Neighbour claiming our driveway is his!

[Sofia109]

Hi. I am renting in a fully managed property by an Estate Agent and the neighbour has just knocked on my door and told me i am trespassing by parking on my driveway! He seems to think he owns the land, when his house is on the other side of our house and no where near our driveway. He then said he was going to cordon it off and block access within a week, which is what his solicitor has advised him to do. None of what he said made any sense and he was contradicting himself during the conversation about what land he actually owned. He also produced no deeds or letter from a solicitor as evidence of anything he was saying. I am at a loss as to what to do as most estate agents are pretty useless, even though i did suggest he contact ours, who have already provided their details to him in person and asked him to contact them for any matter relating to this - he said he's spent hundreds on solicitors and does not want to deal with estate agents.
The occupants at this house have been using that driveway for years without issue and i have been parking on it for 6 months, but all of a sudden its a problem? Why now? He then said it was still going through the courts, and admitted nothing had been finalised, but then said he owns the deeds so its up to our landlord to prove that he is wrong. Again this makes no sense to me, as surely if it is still going through the courts then no decision has been made, so the land can continue to be used in the same capacity has it has been.
Please can anyone make sense of this or give any legal advise on what he can or can't do? This situation is really stressing me out and there is not much space to park on the road as the neighbours are very territorial even though the spaces are not allocated.
Thank you!

Were the previous occupants owners and you’re now renting the property?
He sounds like he thinks he can claim it as his because you’re renting. Ive come across this before.

It's breath-taking how many people who have had the good fortune to own their homes - usually only (like us) as a result of being older and having been able to get on the ladder - genuinely seem to think that people who rent are just being given a bit of a kind favour and should be grateful for whatever they're given, even though they're almost certainly paying considerably more to live there each month than any of the homeowners are.

This seems to come to a head especially when it comes to parking spaces - where some idiot arrogant homeowner thinks that the council somehow sign over part of the public highway that they maintain to John at number 37, as a reward for him having lived there for however many years!

I know some places where the drives for each property (built at the same time) weren't originally allocated by the builders in the most logical, practical manner; but the giveaway is usually that House 4 has Drive 7, when you would have expected them to have Drive 4 - not that one house is given ALL of the drives and other houses are given none!

Your landlord needs to sort this, it's all on them not you.

Formally write to tge Estate agents. Request a meeting with them, the LL and neighbour ie invite the neighbour. Clarify landownership and put this to bed.

You may be able to see who owns the land via the land registry, but there may be a cost, so dont incur any costs over this. This is not for you to resolve its the owner of the property you rent. Any impact on your use of the driveway should be negotiated off your rent. I hope you have somewhere else to park, just in case he's right.

Write to the neighbour advising your plans and that he cannot take any action until this meeting occurs and agreements are made. Also confirm you do not own the property, you just occupy it, so land disputes need to be with the owner and a formal court decision is needed to effect a change. State that until an agreement is reached you will exercise your right to use the driveway as that is in the terms of your lease of the property.

Honestly I've no idea if he could be right, but what an arse by coming to you and not the owner!

Send it straight to the landlord to deal with and ask the landlord to provide you with deeds. If it’s going through the courts then aggressive neighbour will have to wait for the courts decision before he claims access to the land. It sounds like he is trying to bully you.

This. Really easy and quick to do on line, for £50-70 (not sure how much they are now) you can get copy of deeds for BOTH properties

look at them. Check where boundaries are.

if he is right you go straight to property management company and take up with them for mis-representation and rental reduction. If he is wrong you state that you have confirmed the deeds and the land in question belongs to the home owner you rent from. If he attempts to use, block etc anything on the land you have been told to contact the police in the first instance (ok, I know police’s won’t get involved in details but getting them out may show you are taking it seriously).

if he says that the deeds are wrong, laugh and say that until he has been to court to change the deeds the land remains the current deed owners, and your property owner and therefore it is part of your current home and property.

put up a camera to monitor him - display a clear sign saying it is in place and recording.

Email the managing agents and tell them to sort it out and to stop his visitors parking on your drive as well.

You rent. The land dispute is not for you to sort out.

I bet your landlord will not be happy because it's his land, he probably gets additional rent because of the drive and he's liable for those on his land.

Parking is a premium where I live. But that doesn't mean I can just claim someones drive!

Although the neighbour might not realise this, if he has just decided to take on the newly-arrived 'lowly' tenant, the landlord has far more to lose than you do. Any disputes will affect their property, if they come to sell; and in the meantime, their income will be directly affected by the value of the property that they can rent out.

Of the three of you, you actually hold most of the cards! Definitely one for the landlord to deal with; deeds affect the ownership of a property and not (directly) the tenanting of it.

There are disadvantages to renting over buying, but this is one of the advantages - so don't borrow somebody else's trouble!

Would love a diagram OP 🙏

DH and I have a camera which was bought for about £30 and we pay like £2 a month for X amount of cloud storage.

It's HD and is awesome. I would start recording your encounters and then you can evidence his behaviour to your landlords solicitor. (Even a dummy camera might stop him acting so strangely towards you).

I would take pictures of your car now in the event that there's damage to it at a later date.

Agree we need a diagram!

Also agree that you shouldn’t have anything more to do with him and pass everything over to your EA/LL.

Could the LL have reached a previous agreement with this person? It’s possible?

Has he always parked a car on your driveway? Did you query this at the time?

Two things you should do which pps have already advised: 1. check your tenancy agreement includes the drive; and 2. Get instant downloads of the title plan and title register for your house from the gov.uk Land Registry website. It'll cost £6 in total.

It's possible your landlord has rented the driveway to someone else, but the language the neighbour is using suggests this is not the case and he's just trying to intimidate you.

The title register for your home should have a section which shows "Charges". This is basically other rights over the property.

YABU to even give this headspace.

You are renting a home that has a drive. If he raises it to you again, tell him that he needs to address the matter with the agent/landlord as you have been given permission by them to park there.

Repeat the same sentence every time he brings it up.

Could you post a photo?

I'd esculate to the estate agent to be honest, it's up to your landlord to sort. Be firm with them and say you want the deeds or whatever by x date and a sizable reduction on the rent if this guy does own the space and therefore you don't have parking as advertised. I highly doubt he does though, I suspect he is trying his luck and feels like a woman is likely to give in and just let him have it, ew.

It’s between your landlord and the neighbour. Nothing to do with you. Refer it to your landlord and let them get on with it. All you can do is request a rent reduction or an early end to your contract if your drive access is blocked.

I'd let him park there then block him in. Tell him I'd had a wine and couldn't drive to let him out. Fuck him.

Did you get the deeds?

Which camera and online storage did you go for? We want to do this but never do because I start looking into it and get bogged down by the choice and having a reputable system!

his house is on the other side of our house and no where near our driveway.
Come on OP you can't post about this kind of dispute without a diagram - it's the law.

He then said he was going to cordon it off and block access within a week, which is what his solicitor has advised him to do.
He's bullshitting.
he said he's spent hundreds on solicitors and does not want to deal with estate agents.
Spent hundreds to what outcome? Being told to do something illegal, like cordon off disputed property?
He then said it was still going through the courts, and admitted nothing had been finalised,
What courts? Who is representing your property? How come your agents or landlord aren't aware of this process then? 😂

but then said he owns the deeds so its up to our landlord to prove that he is wrong.
He is the gift that keep on giving. Nobody owns the deeds, the deeds simply exist to prove ownership. If he "owned" them, he's be brandishing them at you. He'd have no reluctance to show them to your agents either. He doesn't want to deal with agents because they won't accept his bullshit, but he reckons he can bully you into backing down with no proof from him.

Please can anyone make sense of this
Yes. A stupid man believes that you - a mere woman - cannot possibly know more about your rental agreement or rights to the space than he does, & thinks that he can impose his will on you by scaring you.
Apart from that you are correct, nothing he has said makes sense - because he is making it all up. He probably feels big talking about his "solicitors" & the "hundreds" he says he has spent.
He hasn't. If he had, your agent would know about it, & your batshit neighbour would be showing you proof.
A few quid will get you a copy of the deeds. Then you can post a copy through his door, enjoy peace of mind, & tell him to piss off when he next harangues you. If he then tries to use or "cordon off" the space, call your agent, remove his crap & put it in the space that actually belongs to him. If he kicks off about it, call the cops.

This situation is really stressing me out
Stop allowing this eejit power over you by responding to him as if anything he says is true. He needs laughing at. The sooner you can start viewing him as a ridiculous imposter, the sooner you will stop feeling anxious about him & his stupid performance.

Have you downloaded the deeds yet OP?

You need to

a) check you lease to see if the driveway is included.

b) order the deeds and plans for your landlord’s property and the neighbour’s property online asap as the cost is very small (a few pounds for each property) so unless you are really short of money the expenditure is worth it to solve this confusion quickly and reduce your stress.

c) meanwhile inform the landlord whatis happening. Some CFs try a land grab behind the owner’s back when they are absent. This is significant for your landlord and you need to inform them and also ask them for a response on whether any of it is true including the ‘courts’ part. You are stuck in the middle and you dont know what is true and what isn’t yet.

d) if it turns out there is a dispute about the driveway going through the courts and the driveway is in your lease you need to raise a concern with the landlord (or agent if your contract says the agent is receiving all communications on behalf if the landlord) that the neighbour is trying to stop you using the driveway and they need to do something as you have paid to use it. If you are prevented from using it you may have a right to renegotiate the lease or even terminate it immediately if you prefer (you will need legal advice on this).

I find it bizarre that people just try to make a claim on something when it's all there in black and white on land Registry. A few years ago I was in an area of it garden that we barely use (over the other side of a stream) and the neighbour was there saying they thought that part of the garden was theirs and was thinking of utilising it. So cheeky! I never heard any more after I politely referred them to Land Registry if they wanted to verify what I said (and we put a taller fence up).

@ParkrunPlodder

It's this one here - https://www.onbuy.com/gb/outdoor-security-camera-wansview-1080p-wifi-home-surveillance-waterproof-camera-with-night-vision-motion-detection-remote-access-works-with~c5532~p57922092/

The brand is 'Wansview' and you just use the wansview cloud app for 24/7 viewing/alerts/storage. Ours lasts 1 month unless we download anything we need. We had to screw it up outside on a wall. But you can get ones the go inside that you point out the window etc.

Very, very good for the price. Customer service is wicked as well.

Thanks so much.

I knew OP wouldn’t pay the £3.50 to download the plan 😁