Mid-Terraced Ex-Council House - "Shared" Passageway

Jerry_Cornelius

So a few years ago I bought a house, freehold mid-terrace in a block of 4, the middle 2 have an enclosed passageway inbetween which services me and my neighbours back gardens via our own back gates at the end. From the moving information i received from my solicitor at the time, the Land Registry Title Plan shows my property and the passageway boxed in red on the map which leads me to assume the passage way is part of my property, and that I own at least the land its on. The house was ex-council and was brought from them in 1995. A document from the time between the Borough Council and the people who bought the house states "... The right of passage for pedestrians only in common with the purchaser and all other persons now or hereafter entitled thereto along the pathway shown coloured yellow on the attached plan ..", and has an attached plan view similar to the Title Plan mark-up but with a yellow line along the passageway (but still enclosed by the red line) which I assume means that my neighbour has a right to use the passage way for access to and from his garden.

Thats fine and I have no issue with this, but just over a years ago a new neighbour moved in next door, and over time he's started leaving things in the passagway. It started with 2 or 3 of his kids bikes always left there, one of them is quite wide and probably takes up 20% of the passeway width. Then in recent times he started leaving two long ladders out there as well, and at the weekend past i heard drilling out there and now found he has mounted the ladders on some wall brackets that stick out. They are attached to the wall of his house, but I personally think he shouldnt be leaving stuff out there, the passage should be kept clear at all times. At some point before I moved in, a metal gate was fitted at the front of the passageway for security and we both have keys, and from what I understand, something like that can be fitted if both parties agree.

I don't really know him as we've only spoken a few times, seems kinda nice, and I don't want get on his bad side, but I want to know if I have any rights to ask him to remove his stuff from the passageway. I'm not a confrontational kinda guy, but if I do speak to him, I'd like to know if I have any grounds for my request. Obviously I understand he has a right of access, but thats not my issue at all. And advice greatly appreciated.

Myci85

Are you able to download a copy of your neighbours title plan to see how it compares to yours? This may help to decide if the passageway ownership is shared (perhaps each owning half the width but with the rights to walk over the full width) or whether their red box clearly does not include it, and the full passageway is on your land.

Out of interest, how does the rest of the boundary at the rear look? Is it a straight line from the middle of the passageway, or does it sit to one side or another?

Jerry_Cornelius

Hi, I managed to download the Title Plan for the neighbour. The below picture shows 3 views, the first two are my house with the first one from the 1995 doc showing the yellow line, the third picture is the neighbours boundary. Getting the neighbours one was quite useful because i think it shows much better the passageway is outside his limits, don't you think?

WIAWSNB

What do your neighb's deeds say about rights and covenants regarding this passageway? And is the passageway highlighted in any way on their map?

(But from what you have provided, it seems pretty unambiguous to me that you have ownership of that passageway, and that its sole purpose is to provide unhindered access. And, they have a bigger garden than you, so no real excuse to not keep their bikes and stuff there!)

silvercar

Looks to me like you own all the passage way. So your neighbour can’t attach anything to the walls or leave things in the passageway. All your neighbours have is a right of passage ie they can travel through it.

To be fair to your neighbours, people don’t often download other people’s deeds unless they have an issue. So your neighbours may assume that your deeds match theirs ie no one actually owns the passage way and you both have a right through it. So they may have thought that by owning the wall of their property and no one owning the passageway it didn’t enfringe on anyone’s rights to attach things to the wall.

Albermarle

 have an enclosed passageway inbetween which services me and my neighbours back gardens via our own back gates at the end

What do you mean exactly by enclosed? is it open to the sky ?

daveyjp

They are technically trespassing. How you approach this and how it gets resolved depends very much on your relationship with your neighbour.

silvercar

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100541#Comment_82100541

Mid terrace, so it can’t be open to the sky. It will be enclosed by the upper floor of the two house and the outside walls of the two houses. OP posts that it has a metal gate at the front. It may or may not be gated at the rear.

user1977

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100541#Comment_82100541

Something like this, I presume:

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100787#Comment_82100787

That is why I was asking. Could it be that the plans the OP posted show ownership of the flying freehold of the first floor of the property, but not the alleyway? It could depend on what is exactly above that alleyway.

Myci85

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100897#Comment_82100897

If that was the case, would the red line not revert to the middle of the pathway at the front of the houses? To me, from the images above, it does look like the pathway from the front to the back gardens sits within OP's boundary.

OP, are there any visual signs on the houses to suggest where the boundary lies? Eg in the photo example posted above, the rendering suggests the passageway sits within one side of the boundary instead of half and half (although the roof in that example suggests a different story just to complicate matters!)