Deeply unpleasant neighbour with right of way over our land.

[05884124807521689064216a]

Sorry this is in the wrong topic. Couldn't find a legal section. Any lawyers about, I would appreciate some guidance. Having difficulty finding the right person as it involves mild harassment and a right of way. I've tried to condense but it's clearly not my strong point.

We recently moved into a home accessed by a lane belonging to a farmer. We have access over the farmer's part of the lane and he has right of way over the part of the lane on our land. It's the only way he can access the fields at the end of the lane. The lane ends on our land, with a field. The farmer ceremoniously drives up the lane every Sunday afternoon and reverses slowly back, without acknowledging us. Strange but fine. Beside our home is a cottage belonging to the farmer. It's occupied by a tenant of the farmer who is 'warden'. Technically he also has access over our land because he 'cares' for the land. (He doesn't care for the land, didn't care for the horses there over the winter and never needed to go down this lane until the weather got nice enough for walks, but that's beside the point). This warden seemed over-involved from the start and he's clearly lonely. He generated drama by encouraging us to go into one of the farmer's fields for a walk, then making out we were in trouble because we had done this. There were variations on this theme and we realised it was just drama being generated by someone who likes drama. Eventually we told him we would communicate directly with the farmer in future and we backed off. Then the trouble began.

We have to walk/ drive past his home to get to the road. He allows his dog to intimidate my children (who love dogs so this was quite difficult to achieve), rushes out with weedkiller if we walk down the lane, stands waiting for me at the top if I'm out on my own, throws our wheelie bins over the hedge and eventually blocked the lane completely with his car one night to rant at my partner. Much swearing, vague threats and apparently he has a side we don't want to see and we should feel warned. We haven't dealt with this before in our lives and yes, we felt threatened and worried.

He walks into the trajectory of my car when I drive past and then uses his outrage (because I don't slam the brakes on - why would I when he's not on the path?) to come and rage at us in front of the children as we're getting out of the car. He will 'accidently' swerve his wheelbarrow into our path as I'm walking the children up the lane. It seems mostly a cry for attention. He will now go and stand in our lane to have a smoke, just because he can. It doesn't sound like much and we've established that there's not enough here for police or civil action. Someone has mentioned a 'binding over of the peace' - does that sound like a possibility? We have horses, small children, dogs that could easily be harmed. I'm concerned he'll do something to my children's ponies and break their hearts. We found an elastic band around the neck of our dog the other day that had to be cut off by the vet and while it was probably our own fault, I hadn't seen that elastic band before. It's reached the point where we're quite happy for him to vandalise the wheelie bins if it keeps him occupied but obviously it's escalating because we continue to be a happy family going for walks and not bowing to him as monarch of the lane. I feel extremely stressed knowing he can pop up anywhere on our land and he doesn't stick to the lane, either. There's no point putting up a gate because he can just walk through it, as warden. He has also announced that if we meet his car when we're driving up the lane, we must reverse out onto the main road again if he's more than halfway up it. Sounds fair enough but the opening is on a blind corner that needs a mirror to get out with, even going the right way. I will not be reversing out of it but I'm concerned he'll scare the children and force us to abandon the car in the lane if we do meet him (it hasn't happened yet because he never goes anywhere).

So we're spending a fortune on CCTV, as the police advised, and keeping a harassment diary. We'd like to build a stone wall around the front of our property. It would be around 8 foot high and would border the part of the lane we own (which we're happy to write off for the sake of peace). It would cut off a great view but at this point, the only view we have is this man striding around anyway. I just want it all to stop. We spoke to the farmer to try and resolve this without a result. My partner has a condition that makes him vulnerable to COVID-19 if he's experiencing a flare-up and as these are related to stress, we'd like to move on from this issue as quickly as we can.

My questions:

• If you have right of way over a property for the purposes of caring for the land beyond, can you go there just to loiter and have a smoke?
  
• Is there a legal process whereby a judge could order that the lane be used for the purposes of accessing the land beyond only and not for going back and forth over our land (as he is currently doing)?
  
• Is there any legal reason why we wouldn't be able to build an 8 ft stone wall bordering the land on our own land? There would be no dwelling near it except our own home (and the warden's cottage, which is link detached to our farmhouse).
  
• Minor side issue - is the farmer within his rights to drive a half wild stallion up? He clearly can't get a headcollar on it and just drives it in front of him, at a gallop, from his quadbike. Without a heads up. Did I mention we have young children.
  
  I'll continue to hunt for the right solicitor to help with this but everyone seems to have experience of either right of way or harassment, but not both.
  
  Thanks so much if you have read this far.

[Honeyroar]

Yes that’s an idea. My parents did this when I was young to get the horrible farmer round here off their back and to make our boundaries better.

[Cramitmaam]

mummmy2017's idea is very good, if the farmer will sell it. That would get this nutcase off your back once and for all (or at least give you the right to call the police when he illegally snoops around on your land)

[05884124807521689064216a]

Thanks again for the advice. We've spoken to the solicitor. It's an easement, not a right of way (the same as we have over their land to access the road). I don't understand the difference this makes to anything in terms of making things safer for us. We can still only secure a perimeter that doesn't include it.

Thank you for the suggestion about buying the lane. That would force the farmer to sacrifice some of his own farming land to create a new lane for the tenant and would leave him in a vulnerable position where we don't need access over his land but he does need access over ours. Looking at the way his land is spread out, it seems crazy that he ever sold the land that makes up our property. He really doesn't have any other way into his far fields unless we sell our paddock back to him. We don't have enough grazing to do that and I don't think he'd want it.

The solicitor doesn't see why we can't build a wall. We live in an area where everything has to look 'quaint' to get planning permission so a high wall may not look right and that could be an issue. We can only try. All the advice and suggestions about security, I'm following them up.

Thanks again to everyone who has given advice.

[ToelessPobble]

I think it's one that you don't want to get into, each refusing access and you have more to lose not being able to access your home as opposed to a paddock. I had to take out insurance for my last house in case they refused access to my back garden as I had to walk across a strip of land belonging to another property to access it. I hope it can be resolved peacefully for you as it sounds a horrendous situation to live with.

[ToelessPobble]

Ah sorry, I misread, his fields and your paddock, a bit more equal loss then. But definitely look into insurance to protect yourself if you don't already have it

[05884124807521689064216a]

We have insurance for this purpose, thanks for the advice! We have no problem with the farmer accessing his fields though.

[WiddlinDiddlin]

I did wonder if it was an easement and not a right of way, as it sounds as if the tenant and possibly the farmer, believe they need to keep using it regularly or they will lose the right to use it.. hence the pissing about performance up and down it regularly.

If you can, I'd meet with the farmers/land owners, and explain you really have NO issue with the easement/access to the fields, no intention of doing anything to try to change that, but believe some misunderstanding to have taken place that has upset the tenant.

Sometimes it takes that face to face rather than letters, to demonstrate you are actually nice, non confrontational people, not arseholes.

[Collaborate]

@WiddlinDiddlin

I did wonder if it was an easement and not a right of way, as it sounds as if the tenant and possibly the farmer, believe they need to keep using it regularly or they will lose the right to use it.. hence the pissing about performance up and down it regularly.

If you can, I'd meet with the farmers/land owners, and explain you really have NO issue with the easement/access to the fields, no intention of doing anything to try to change that, but believe some misunderstanding to have taken place that has upset the tenant.

Sometimes it takes that face to face rather than letters, to demonstrate you are actually nice, non confrontational people, not arseholes.

They won't lose their rights of access simply by not using them for a while.

OP - you don't need planning permission to plant a hedge. They're cheaper than walls anyway, and you can grow them to any height.

[SeaToSki]

Can you get a copy of your deeds from the Land Registry. The easement should be listed on them (if its not, it might not be valid). See if the easement has any descriptive language about it...width, specific location, foot passage, vehicular passage. Any descriptive language can help you work out what you can and cant do to protect yourself. Also look at this court case, it covers lingering along a right of way

www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=4e058785-cea8-4db4-9f0d-5b37f9d12581

Im not a solicitor, just like to research things

[WiddlinDiddlin]

@Collaborate Yes I know, but a lot of people are very confused by the difference and believe that they do need to use it regularly - it would explain some of the odd behaviour.

[ComeBy]

Yes I know, but a lot of people are very confused by the difference and believe that they do need to use it regularly - it would explain some of the odd behaviour

Especially if the previous owners were agreeably territorial about the use.

Someone in my family has a drive which is owned by them but the neighbours, with adjoining courtyard, have rights to use it for access.

Worked well for 30 years, til the neighbours Dd took over the house, started encroaching on the rights. My family pushed back, they pushed back... it is now a constant Cold War.

So many rural properties have these various rights and shared uses etc. It is a way of life and unfortunately it is often ‘incomers’ who unnerve the balance. I am not saying this is what the OP has done but it is why a pp was advising dropping the territorial approach, and it may we’ll have been started by the previous owners.

[fedupandlookingforchange]

Does the farmer own his farm or is it rented from an estate? If the whole farm is rented from an estate then contact the land agent.

[Shefliesonherownwings]

This maybe a completely unhelpful suggestion but you mentioned the livestock and horses not being cared for properly, not looked after in the winter, fed, watered etc... even though this part of the wardens job.

Would a call into the RSPCA assist? I don't know if they could help but they may want to come out for a visit and have a conversation with the farmer. He may very well sit up and take more notice if the RSPCA are involved and raise concners about the wellbeing of the animals. He may not give a fig of course, given what you said about not hearing a bad word against the warden but even if it doesn't, if the animals aren't being proerly cared for, I would have to do something about that.