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Private right of way and the building work nightmare neighbor!?

3 replies

yumiami · 02/05/2014 15:58

Hi, we are trying to build a house on a plot of land which our neighbor has a right a way to their back garden.

It is not a public right of way, it is "private right of way" and it is clearly specified in their deeds and it is for vehicle and foot access. some parts of the right of way about 3m and some parts 2.5m wide.
We are building a house avoiding a right of way area.

The neighbors house is topical Victorian terrace, and the garden is about 4.5m wide 6m long. We believe they are not using the right of way access at all. But the neighbor claims they need to use it to move their garden equipment and bikes etc.

The neighbor claims we cannot temporarily block or obstruct the right of way, even for very short intervals in order to carry out our building work.

Is this correct in the legal sense ?

And they say once our builder put wheelbarrow on the right of way their solicitor would be writing us a letter!

If anyone knows any court case similar to this, please let me know.

We are sure this neighbor will try everything they could to stop our building, but we would like to know how much our building work would be interrupted with this right of way....... and how possible is it to build a house....

I would be grateful for any help on this issue.

Thanks very much.

OP posts:
ContentedSidewinder · 02/05/2014 16:16

Rights of Way (ROW) cannot be obstructed but this is generally where someone puts something there permanently to prevent someone using the right of way or installs a padlock etc

ROW can be an arse. If your builder puts a wheelbarrow on the ROW then by all means let the silly little man contact his solicitor and let him pay for that letter. Your builder is not being malicious merely popping something there for a short time and it can be moved.

Have a look on the GardenLaw website forum for more information on the right of way. here

ContentedSidewinder · 02/05/2014 16:26

Sorry thought I had put this into my post

"Not every interference with a right if way is actionable" is a quote from West vs Sharp court case. (I spend way too much time on gardenlaw)

LondonGirl83 · 02/05/2014 17:40

You should be fine. To get an award for a civil offence dome one needs to show they have suffered real damages....

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