To not want a new garage leading onto my road?

[DiagramsRus]

I live on a private road which just has 4 houses on and some surrounding houses back onto it so have allocated parking spaces.

A house that backs onto our road has now started building a garage that they are planning to drive to using our road. At the moment they just have a back gate leading to our road.

My question is do they need planning permission for this? The garage is going to lead right out in front of a house doorway so surely this can't be right?

Diagram to follow!



Trying to post diagram again. Can anyone see one above?

get the office copy entries from the land registry for their house and you'll be able to see whether they have access

The diagram makes it a lot clearer. It could be that the garage's owner intends to access it via their drive. If not, given that several vehicles already use the road, I can't see the problem.

Ah picture showing thank you!

I see. So they only have a walkway access via the road - not access for a car?

Second calling up planning tomorrow. And get a copy of the land registry.

Do you know these people at all? Are they approachable?

www.gov.uk/guidance/land-registry-portal-how-to-request-official-copies

You could check the office copies now for the princely sum of £3 and stop worrying about it.

Looks to me like you're just being awkward. I can't see a problem tbh.

Burningstar- I guess I would have an issue if it was a private road and the other people had to pay for the upkeep but they didn't (as they were only supposed to have pedestrian access)

If their right of way is on foot only then it won't cover them for using the road way for a car.

You need to look at their title to see what their title says.

If the title says nothing then any right they might have would have been acquired by prescription and will only extend to the extent to which it has been exercised- if on fort then only on foot going forward.

Planning permission is a different issue as to whether they have suitable rights of access. The planning dept do not concern themselves with legal issues.

Can you download the deeds for that property(or check yours first) and see if they currently have any right of way for that access point. They may have pedestrian access only in which case they need to permission from the owners of the road for vehicles. How is the road managed ? Unfortunately it is unlikely the council would get involved regarding ownership rights. However Pp for a garage should be online and there may be conditions on it regarding use, if it has been passed.

Unless they put the gate in themselves, I suspect they have the right to pass and repass over the road with or without vehicles. Otherwise their gate is useless to them.

I’d be surprised if they can use your private road. It would be in your deeds, and theirs, if they had any access rights. Planning permission won’t grant them this over private land, the owners have to agree. I think a solicitors letter might be called for, and quickly.

So you need to know if that house has any right to use the road, given that the road is private and access rights are mentioned in your deeds. You can get a copy of their deeds from the land registry for a few quid. If they don't mention a right of access then they probably don't have the right to access their new garage.

The solution is to offer access rights in exchange for contributing to the upkeep. You'll need to get together with the other houses to agree it.

I’d try and report it for sure and see what happens.

Access rights are not ownership rights, even if there is a clause for maintenance provision. So the key thing is who owns the road? The right to Vehicular access is not the same as right of access through a pedestrian gate. They most definitely should have had planning permission and the planning application should have included the access road, the area of the road and the new garage should have been outlined in red. Planning might well have been granted on that basis but it would not convey rights of vehicular access as planning law and access law are not the same thing. They would not have automatically had the legal right to use the road. They would have then had to apply for a legal right of easement for vehicles over the privately owned road. That can be expensive. Very expensive. I know this because I have been in a similar position myself years ago. I wanted to make a vehicular access down the privately owned road (unmade track!) that runs along one side of my land. The owner wanted GBP27,000.00 to allow me to do it. Needless to say, I didn’t. You need to call the planning department and ask them to come and have a look.

It wouldn't necessarily be in the OP's deeds if the other property has access.

We have a property over which others have access. It's very difficult to work out who has access from our deeds, it just refers to the fact that other properties have the access.

Hopefully the OP has paid her £3 and is readign the deeds

The problem with them using the road when they are not meant means they will have the benefit of the road without being liable for the maintenance of the road. I would strongly object to them using the road unless they sign a legally binding document mean forever more that the property in question has the contribute to the maintenance of the road in the same postilions as the rest (all equally responsible for upkeep).

Are they planning on widening the gap or removing the gate? The plans seem to show pedestrian access only.

Sometimes permitted development rights can be blanket removed on developments in order to prevent over development of the site. If its a new development, this could be the case.

If the house is one of those with an assigned parking space, then they wpuld have right of access. They'd be mad to build a garage if they didn't, unless they are unaware that the road is private and think it is just a normal road.

If the road is private then some or all of the surrounding houses must contribute to maintenance as the council normality don't maintain them.
Which houses contribute and which don't?

And do the three houses on south side of road closest to the possible garage have gardens?

Its a very unusual set up of houses

Are you sure they're not going to access their new garage from the main road, along their existing driveway? Rather than gaining access via your private road IYSWIM

When we lived on a private road each house was a shareholder/director in a limited company. We all paid an amount each year to cover insurance and into a sinking fund.

When a neighbour wanted access to build on their garden they had to pay us for vehicular access- not just a right of way. It covered our charges for 20 years so I guess they paid about £30k?

Does this house have a right for vehicular access over the land?

They also then had to join the company and contribute going forwards.