Hi I wonder if someone can help? A couple of weeks ago, my uncle, who is an elderly farmer, told me that one of the gates he uses to access my field, which he rents, was being blocked by two women living in the house on the other side of the lane. They had put a boulder down. So my husband went over and one of the women explained she didn't want the farmer to drive a trailer into her drive, but there was still access for a tractor.
My uncle moved the boulder out the way, as the lane had been used by him for over twenty years and that was his preferred gate (there are other gates to the fields he can use).
That evening, the woman told us she and another man had put the boulder back, and this man had also put a car alongside the gate, blocking full access now. He also damaged my gate.
This man owns field the lane ends in, so he uses it to access his field, the women use it to access their house and my uncle, until now, had used it to access my field. This lane had once been part of an old public road.
This man is maintaining he owns the lane - it has always been used by different people with NO mention of anyone owning it. My u cow talked to him but the man threatened to beat him up, leaving my uncle very shaken.
He pulled a gun on his own brother once and is considered violent - I've heard a lot of scary stories about him so further discussion with him is out of the question. He lives a little further down the main road so it feels like he is doing this to my uncle for fun.
Does anyone have any advice? We are in NI - would a solicitor be able to check deeds and the registry to see if he is, as we suspect, lying about owning the lane?
Hopefully the diagram will appear. Yellow marks are the gates. Sorry this is so long!!!