right to park

[Carol52]

hello advice please.
i live in a small cul de sac
The council had a carpark . we had parked in the same place for over 30 years. we have a gate way entrance to our property for a car. The carpark was sold to one of the residence who sometimes park in front of the gate . i can pArk at the front of our house as wellWe don’t get on and the other day we had visitors who parked they went and then about 30 minutes later she moved her car and parked in front of the gate. However we still need access and visitors park there. A house has sold and the new people have started to park in front of my gate. i find it rude as you can clearly see it is a entrance i think the neighbour has told them to park there. we don’t get on.
Any advice on where i stand.

By gate is it a dropped kerb? Or are they parked legally on a public road? If latter there’s nothing you can do.

What is the relevance of the car park the council owned and sold?

Does your gate have a dropped kerb? Direct onto the road? Or a normal high kerb?

Get a H bar painted across it. And have a sign up on the gate saying no parked, access needed. If someone blocks you in, then go and tell them to move. If they do it continuously then I’d fill in the online police form to ask for advice as my car was being blocked in by the same person over and over. If someone new has moved then, and they are also parking there then go and speak to them.

Eh? Diagram would help please. What is the relevance of the car park?

If the gate you are referring to is yours, and at the end of a proper driveway entrance with dropped kerb, then noone should block it. If there's no dropped kerb, it's just road unfortunately and people can park there, although it's inconsiderate. Unless you live in a village and there's no pavement so no need for dropped kerbs, which can get a bit political about limited parking, but I suspect that probably isn't the case?

no the carpark is a gravel piece of land at the end of a private road that they now own as well.

The new people are parking over your gate? Is it a drive with a dropped curb? Seems weird that people are parking over your driveway.

I don’t really understand about the car park? You could use it but now it’s a private car park so you can’t but the owner parks over yoir gate?

i have a sign that says access required 24 hours a day we have had that for over 30 years.

Okay, so the car park is irrelevant to people parking outside your house. Do you have an official drive/parking area with a dropped kerb? Or is there no pavement for a dropped kerb?

So that’s not relevant. Tell us about the driveway and the curb and what happens when someone parks over it.

it is not a driveway it is a gravelled square piece of land at the end of a private road off a main road . my five by gate access goes across the carpark to the rare of my property,
there is no kerb

I have people park outside my house regularly as parking is short on our street but I have to accept that as annoying as it is, it’s a public road and unless I park for a drop kerb the. I can’t control it

Ah, so you have to drive through their car park to get to park on your own property, and your access is being blocked? Do you have a legal right of access across their car park? You might need to check with the council who sold it. If not, you can't keep driving through it. It sounds as though they think you don't, and are trying to prevent you driving over their property. If there's no legal right of access, the car park is now out of bounds for you, and you'll have to stop parking at the rear of your home. If it was sold with a legal right of access granted to others, they can't block you like this. You need to know the legal situation here.

Unless it's specifically mentioned in your deeds you don't have the right to park in or drive through land owned by someone else.

You really need to start over again and explain this.

What has the carpark got to do with your drive?

Do you need to cross through the car park to access where you park your car? Does yiue gate open onto the car park?

It’s private land. Do you have the legal right to have a gate onto their private land and drive across their land to access the road?

If you've been using the access for 30 years you may have acquired a right of way (easement). I think you should contact the council in the first instance and ask whether this was taken into account when the land was sold. If other neighbours also have previously used it for access a joint letter might carry more weight. I also wonder how the neighbour came to buy it- was it offered on the open market or offered to other neighbours, and were interested parties asked to tender for it? As a public body they should be looking to maximise value when selling assets
Edited to correct my appalling spelling

I think both @Redflagsabounded and @Thatsanotherfinemess1 make very relevant points that you should consider further.

"Do you have a legal right of access across their car park?"

This will likely appear in the original deeds to your house. If you still have a mortgage then the lender will likely hold them.

"...for over 30 years"

I guess from this that you probably no longer have a mortgage. If that is the case then it may be that the original deeds have been returned to you or the solicitor who acted for you at the time.

Alternatively, as it may be that the property was only first registered when you bought it (presumably in the 1990s), they may have also been sent to HM Land Registry who will have digital copies.

You can search here:

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

If the register for your property refers to deeds being "filed" then they should have digital copies of the original deeds.

If the deeds mention a right of way over that land, then other people cannot block your access.

.

The second issue is, have you obtained rights to use the land anyway?

"If you've been using the access for 30 years you may have acquired a right of way (easement)... If other neighbours also have previously used it for access a joint letter might carry more weight."

However, this can get very complicated indeed. If you want to go down this route then I really would, very strongly, suggest that you first speak to a solicitor who is very experienced in this area of the law.