How to resolve boundary dispute

[Joy5]

I have a shared drive with my neighbours. They own the drive but we have a Deed that gives both houses equal rights over the SD something they deny.

They paved their front garden a few years ago adjoining the SD and have parked their vehicles on that and the SD since.

Recently they installed a new line of bricks to differentiate between the SD and their new paving over their garden.

The new line of bricks reduces the width of the SD significantly meaning I’m unable to access my garage when my neighbours vehicles are parked.

Ive tried to solve the issues using a solicitor so far who has now said we’re at a stalemate and the court costs to file would be significant for me.

So I can’t risk the costs of taking this further that way.

Can anyone suggest a way to resolve this I can afford? I have a CPR ready survey which confirms the Deed too. My neighbours have refused to accept its findings though.

Do you have legal on your house insurance?

We need a picture too.

Do their bricks come onto your land or are they on their land?

I can’t really picture what you mean, but ultimately your only option is court & legal route if you can’t agree this between yourselves.

If you're in the right on this, wouldn't you be able to claim court costs from the neighbour?

OP would be able to recover their court costs if they win, but that probably wouldn't cover their full costs. Of course, if they lose they would face having to pay the neighbour's costs as well as their own.

@Joy5 If you can't agree with the neighbours, court is your only option. Nothing else would be legally binding. If you have legal cover on your home insurance, they may be able to help.

Thanks for your replies, was hoping for an alternative to court, just can’t afford the legal costs, seems my neighbours have realised that and that I’m unable to do anything.

Try Citizens Advice.

Park on your half of the shared driveway whenever you can forcing them over a bit.

Civil Mediation

If Ive understood the set up correctly and you are 100% confident you are correct I'm afraid I'd be buying a non running car, and parking it on the full extent of the drive and letting them take me to court.

Be careful as when you sell you need to declare any disputes with neighbours.

what absolute tools they are though to get pleasure from this.

Next time you renew your car or home insurance. Tick the box for legal cover as you can ask them anything. Also check if your workplace has employee assistance scheme as there is often a set amount of legal advice available for free.

you can take them to court yourselves without lawyers. Keep pictures and make a show of taking the pictures to say you are collecting evidence for court. They won’t want to pay out either.

or start banging a drum everytime you want to access your garage.

I have a shared drive with my neighbours. They own the drive but we have a Deed that gives both houses equal rights over the SD something they deny.

Your deeds specify right of access over the shared drive?

Have you bought a copy of their Title Register and Title Plans to see what may be in their deeds?
https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/search-the-register

You could try for professional mediation, but if your solicitor is getting nowhere I don't see why they'd accept this. Do you have any legal expenses cover with your home insurance that might help with the court cost?

No insurance policy will cover risks known about at the time the policy is taken out.

I don’t understand how someone can ‘own’ a drive, as you say in your post, yet you have shared rights over it. If they own it, they own it surely? I’m guessing that’s how they see it anyway. I also think it would be easier to visualise if you provided a diagram.
I agree with someone else who suggested taking the first opportunity to park your car on your part of the drive in front of the garage and not move it. Choose a time when you aren’t going to have to move it for a good few days. That will at least force a serious conversation and not allow them to fob you off.

Learning about private rights of way is going to blow your mind.

Thank you for your replies. Previous owners had a Deed drawn up to give both houses equal rights over the SD to access the garages.

Have been looking at filing in court myself, I have months of photos showing my access is affected on a daily basis.

Does anyone have experience of filing in court themselves for a boundary issue?

Legal assistant your house insurance will sort this out