will be doing this. Several houses have right of access to the driveway as it leads along the back of my house as well as to the new housing estate.  
I have a garage leading onto this driveway.  
I have just received a letter from one of the residents who stated that they would 'allow' continued parking for two of my families cars abd has erected two new signs saying private driveway. She said she now expects me to contribute to the upkeep of the drive. What are my rights with regards to the access, parking etc and the other neighbours who also have access? Please help. I'm 80 and don't need this stress. Many thanks

tacpot12

I would suggest that you check to see if you have Legal Expenses cover included as part of your home insurance. (It's not clear from your post whether you own your own home or not). 

If you have this cover, call the Legal Helpline and ask for held with this problem. 

Someone will need to look at the Deeds and Title Plan to your house. Do you have these? If not, you can buy the Title Deeds and Title Plan for £3 each from HM Land Registry. 

My guess is that you have no rights to park on the land that isn't yours, and that any tarmac that is on your land is yours to maintain, and that you have no obligation to pay to maintain the tarmac that isn't on your land. You need professional legal advice which you can get for free if your have Legal Expenses cover as part of your home insurance. If you don't have this cover, you will need a solictor to look at the Deeds and Title Plan. This need not cost a lot, but you should quiz the solicitor carefully and a set a cap on what you can afford to pay. 

There is absolutely no need to get stressed about this. The solictor will tell you the legl position, and you can ignore the resident if they want you to do anything that you aren't legally required to do. I would take out legal expenses cover as part of your home insurance NOW if you don't already have it. They won't advise you as this is an existing issue, but if you were ever sued by the residents, they would defend you. 

Section62

Hayleyjj said:

I have lived at my home for 58 years and have always parked in the driveway next to my house.  5 new houses were built at the end of the driveway and I had an agreement with the owner of the land who built the houses that I could park on this driveway.  He put tarmacadam on the driveway and I paid to have it put along the strip next to my wall as he was only goingtodo the middle.  The other side remains untarmaced as the neighbour didn't want to pay for it but maintained the grass growing on it. They have just moved so no-one will be doing this. Several houses have right of access to the driveway as it leads along the back of my house as well as to the new housing estate.  
I have a garage leading onto this driveway.  
I have just received a letter from one of the residents who stated that they would 'allow' continued parking for two of my families cars abd has erected two new signs saying private driveway. She said she now expects me to contribute to the upkeep of the drive. What are my rights with regards to the access, parking etc and the other neighbours who also have access? Please help. I'm 80 and don't need this stress. Many thanks

You'll need to give us some more information and perhaps some pictures and a plan, we'll need to understand exactly what the situation is.

If this driveway goes from the front? of your house and runs along the back then it sounds like it might be the typical kind of shared accessway that allowed traders and general access to the rear of the properties.  Do your deeds say anything about having a right of access across this land?

What kind of properties are they and when were they built?  I.e. is it a typical 1930/40's estate built by a developer, or are they individual properties built at different times?

ProDave

You probably want to include more information and a sketch perhaps.  I am struggling to understand how you can park on a drive that gives access to other properties without blocking it, so my interpretation is you have 2 parking spaces to actually park on that are accessed from the shared driveway not actually part of it?

None of us know who owns the drive or the parking spaces.

At least now you have some form of formal agreement to use it, and as it has been freshly resurfaced now, it is unlikely to need any maintenance for a good while now so I would not get bothered having to pay a 1/6 share of maintenance.

GDB2222

tacpot12 said:

I would suggest that you check to see if you have Legal Expenses cover included as part of your home insurance. (It's not clear from your post whether you own your own home or not). 

If you have this cover, call the Legal Helpline and ask for held with this problem. 

Someone will need to look at the Deeds and Title Plan to your house. Do you have these? If not, you can buy the Title Deeds and Title Plan for £3 each from HM Land Registry. 

My guess is that you have no rights to park on the land that isn't yours, and that any tarmac that is on your land is yours to maintain, and that you have no obligation to pay to maintain the tarmac that isn't on your land. You need professional legal advice which you can get for free if your have Legal Expenses cover as part of your home insurance. If you don't have this cover, you will need a solictor to look at the Deeds and Title Plan. This need not cost a lot, but you should quiz the solicitor carefully and a set a cap on what you can afford to pay. 

There is absolutely no need to get stressed about this. The solictor will tell you the legl position, and you can ignore the resident if they want you to do anything that you aren't legally required to do. I would take out legal expenses cover as part of your home insurance NOW if you don't already have it. They won't advise you as this is an existing issue, but if you were ever sued by the residents, they would defend you. 

Compulsory registration was only extended to the whole country in 1990. If Hayley moved in 58 years ago, her home may not be registered. Hopefully, in that case, she has the paper deeds somewhere. Perhaps, still lodged with a former lender.

user1977

Hayleyjj said:

I have lived at my home for 58 years and have always parked in the driveway next to my house.  5 new houses were built at the end of the driveway and I had an agreement with the owner of the land who built the houses that I could park on this driveway. 

What form did this agreement take? If you've always done it, are you sure there was nothing originally in your titles allowing you to do this? (I'm assuming you own your home?)

As others say, a diagram would help as I can't figure out what the layout is.

propertyrental

* is your property registered?

* if yes, have you downloaded the LR Title/Plan?

* if yes, what does it say (exactly) and show?

* If not registered, do you have the paper deeds?

* what do they say/show?

* What (exactly) does the 'agreement' say?

* who is the agreement between?

* who else has access down the drive? What do their Title deeds say?

Do not reply in writing without first taking legal advice.

Brie

I would also check to see if you have anything in writing from the builder of the new places as that might confirm that you are continuing something that has happened for decades not just started when the new places were built.  I'm assuming this would be something similar to having a right of way.  But I am not a lawyer.

sheramber

Do you have anything in writing  about the agreement with the owner/ builder?

Does he still own the passageway or has he sold it to one of the residents?

Have you contacted him about this?

Who is the resident that has written to you and put up notices?  

Where do they live in relation to the passageway?

 In what capacity has this resident written to you?

You could  check their deeds to see what they    say about the passageway. 

ThisIsWeird

Hayleyjj said:

I have lived at my home for 58 years and have always parked in the driveway next to my house.  5 new houses were built at the end of the driveway and I had an agreement with the owner of the land who built the houses that I could park on this driveway.  He put tarmacadam on the driveway and I paid to have it put along the strip next to my wall as he was only goingtodo the middle.  The other side remains untarmaced as the neighbour didn't want to pay for it but maintained the grass growing on it. They have just moved so no-one will be doing this. Several houses have right of access to the driveway as it leads along the back of my house as well as to the new housing estate.  
I have a garage leading onto this driveway.  
I have just received a letter from one of the residents who stated that they would 'allow' continued parking for two of my families cars abd has erected two new signs saying private driveway. She said she now expects me to contribute to the upkeep of the drive. What are my rights with regards to the access, parking etc and the other neighbours who also have access? Please help. I'm 80 and don't need this stress. Many thanks

Hi Hayley.
Who maintained this driveway before these new houses were built? And what surface did it have?
From what you describe, it would appear that where you actually park your car is quite possibly 'yours', but your deeds map would need to confirm this. Ie, you paid extra to have that bit tarmac'd, but your neighbour opted not to do so on 'their' part. Of course, that doesn't mean it's yours.
That's one part of your conundrum, but it seems as tho' they are happy for you to continue parking there regardless, as it doesn't impede the actual main driveway - so I'd not worry over that bit.
The other issue is maintenance of the driveway. Have you ever contributed, in 58 years, to its upkeep? If not, who did?
Tbh, a freshly tarmac'd drive is surely going to last a good 20+ years before needing work, so - if I were you - I'd relax over this bit too.

GDB2222

A lot of the stuff above is not going to alleviate your stress, Hayley.

So,  let me point out that you have a low stress option that is unlikely to cost very much. You could write something along the following lines:

”Dear Neighbour 

I think that I have the right to park here anyway, but there’s no point arguing about it as you are happy for me to continue to park. 

I am happy to contribute X% of the reasonable cost of the driveway maintenance. You asked for Y%, but I don’t think that is fair because I am on a pension and we only use the first few yards of the driveway.”

I wouldn’t worry about the signs. They are pointless.