Any solicitors out there or any one with any knowledge about nasty developers!!

[boo70]

Hi all my house was built in 1896 and has a private right of way over a pathway leading to my house and this pathway was the only access to my home as stated on my deeds and land registry map.There is another road but the pathway is our only legal access. A developer has come along and put a wooden hoarding around there site which they have purchased and straight over our pathway and blocked us off completly. The council who granted planning permission have said, even though they agree this company have encroached onto our pathway they cannot get involved!! The developers are really horrible and wont even talk to us and we dont know where to turn for help, ive contacted cab, obudsman, highways, council but still no luck. This has been nearly a year now and if we dont get it sorted soon they are going to start to build and without the path reinstated ill never be able to sell my house. I know solicitor sounds like next step but money is tight and not sure what to do. Any advice would be great. Thank you

Did you make a formal written protest about the plans and get a response? The planning committee are supposed to address written objections in their decisions surely?

I would try Watchdog & local paper for adverse publicity for the developer.

If the pathway access is legally yours on your deeds and the land registry map then the developer would need to have it blocked off for at least 12 years, I think, to gain vicarious possession. If it is yours then it will be highlighted by a red line on your docs clearly detailing your land. Do you have that?

yes made a formal written protest about the plans and but it does not go to commitee till next week as all of there previous plans have been turnrd down.

We went to local paper this week and that goes in this friday.

we have right of way over the pathway and its coloured brown on the deeds

Can you attend the committee hearing & make your voice heard? Try & do that if poss.

But all of the cottages have the same plans stated that we have right of way on foot only over the land tinted brown and the path has been there since 1896.

yes that is what we are going to do, we have registered to speak.

The developers are really abusive and have had my elderly neighbours in tears. I thought our local council would protect us, but its clearly not the case. The path is not included on the developers plans either.

Have they actually blocked your right of way?

I'd just move the hoarding tbh - if it is over a legal right of way

Be careful you could be forced to pay for maintaining it up to highways standards if planning decided they want it surfaced to a high standard to serve the new houses

Take your deeds to the meeting (& copies)

yes will take copys although i have taken them all to the council allready, yes they actually blocked our right of way, i walked the path with my children to school and got a few feet along only to be met by a 10ft high fence.

Is the footpath a public footpath (which would be registered on the County Council's registry) or is it a private right of way over some land. If it is public, it is illegal of the developers to block the footpath and the County Council/local highway authority should take action.

If it is an easement, they are still not allowed to block it but the Councils are not responsible for taking action - developers can apply for planning permission over any land whether or not they own it and Councils should not make land ownership a major issue. In this case, you will need to contact a solicitor I'm afraid. Could you and all your neighbours go together to a solicitor specialising in land law and see what they would suggest. It might need an application to the court for an injunction to remove the fence asap.

FWIW, the fact that the developers have built the fence cannot give them ownership of the land or indeed any rights over it. You really really do need to see a solicitor.

Okay - The way to keep solicitor's fees down is to do as much work / fact finding of your own as you can before you go and see someone.

Get a coloured photocopy of your deeds and the land registry documents to take with you.

Make a bullet point list of the salient points.

When you make an appointment to see a solicitor, make it clear who it is that you will be acting against. Some firms will be conflicted out as they make already represent the developer and you don't want to waste time.

I would write a letter to the Land Registry, or ask the solicitor to do so, asking a simple yes and no question : does that private access belong to your property. Forget the others, unless you want to club together to share legal costs.

Send the letter registered post or Special Delivery and ask for an answer within a fortnight. Do not mention the legal action at this point.

If you get a yes, that the access if yours then you or your solicitor need to send a copy of that to the planning committee and to the developers by Special Delviery and tell them to remove the hoarding immediately or legal action for trespass will follow.

If you get a no, then go back to the solicitors who acted for you when you bought the property and find out why their due diligence on the sale did not bring this matter to light.

The age of your property is irrelevant if you or any previous owner been using the access unchallenged for over 12 years.

When you are talking to the planning committee mention the fact that the developer is already making a nuisance by claiming land that isn't, apparently, theirs. Query why they are doing this.

Also, query whether anyone on the planning committee has a vested interest on seeing the development go ahead. If so, who? What is their interest and why have they not been conflicted out?

yes feel like just taking the hoarding down especially as the developers attitude is sooo bad you would not belive it!!!

P.S. That's me done. Good luck. I hope that you get this resolved.

No its a private footpath and not on a definitive map, even though it has been used for over a hundred years by the public.yes think a solicitor is our only option.

what part of the country are you in?

baffledmum great advice thanks will get that all in order tonight.

In Berkshire

thelittlestbadger council have just said its a boundary issue now and we cannot comment!!

To save on legal costs, you could look for a reputable firm that does pro bono (that's free legal work) in your area. Not quite sure how you get it, will have a quick look on the internet.....

oh great thanks, just keep comming up against a wall and nobody willing to help.

Boo, not sure where you are in Berks but Martin Salter (Reading MP) came to a neighbors meeting and gave us loads of advice support when we were fighting 2 developments (Reading & West Berks Councils involved).

Have you tried your MP?

Have you got legal protection on your household insurance ?

great thanks about 20 mins drive from reading. I have tried our local MP but he does not seem to have time for us, our local councillor is helping but he is having no luck either.