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!

sounds like he is trying to claim adverse possession however would require 12 years uninterrupted use by him to have a chance.
I can check boundaries and PM the screen shot to you if you’re happy to PM me either the address or title number.

It’s interesting you say that cause this driveway does connect to our garage also, which he is saying was built illegally, but it’s been there a long time!

So bizarre especially if the driveway is no where near his property! I am very curious as to where this ends up.

Not so patiently waiting for a diagram.

"he is already using the middle space on our drive (you can fit 3 cars across) and there are different cars there all the time."

So he is currently parking TWO cars on your drive?! Block him in or park your car across the entire drive.

The land registry title plan (that you can download for £3) will definitely show the general boundary - whilst not precise enough to get a mm perfect idea, I'm sure it will show whether your property owns the drive. I can see PPs have suggested this to you so I don't understand why you haven't got it already and saved yourself the drama.

I am almost tempted to just pay the £3 myself to get an answer

Get the neighbour's title plan from Land Registry too so you can compare.

It won't be in the deeds... Which these days are an online thing and not a big scroll of paper. It will be in the title registry as we're all telling you.

Yes me too!!!!!!😁

copy of deeds as others have said

If it clearly shows the land is parking for your property and he has no ownership then personally I would get a cease and desist letter from a local solicitor sent to him and his solicitors. If he continues to harass you then you need to involve the police and report each incident until there is sufficient evidence for an anti harassment order.

If the land is in dispute ie not clear who owns and there is a current legal battle I would advise solicitor of this and get his advice on what to do (I suspect continue use till resolved with a cease and desist until that time)

If it looks like he owns it and the court case is a formality stop using it and take it up with your landlord as you have been rented a property on basis of with parking which you don't have access to.

Sorry that is what they checked - it’s not on there. Waiting an update from the landlord now as to what’s been going on!

So if it’s not on your landlords title deeds is it on your neighbour’s? Your landlord needs to check those title deeds too.

Is this a name change fail? Are you OP?

Not everyone knows their way around the land registry so there's no shame in that, but when you log on to the land registry website and apply for office copies you are literally given the choice of whether you want the written title or the title plan. So no one is going to believe you that you have checked this and found there is no plan.

If you re-read my post you will see that i said teh agent checked it, i did not say i checked it. I am leaving this up to the agency to resolve, as everyone has correctly pointed out, it has nothing to do with me and i already have plenty to keep me busy. I have just spoken to the agent again and they are trying to make contact with the landlord

Here is a diagram of the houses and driveways. Excuse my terrible drawing skills!

Is your house split into flats? Had someone else been using the space you're now using before this?

I wonder if the two houses used to be all one house at some point. Or if one of the houses was built on the land owned by the other and allocated two parking spaces. He seems very adamant that he should own that space.

Who do the other two cars and the garage belong to?

Our house is not and has never been split into flats, its just a normal semi-detached, with an extension to the right, and a garage next to that. He also believes the garage was built illegally, but our garden extends right behind it.

I've been parking in that space for 6 months, a previous tenant parked there for around 3 years before that - that's as far back as i know. He is occupying the middle space - we don't know that he should have it, but we just let him use it as we don't need it. He claims the space on the far right also belongs to him and he has an 'agreement' with a neighbour to allow them to use it, which they are - i can't confirm any of this.

OP if you knowingly allow him to use the land which he has no easement or other rights over he will, after 10-12yrs, acquire it through adverse possession.
May I advice that you tell the agents / owners what he is up to.

I believe this is exactly what he is up to.

You should check the deeds yourself. I had a property once where the neighbours rented and were told my space was theirs. This happened with 3 different tenants in the time I owned it. I told each of them and each time they were adamant the agent says it's their space - this landlord told them it was his. Each time I had to show them the deeds and each time they moved within months because they wanted to rent a place with parking not use the road. Landlords lie

WTF - how does he think that’s his drive?

(Excellent diagram skills.)

OP, how do you get to your parking/garage - from the road or past the neighbours house?

OP, I assume your rent covers your drive/outside area? In which case he is trespassing. Block it off, don't let him or his neighbour friend park there anymore, they are taking the proverbial out of you.

I've never heard of deeds that don't show boundaries before. I thought that was literally the point! Or does the copy not have the title plan?