Demanded to stop using land

BikingBud

Does your plan and what the freeholder's solicitor has sent indicate the same lines, positions and status?

Can you upload the plan(s) with identifying aspects removed and annotate the areas of contention. 

So there is land that is owned by the freeholder and that is used by yourselves and other freeholders to access rear gardens?

Does it split your property, eg house, access strip, your leasehold land?

What does it say about rights of access, is it to "pass and repass", possibly restricted to "pass and repass only by foot"?

Are you parking and blocking this access? Using, to pass and repass, is different from parking (blocking) which inhibits other's enjoyment of the access.

Grumpy_chap

Is this the freeholder trying to force forfeiture of the lease for non-payment of ground rent?

MeteredOut

Cluelessabouteverything said:

BikingBud said:

Cluelessabouteverything said:

MeteredOut said:

Cluelessabouteverything said:

The lease to the land was signed in 1970 by one of the owners of the property before we bought it. I don’t know when/how but a company then bought the lease to the land and now they own it. Our house is built on the land that they own, and on all the paperwork from the sale of the house it states we have space for 3 cars (the extra land) and the previous owners had full use of the land and had never received any demand for money to use it. Our solicitors contacted the land owners and we never received any further instructions from them on how to pay.

Does the lease explicitly state (or even better, show via a plan with a red outlined box) that the space for 3 cars is the extra land that you're now being told you can't use?

We have the plan with the land outlined in red although it doesn’t specifically state it is for parking there is no where else the parking could be as there is a narrow path and a main road at the front of the house. 

Extra land? Is it within or outwith the red line?

So you need to establish and match the red line on the plan with clear markers on the ground and determine if the land in question is within your property or not.

Parking or garden if it is within the red boundary then it is likely your leasehold property.

Outside the red line then objection to your use is likely sound.

Are rights of way mentioned at all?

The land we are using is within the red line boundary, on the most recent plan they have sent us they also own the access road that runs between the houses and the land, all of our neighbours use this access road also as it is the only way they can access their land at the back (all the other houses are freehold, ours is the only leasehold) 

You say in the most recent plan they have sent us (is "they" the leaseholder's solicitor?) they "also" own the access road. Also, in addition to what? Are they claiming they own the parking spaces you use? You did not say that previously, you just said they have told you to stop using that area.

And, they probably do own the road that runs between the houses, but your neighbours will have a right of way/right of access on that land written into their leases.

A redacted copy of the letter and the relevant parts from your lease would really help.

Cluelessabouteverything

with the land forming the site thereof and used occupied and enjoyed therewith AND TOGETHER with such as the Lessor is able to grant and as are necessary for the beneficial enjoyment of the premises hereby demised in common with the Lessor and others thereto entitled of way over and along any adjoining or neighbouring streets roads or passages - this is what it says on the original lease that was signed in 1970. 

The first picture is the description that was given when the house was up for sale. The second picture is the land the company own outlined in red. We park our cars in the longer red line, not blocking the access road in any way. The lines on the line pointing up indicate our house, the front garden and back garden 

Cluelessabouteverything

Grumpy_chap said:

Is this the freeholder trying to force forfeiture of the lease for non-payment of ground rent?

They haven’t said what they intend to do, just to stop using the land and get in touch with the solicitor. Which I have attempted to do but they aren’t getting back to me 

BikingBud

Cluelessabouteverything said:

with the land forming the site thereof and used occupied and enjoyed therewith AND TOGETHER with such as the Lessor is able to grant and as are necessary for the beneficial enjoyment of the premises hereby demised in common with the Lessor and others thereto entitled of way over and along any adjoining or neighbouring streets roads or passages - this is what it says on the original lease that was signed in 1970. 

The first picture is the description that was given when the house was up for sale. The second picture is the land the company own outlined in red. We park our cars in the longer red line, not blocking the access road in any way. The lines on the line pointing up indicate our house, the front garden and back garden 

No pictures!

ThisIsWeird

Do you have Legal Protection included in your house insurance? If so, get all the info together, and call them.
You have evidence that your conveyancing solicitor tried to contact the Lessor (Freeholder?) at the time of purchase - that's good.
I would suggest that the content of the original lease above sounds positive, but I'm not a legal fellow;

Cluelessabouteverything said:

with the land forming the site thereof and used occupied and enjoyed therewith AND TOGETHER with such as the Lessor is able to grant and as are necessary for the beneficial enjoyment of the premises hereby demised in common with the Lessor and others thereto entitled of way over and along any adjoining or neighbouring streets roads or passages

This is what it says on the original lease that was signed in 1970. 

Is there any mention of an annual ground rent sum?

MeteredOut

Cluelessabouteverything said:

with the land forming the site thereof and used occupied and enjoyed therewith AND TOGETHER with such as the Lessor is able to grant and as are necessary for the beneficial enjoyment of the premises hereby demised in common with the Lessor and others thereto entitled of way over and along any adjoining or neighbouring streets roads or passages - this is what it says on the original lease that was signed in 1970. 

The first picture is the description that was given when the house was up for sale. The second picture is the land the company own outlined in red. We park our cars in the longer red line, not blocking the access road in any way. The lines on the line pointing up indicate our house, the front garden and back garden 

You can disregard any sales particulars - that has no bearing on the current situation.

As before, a picture of the plan with red boxes would really help. In particular, showing rights on the shared access road, and the off road parking (which is presumably where you park).

Cluelessabouteverything

So the long line from NE to SW is the land that we use, the lines across the top red part is the front garden, house, back garden, then the bit in the middle is the access road and the long line pointing SW is the extra bit of garden we use as parking. Where we park does not block the access road in any way! Every house on our street has this extra bit of garden it just isn’t shown on the plan. The access road is not wide enough to park multiple cars.

MeteredOut

Cluelessabouteverything said:

So the long line from NE to SW is the land that we use, the lines across the top red part is the front garden, house, back garden, then the bit in the middle is the access road and the long line pointing SW is the extra bit of garden we use as parking. Where we park does not block the access road in any way! Every house on our street has this extra bit of garden it just isn’t shown on the plan. The access road is not wide enough to park multiple cars.

Is this from your lease, or "the most recent plan <the leaseholders> have sent" you, as per your previous comment?

"The land we are using is within the red line boundary, on the most recent plan they have sent us they also own the access road that runs between the houses and the land,"

If this is from your lease, it does indicate you have some level of rights over of the land, but the full wording (some of which you've provided above) should document *how* you can use it; your solicitor should be advising you on that.