Can I build a full-width extension over part of shared driveway?

[YourDenimWriter]

I've added photos of my land title (left hand side) and neighbours land title (right hand side), and screenshot of where I plan to build. The black lines are my intended extension, the red dashed lines show where my fence sits.

If I extend as full width of the home, I will block half of my garage, which is fine as I don't use my garage for my car.

Land registry shows that half of shared driveway is within my boundary, but neighbour has right of access, and vice versa with his.

Where it gets murky is, is where does the shared boundary end? For example, you will see from the Google maps screenshot, the neighbour has also extended (perhaps decades ago), and it is full width before the diagonal bit.

The registry states this: "The land tinted pink on the filed plan has the benefit of rights of drainage through the drains and sewers lying under adjoining land leading into the main sewer and a right of way over the part of the side passageway not included in the title."

Any help would be appreciated here.

P.S. A house opposite has done exactly what I plan to do: they have extend out and full width of house amd blocked half of their garage.

How does having your driveway go all the way to your garage, block the garage?

It would be more helpful if you provided a them vs us drawing overlaying the google maps picture.

But ultimately the right of access will be 1) right of access to their own property - so don't block that and/or 2) right of access to shared pipes - so if something fucks up or they want to do work you have to allow them access to the property )also consider where they run because you won't be able to put an extension on shared pipework I think.

If you intend to build over the sewer, you need permissions. You obviously can’t build over rights of access. We have a shared driveway and the neighbour is convinced it belongs to her (never had any issues) but on the deeds, it isn’t clear. Have you mentioned your plans to the neighbour?

The black line denotes where I'd like to build. So it will block half the entrance of my garage, but I'm fine with that as my car doesn't fit the garage anyway

I'll try to figure out how to do that and edit my attachments, sorry! My post is slightly confusing.

It looks like you have a shared driveway that then splits off into access for yours and theirs. If it’s genuinely shared all the way up then that might be an issue because you’re wanting to build on land that isn’t exclusively yours.

If it is yours, you are still potentially reducing the area they can have access over, for instance turning their car around.

How do your neighbours feel about your plans?

I think there are rules about how close to a neighbours boundary you can build.

Who owns the concrete area between the two bits of building with the flat rooves at the back of the houses? Presuming you both own the shared access way up between the houses, but after that, from the bits with the flat rooves, you own one half and the neighbour owns the other, I imagine you will be able to build from the end of the flat rooved buildings back on your side.

However if the whole of the driveway area until the garages is jointly owned, then I imagine any extending you do will need to end at the black line and not extend at all onto the driveway area.

Yes, within a certain distance you need to have a Party Wall agreement with your neighbours, which is separate to planning permission.

How would it be determined though how much is owned by whom ? The title plan is as in my original post, and the title register states only "The land tinted pink on the filed plan has the benefit of rights of drainage through the drains and sewers lying under adjoining land leading into the main sewer and a right of way over the part of the side passageway not included in the title."

I’m finding the title plan very hard to interpret but surely the key is that your neighbour has a right of access over all of the part of the drive you own. By building over it you’re effectively preventing their access over that part. If they don’t mind, because they don’t need it, you might be able to vary the deeds with their agreement and at your expense. The drainage I don’t know about, I think that would be your builder/architect’s problem.

I'm hoping the attached below is more clearer.

1. According to my original title, I had no garage.
2. The second drawing shows where my current garage sits, overlayed ontop of the title plan. As you can see, the left half appears to sit within my boundary (the solid line which goes down before flaring out and meeting the neighbouring garage).
3. The blue box denotes where I plan to build the extension (width of my house) which, again overlayed, shows it falls within my boundary.

I don't get why anyone would own anything. I don't get how we've moved from you asking where you could build, to who owes money for something?

Huh?

You are planning to build over the access rights to your neighbour's garage. How are they going to be able to get a car or motorbike in their garage? How are they easily going to be able to get furniture, e.g.a sofa into their back room when they have to?

I certainly wouldn't buy a house where my access rights had been removed like this, therefore you'd be devaluing their property.

According to the title plan though, they don't have access rights from width of my main house, down to garage.

I read this as extending the driveway, not extending the house.

I can’t see how you think you can put a building in a space where a neighbor has access rights.

The rear of the house.

What in the proposed extension impinges on the neighbours ability to get to their garage? Infact, title plan shows the width of original building all the way to half width of garage is within the building boundary I.e. the solid line, as opposed to the dashed line demonstrating the middle of the shared driveway

Have you contacted the Planning Department at your Local Authority for advice? I don't have the shared driveway situation, but they were absolutely brilliant in giving advice and suggestions.

Have you discussed this with your neighbour in advance? I think in light of the house opposite having been granted permission for exactly what you want, the main issue is going to be your Neighbour.

Will you be using the service of an architect? They will know all the answers.

Ah, sorry! I think I misunderstood. It looks as if your neighbour's extension is angled so that they can still, theoretically, get a car into the garage. Can't you do similar? Whilst you might not want or be able to get your car into your garage, when you come to sell you're restricting yourself to people who only want a garage for storage - that's assuming you will still be able to get into the garage.

We keep bikes and a motor bike in our garage so it's essential that we have access to it and that we can fully open the door.

Title deed plans can be quite hard to follow. The section you quote in bold suggests that you have a right of way over the half of the driveway that is not within your boundary, as it appears that the red boundary line on the deeds runs through at least part of the shared driveway. I would assume that your neighbour has a similar section in their deeds referring to your part of the shared driveway.

So the question is whether the area in front of both your garages at the end of the shared driveway (where it widens out at the original back wall of each property), is also shared with a right of access over it, or if that section of land is split into two and you each own your side ie: you can drive your car into your garage without encroaching on the neighbour’s land.

Could you speak to the neighbours who have done a similar extension and find out how they dealt with the shared driveway and rights of way issue? Assuming the houses were all built at the same time, their title deeds should have similar wording.

There are several separate issues here and overlaying the title plan on Google Maps will not give you a safe answer. Most Land Registry title plans show only general boundaries and are not intended to establish the precise position of an easement to the nearest foot.

You need the title registers for both properties, together with copies of any transfer or conveyance referred to in them and its accompanying plan. The wording you have quoted may only summarise a more detailed document.

The fact that the proposed footprint appears to fall within your title does not settle matters. Land can belong to you while being subject to a right of way benefiting your neighbour. If that right extends over any part of the proposed footprint, constructing a permanent extension there could substantially interfere with it. Planning permission would not extinguish the right, and the existence of a similar extension opposite does not establish what your own deeds allow. You might need your neighbour’s agreement, formally recorded in a deed of release or variation.

The Party Wall Act is a separate question. There is no general rule that a “party wall agreement” is required simply because you build within a particular distance. Whether the Act applies depends on the precise work, including the position of the new wall and the depth and distance of any excavation.

I would ask an experienced property solicitor to examine the titles and filed deeds before spending heavily on plans. You should also establish where the drains and sewers run and whether separate consent or continuing access is required.

This guide explains why ownership of a shared driveway and rights over it must be considered separately:

https://thesilverbrief.blog/shared-driveway-problems/

Full disclosure: I’m connected with the site, but it's entirely objective and ad free.

That could cause problems if you ever decide to sell

As someone who looked in to this as I have a shared driveway when a new neighbour wanted to change the gates to the garages I would say absolutely not. But ultimately you need proper advice for this. We have a very similar set up . It became clear there was a right of access over the entire area for both houses but you couldn’t park a car on it as it blocked that right. I can’t see how a permanent structure would be ok

We have an almost identical set up minus the garages. Next door have done the same as you OP, extended straight back from the existing line of their house. They didn’t apply for planning (another story but not an issue for us). We are planning a similar extension, 3m across the back and haven’t yet been advised of any issues. I think not having the garages helps as there’s nothing to access bar the gardens and that is maintained by keeping the property boundary in line with the existing left hand side of the house.

However on the same street I know a problem occurred where the left hand house took its garage down and installed a fence to square off their garden, which came up along the boundary line and then joined to the rear right hand corner of the house. The right hand house still has its garage albeit unused for cars and fenced off. When the right hand house was sold, new owners protested the left hand house’s fence as blocking their access. Title deeds on both sides were unhelpful but eventually it was established that access had to be maintained up to 56ft from the front boundary line. I have no idea if this is some kind of standard or not! The fence will eventually have to come down.

Where your title says “side passageway not shown in title” is it referring to that little sliver of land which angles towards their garage in the title plan? Would that explain why your neighbour has had to angle their extension so as not to encroach on your land? I’d so I think bar the drainage issue which will need advice, I’m not sure the area you’re planning to build on is covered by the right of way?