Right of Way payment

Iceniboy

Hi everyone.

I have lived in my house for 26 years. I live on a private road along with 17 other properties. I own the road. 20 years ago a neighbour wanted to build a new property for himself within his boundary. Obviously he needed a ROW over the road for this new build. It was agreed a fee of 5k and a covenant was put in his new property deeds allowing access subject to him paying a proportionate amount towards the upkeep of said road. Recently the road needs some repairs and I was talking to another neighbour about everyone contributing and he said the neighbour who paid the 5k to grant a ROW wouldn't pay anything as he said he's already paid. I assumed the 5k was to grant ROW and not for ongoing road repairs as the covenant would cover this as and when needed. Any advice please?

Hermann

Read the covenant, it should be lodged with Land Registry & what it says is what the legal position is.
It will all be down to the wording.

Iceniboy

Hermann said:

Read the covenant, it should be lodged with Land Registry & what it says is what the legal position is.
It will all be down to the wording.

Thanks yeah the covenant says they have a ROW over the road subject to them paying a proportionate amount t towards the maintenence and upkeep of the road. My question was about the 5k he paid for me to grant the rights.

FreeBear

Iceniboy said: My question was about the 5k he paid for me to grant the rights.

The £5K would have been to cover the legal costs of drawing up the agreement.

TELLIT01

Assuming there is no mention of the £5k anywhere it could be difficult to prove that the monies paid wasn't as a contribution to future upkeep.

Hermann

Iceniboy said:

Hermann said:

Read the covenant, it should be lodged with Land Registry & what it says is what the legal position is.
It will all be down to the wording.

Thanks yeah the covenant says they have a ROW over the road subject to them paying a proportionate amount t towards the maintenence and upkeep of the road. My question was about the 5k he paid for me to grant the rights.

It's all down to the wording, typically an upfront payment would be made to grant the ROW which is one off payment to effectively 'purchase' the rights specified in the documents.

Typically the grant would be conditional and those conditions could include a share of any future/ongoing maintenance. Any such costs would be separate to the initial payment that enabled the Grant of ROW.

However what has happened in your specific instance is all down to the wording of the legal documents. Presumably solicitors were involved in the creation of the documents so they should be reasonably clear.

There should be a legal agreement, granting the ROW, from when the situation was first dealt with that should specify the sum paid, ie possibly £5k and what it was for ie The grant of the rights or a maintenance payment.
It seems unlikely to have been a maintenance payment but what do the documents actually detail?

Iceniboy

FreeBear said:

Iceniboy said: My question was about the 5k he paid for me to grant the rights.

The £5K would have been to cover the legal costs of drawing up the agreement.

I think he paid legal fees plus 5k but I always assumed the 5k was to 'buy' the ROW and then the covenant was to ensure he paid his share if any future maintenance.  Does that sound right to you?

FreeBear

Iceniboy said:

FreeBear said:

Iceniboy said: My question was about the 5k he paid for me to grant the rights.

The £5K would have been to cover the legal costs of drawing up the agreement.

I think he paid legal fees plus 5k but I always assumed the 5k was to 'buy' the ROW and then the covenant was to ensure he paid his share if any future maintenance.  Does that sound right to you?

Yup. Sounds about right. But the devil is in the detail of the covenant as others have mentioned. Depending on the precise wording, you may need to resort to legal action if the neighbour doesn't want to comply with his obligations.

diveunderthebonnet

How much is the road repair ? will all 17 people pay towards it ? 

Iceniboy

diveunderthebonnet said:

How much is the road repair ? will all 17 people pay towards it ? 

I'm just looking through what paperwork I have and of the copy deeds I have (4 propertues) it appears there is a covenant requiring the homeowners to pay a fair and proportionate amount towards the maintenance. I have spoken to a couple of others who are ok with contributing.

Iceniboy

FreeBear said:

Iceniboy said:

FreeBear said:

Iceniboy said: My question was about the 5k he paid for me to grant the rights.

The £5K would have been to cover the legal costs of drawing up the agreement.

I think he paid legal fees plus 5k but I always assumed the 5k was to 'buy' the ROW and then the covenant was to ensure he paid his share if any future maintenance.  Does that sound right to you?

Yup. Sounds about right. But the devil is in the detail of the covenant as others have mentioned. Depending on the precise wording, you may need to resort to legal action if the neighbour doesn't want to comply with his obligations.

I had a quick look at the deeds and nothing is mentioned of the 5k or him paying it, just he has been granted the ROW subject to paying a proportionate amount towards upkeep.