Right of way property concern

Sarah9132

Hi all,

I am looking for some advice relating to an area of land at the side of my house that is jointly owned please.

I live in a semi detached house. Myself and the house next door each own 50% of the land in between our houses. The land is just about wide enough to fit a car down (although i have never tried) and leads into the back gardens of both properties. I have a gate that separates my garden and theirs. My gate stops at the area of land that is jointly owned. Next door do not have a gate up. So from anyone that has not seen the legal documents, it would suggest that they own 100% of the land. My neighbour has a large dog and so i want to keep the gardens separate. 

I have the original deeds that show i own 50% of the land (there is a bold red line going half way through the area of land, outlining the boundary). I have downloaded the Title Plan from Land Registry, just to make sure nothing has changed without me knowing, and its the same as in my original deeds. 

There is also a Deed of Mutual Agreement (dated 1990) between the people who previously owned the houses. This states that each party grants access to the other over the jointly owned land. 

Is there a risk that i could loose my share of the land given the neighbour does not have a gate up and their garden therefore currently includes the jointly owned land? 

I often access the land to move my bins to the front of the house or when needing to do maintenance at the back of the house. I do not ask my neighbour for permission when i use it given i own part of the land. 

What should i do to protect my share of the land? Or is there no risk of me loosing it?

Thanks 

bobster2

First of all - this is not "jointly owned land" is it?

Each house owns 50% of this strip up to the mid-line - right? It's two separately owned strips of land that are next to each other.

Since you each have a right of way over each other's bit -  you could resurface / pave your half to make it look clearly different. Or if the whole area was paved then a line of different coloured stones down the middle could mark the two sides.

Sarah9132

Yes, that's right. We each own 50% of the land. 

That's a really good idea, thank you!

BarelySentientAI

Sarah9132 said:

What should i do to protect my share of the land? Or is there no risk of me loosing it?

They can only try and claim it legally if they have had exclusive use - which they clearly haven't.

Sarah9132 said:

I have a gate that separates my garden and theirs. My gate stops at the area of land that is jointly owned. Next door do not have a gate up. So from anyone that has not seen the legal documents, it would suggest that they own 100% of the land. My neighbour has a large dog and so i want to keep the gardens separate. 

If I'm understanding the layout, it certainly wouldn't suggest to me that they own the land.  Is there a fence (or other boundary) between the gardens further back?  I'd automatically assume that the line of that boundary continued to the road and that the half of the 'driveway' was owned by each house - that's really common.

Does the deed of agreement say that it is vehicular access or pedestrian access?  It might not be specific, but if it does then that could help you know whether you could put a fence down the middle or whether you need to keep it clear.

Flugelhorn

agree with @bobster2 it is just 2 strips of land and you own one of them but can have ROW over the other.  Does the 1990 deed really mention jointly owned land?

Sarah9132

Thank you for your advice and input everyone.

I have a gate that stops at the area of land that i own 50% of and the other side don't have a gate there so it appears like it's part of their garden. There is then a further gate closer to the front of the houses. My neighbour stores their bins against my gate, so technically on my land. The 1990 deed doesn't refer to jointly owned land, i just used that term as we each own 50% of that area. The deed says we each have use of the land but own the area where the red boundary is on our plan. I've checked my Title Plan on Land Registry and my neighbour's Title Plan and both show that we each own 50% of the land between the two houses. I'm just worried as i had an estate agent value my property recently and he told me my neighbour could claim the land as theirs given the boundary currently appears as though it is fully their land. 

user1977

Well, they haven't claimed the land. Are you about to sell?

Sarah9132

I'm considering selling it, as I can't afford the bills for the house now, so need to downsize. They haven't claimed the land yet, as far as I'm aware, but I've heard that if a certain amount of time passes it can be possible to claim land. I don't know the legalities of it though, which is why i thought I'd seek some advice on here to see if anyone else has had a similar experience. 

RAS

Remember that estate agents often have no training at all, other than in sales.

If the neighbour is putting the bins on your land with your express consent, that's doesn't lead to adverse possession.  But it would be better to insist that they keep their bins on their land. The area outside your gate isn't "technically on my land", it is on "my land" and is an unneighbourly act. I'd tell them politely to store them on their own land.

If you need to mark the boundary, just look round your local high streets where older buildings have been converted to shops and offices. Often they have small markers in the pavement indicating the edge of their curtilage. Prevents utilities digging into their cellars etc. You could have similar installed without disrupting access.

BarelySentientAI

Sarah9132 said:

I'm considering selling it, as I can't afford the bills for the house now, so need to downsize. They haven't claimed the land yet, as far as I'm aware, but I've heard that if a certain amount of time passes it can be possible to claim land. I don't know the legalities of it though, which is why i thought I'd seek some advice on here to see if anyone else has had a similar experience. 

You're thinking of Adverse Possession.  It wouldn't apply in your case.

The maximum that could happen would be a presumptive easement, which means that they would get the right to cross the land, but they already have that with the existing agreement.

Sarah9132

That's great, thank you everyone! I feel much more at ease now and really appreciate you taking the time to respond to me.