Neighbour visitors parking on easement

TinUK74

Hello,

I have been having trouble with visitors to my neighbours parking on my driveway which I own.  I have one neighbour to the right of my property who has use of my driveway to access theirs.

There is an easement in place which has an area highlighted which goes right across the front of my house, and my own parked vehicles.  When they park there I cannot get in or out of my own property with my vehicle.

I don't understand how this can be agreed.  The wording is as follows;

The right to allow one motor car to be parked in any area marked 'c' and coloured blue on the plan (if any) as does not form part of the property on a temporary basis only.  

I think temporary should mean deliveries and unloading etc, not parking and leaving unattended.

So my question is; what is deemed as 'on a temporary basis only'?  They seem to think it means any visitor, no matter what duration, as they are temporary visitors.

The property owner rents this property out, and when I raised it with him, he just sent me a copy of the easement wording highlighted above.  The last tenants were really nasty people and when we approached them politely, they just shouted and screamed abuse at us.  They even filled my driveway with visitors on Christmas morning, and when I went to them to move so I could go and pick up my mother for Christmas dinner, they just hurled abuse at us.

So what is 'temporary', and can it be revoked?

Is it possible to remove this part of the easement (parking temporarily on my driveway)?

On a side note, I dug out my deeds from when we moved in, and believe it or not the solicitors sent me the deeds to some completely random property.  As this was 5 years ago, they cannot trace the whereabouts of my deeds.  The land registry allows me to buy the title and plan, but the details of any restrictive covenants and easements are not showing as available.

Thanks,

Martin.

propertyrental

I suspect there is legal precedence (court decisions) on the definition of 'temporary' in this context.

But my guess is that guests/visitors to your neighbours would be 'temporary' as they don't live there.

Just a thought, but is it feasible to remove the wall between your parking area and the road? Yes, you'd need council consent for a dropped curb but it might provide a permanent solution without a neighbour dispute!

Section62

TinUK74 said:

I don't understand how this can be agreed.  The wording is as follows;

The right to allow one motor car to be parked in any area marked 'c' and coloured blue on the plan (if any) as does not form part of the property on a temporary basis only.  

I think temporary should mean deliveries and unloading etc, not parking and leaving unattended.....

Without the context of more of the wording it is difficult to say, but on the basis of that one sentence on its own I would say 'temporary' probably relates to the right being granted, not to the duration or type of parking act itself.

E.g. A right being granted to a friendly neighbour while they are living there (and can be withdrawn), rather than a permanent right given to all future owners/occupiers of the property.

But without a definition of the meaning of 'temporary' and more context, anyone's guess is as good as another's.

eddddy

What document is the extract taken from?

FWIW, I tend to agree with @Section62's interpretation.

"The right to allow one motor car to be parked.... on a temporary basis only."

...probably means: You can park one car for a temporary period - maybe the next 3 months or 6 months or until permission is withdrawn. (Maybe during some building work, for example.)

i.e. It was a temporary licence to park, agreed by a previous owner of your property, which is not binding on you.


But more context would be needed to confirm that.

BarelySentientAI

Section62 said:

TinUK74 said:

I don't understand how this can be agreed.  The wording is as follows;

The right to allow one motor car to be parked in any area marked 'c' and coloured blue on the plan (if any) as does not form part of the property on a temporary basis only.  

I think temporary should mean deliveries and unloading etc, not parking and leaving unattended.....

Without the context of more of the wording it is difficult to say, but on the basis of that one sentence on its own I would say 'temporary' probably relates to the right being granted, not to the duration or type of parking act itself.

E.g. A right being granted to a friendly neighbour while they are living there (and can be withdrawn), rather than a permanent right given to all future owners/occupiers of the property.

But without a definition of the meaning of 'temporary' and more context, anyone's guess is as good as another's.

I can see how it could be read that way, but I think that it is unlikely - unless a hang over from some specific piece of work and followed by a clause like "this temporary easement shall last for a period of X days / until the completion of construction / etc" and that part has been conveniently forgotten by the landlord.

Strangely, there's an identical clause discussed on a legalbeagles thread about someone using the communal 'visitors' space as their own.  I wonder if this is a standard wording that one particular developer liked to use.  That was an early 2000s Persimmon build.

You wouldn't expect a visitor's space in a car park to be only valid for a few months, so I think that goes against the interpretation of you and edddy.

Martyn_H

Regardless of the meaning in this case of "temporary", isn't this more a case of obstruction? What would happen if the OP needed to go to A&E at 2am and a vehicle was blocking his/her exit?

TinUK74

propertyrental said:

I suspect there is legal precedence (court decisions) on the definition of 'temporary' in this context.

But my guess is that guests/visitors to your neighbours would be 'temporary' as they don't live there.

Just a thought, but is it feasible to remove the wall between your parking area and the road? Yes, you'd need council consent for a dropped curb but it might provide a permanent solution without a neighbour dispute!

There is a lamp post there, so there is no way to remove the wall.

TinUK74

eddddy said:

What document is the extract taken from?

FWIW, I tend to agree with @Section62's interpretation.

"The right to allow one motor car to be parked.... on a temporary basis only."

...probably means: You can park one car for a temporary period - maybe the next 3 months or 6 months or until permission is withdrawn. (Maybe during some building work, for example.)

i.e. It was a temporary licence to park, agreed by a previous owner of your property, which is not binding on you.


But more context would be needed to confirm that.

The extract is from what the owner sent over when we questioned him.  It was the second part of the conditions of the easement where the first part explains they can cross my property using vehicles or by foot.

Martyn_H said:

Regardless of the meaning in this case of "temporary", isn't this more a case of obstruction? What would happen if the OP needed to go to A&E at 2am and a vehicle was blocking his/her exit?

This is exactly my issue.  Also that in order for me to access / leave my property I have to go and knock next door.  This is inconvenient, and seems very odd that I should have to do this.

TinUK74

Section62 said:

TinUK74 said:

I don't understand how this can be agreed.  The wording is as follows;

The right to allow one motor car to be parked in any area marked 'c' and coloured blue on the plan (if any) as does not form part of the property on a temporary basis only.  

I think temporary should mean deliveries and unloading etc, not parking and leaving unattended.....

Without the context of more of the wording it is difficult to say, but on the basis of that one sentence on its own I would say 'temporary' probably relates to the right being granted, not to the duration or type of parking act itself.

E.g. A right being granted to a friendly neighbour while they are living there (and can be withdrawn), rather than a permanent right given to all future owners/occupiers of the property.

But without a definition of the meaning of 'temporary' and more context, anyone's guess is as good as another's.

I don't have the document which this is written in, because my solicitor sent me the incorrect deeds, and the whereabouts of mine are unknown.
I went to the land registry to see if I could obtain it online, and was only able to purchase the title plan and title deed.  In the deed it does reference this:

(02.08.1995) A Transfer of the land in this title dated 26 May 1995

made between (1) Westbury Homes (Holdings) Limited and (2) Alison

Mu** Wor** and Philip N*** Wor**** contains restrictive

covenants.

NOTE: Copy filed under SFxxxxxx.
(i have removed the number and names in case it has personal details in the document).

TinUK74

I cant see how to edit a post, but does anyone know where I can obtain the document referenced SF........?

NameUnavailable

If I were you I'd just park my car on the blue area and see how the neighbours like it!