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Original poster

My neighbour reckons he has right of access (with a car) over my property

140 replies

BasinHaircut · 04/05/2020 07:46

Between my back garden and the one over the back is an alleyway/road. It’s pretty wide at the start and then narrows (at the point of my garden) to where you could just about drive a car down there if it wasn’t completely overgrown.

Our garden stops about 6-7ft short of next doors garden, but the land registry plan clearly shows that our boundary is in line with next door. Therefore we plan to extend the garden and wanted to stick a garden room up there.

The bit of next door’s garden that is currently longer than ours houses a shed that has been there for as long as we have lived there and clearly much longer. There is ivy with a stump thicker than my leg all over it and running down the very very old gates that serve as a fence there. Once upon a time my neighbour apparently had a driveway there and parked his car accessing through the bit of our houses land that isn’t currently incorporated into the garden.

He says that it states on his deeds that he has access. We don’t have deeds as only lived here 5 years so just got the land registry print out. He said that he isn’t bothered if we extend the garden and build a room there but he is selling up after the pandemic ends and so wanted to warn us that it could be an issue if the new owners wanted to put a driveway or garage up the end of their garden.

Fair enough for him to tell us this but I’m not sure I believe him. He is a bit of a know-all and likes to tell us how things are. The land in the alley/road (outside of all of the boundaries) is unclaimed land and is used from the point it narrows (our garden) as a dumping ground for all of the houses garden waste (I hate this and is one of the reasons I want to claim our bit back, it’s basically been used as a massive compost heap for 20 years by the looks of it). Because ours is as far as you can walk up before it gets narrower and completely overgrown, outside our house is the worst bit.

My question is how do I find out if he really does have access? And if it’s in his deeds then is there any cause for saying it’s now void as it hasn’t been used for 20+ years?

OP posts:
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MsJaneAusten · 04/05/2020 09:00

Oh, it’s terraces. Does he also have right of access through your garden to get to the front?

Soontobe60 · 04/05/2020 09:02

So that clearly shows your boundaries. Just fence it off. It's up to your neighbour to prove the land isn't yours!

Woeismethischristmas · 04/05/2020 09:03

My mortgage company sent me my deeds a couple of years ago as now all recorded electronically.

TeacupDrama · 04/05/2020 09:07

The yellow smudge looks like it's on neighbouring land your fence could be moved back to red line unless he has proof you need to have fence back to enable access like everyone else on the street

Wonderbag · 04/05/2020 09:07

Seeing your diagram, if you reclaim that bit of garden the neighbour still has their access/prescriptive right of way. You’re not blocking them.

notapizzaeater · 04/05/2020 09:09

For a tenner I'd get the details off the land registry ready for when he next has the conversation. Which neighbour is it ? The attached one ? They normally have right of way across your back garden

YinMnBlue · 04/05/2020 09:13

There is clearly access along the back, but not access for cars.

What look like garages stop before the access narrows.

Take your fence to your boundary.

YinMnBlue · 04/05/2020 09:20

He is being ridiculous.

By his reckoning, his shed is blocking access to his neighbours the other side, and so on.,,

His house has access along the back path for the width of the path. Not over your land.

Unless he has a document (a licence or similiar) or the deeds to prove otherwise.

Check with land registry that you can fence to the end of your land and then do it

YinMnBlue · 04/05/2020 09:22

They normally have right of way across your back garden

Never in a terrace I have lived in.

At my mum’s only for essential maintenance, not for car parking.

And I have never seen it as a normal thing where a back access path is in place.

Original poster
BasinHaircut · 04/05/2020 09:23

Yes the neighbour I’m attached to.

The neighbour the other side is the last garage yes you are right. From our house onwards is so overgrown you can’t actually walk down it let alone drive!

I might ask him to see his deeds and also email our solicitor to see if she can confirm from searches.

Will also check out land registry for next door. We have ours already and it says nothing re access. DH said that surely there is no way it would refer to access on his paperwork but not ours if the access was across our property.

I will be gutted if we can’t extend the garden as planned but not as gutted as if he if we shelled out for the work and the garden room and then had to pull it down!

OP posts:
ReadilyAvailable · 04/05/2020 09:29

It sounds like he was a lazy bugger who used to drive over his neighbours’ driveway/carport at the end of their garden to access a driveway he could have accessed from the lane (but that would require driving skills he wasn’t willing to cultivate).

I bet it used to piss off his neighbours.

ReadilyAvailable · 04/05/2020 09:34

We live in a mid-terrace and have no right of way over our neighbours’ yards. That’s because there’s a back lane so we can access our yard from there. That’s where the bins are collected too.

In contrast, I did have access over the neighbours’ garden when I lived in a mid-terrace with no lane (and which had been built with no access to the garden other than through the house). I never used it because those neighbours were a bloody nightmare and it’d never have been worth the hassle.

The OP’s house is in a similar situation to my current house (even if the land is now too overgrown for much) rather than that previous house. Why would there be provision made for unnecessary access?

Original poster
BasinHaircut · 04/05/2020 09:38

He wouldn’t have been able to get a car in without accessing from ‘our’ side, over our land. It’s really only the width of a car behind his garden and the rest of the way down.

2 owners ago the people in this house clearly had a carport (or maybe it was a garage) as we still have the concrete base and have our shed on it now. I presume they pulled the garden back to allow them to turn in and out and next door just took advantage of that and had gates put in to access their own garden.

OP posts:
MaggieFS · 04/05/2020 09:39

Are they Victorian terraces? Right if access won't be vehicular, even if it exists!

canigooutyet · 04/05/2020 09:48

The previous owner might have let him use it to be neighbourly.
Double-check with your solicitor, when it turns out there is nothing, put up a fence.

You reclaim your land, and he will just have to suck it up that it doesn't come with the extra ££ for off-street parking.

MarieG10 · 04/05/2020 09:50

OP. I'm puzzled. Is the land you are talking about beyond the red line which is the land that you own? If so the road or walkway is clearly not yours unless it was claimed years ago by the 12 year rule which isn't in existence in that form any more?

Original poster
BasinHaircut · 04/05/2020 09:51

@MarieG10 no, the access in question is through the red box, which is clearly ours.

OP posts:
AJPTaylor · 04/05/2020 09:55

You can of course use the land up to the boundary on your deeds. Madness to build anything on that path though.

MarieG10 · 04/05/2020 09:55

Well the deeds are very clear then it's your land so the only way he has any rights is if there is a right of access granted and in the deeds, which it appears there isn't, or he or previous owners established a right of access over many years and which they formally recorded and claimed. Sounds like that isn't the case either. So in essence the only way he could try and establish it is using the newer much tighter procedure to claim access or ownership of land by use which is extremely difficult to achieve.

He is trying it on by the sound of it. I suggest you ask him to explain in more detail what rights if access or ownership there is or alternatively just ignore him

lowlandLucky · 04/05/2020 09:58

Op Make sure you take photos of how it looks now, overgrown and covered in ivy. That way your neighbour cant claim he has been using it for years.

Naithnira · 04/05/2020 09:58

The red line is clearly your boundary. I’d move the fence back. Wouldn’t bother a solicitor, it’s so obviously yours. The neighbour still has foot access along the back.

GU24Mum · 04/05/2020 10:00

OP, you need to start with the register part of your title and then also with the register and plan for the neighbour's title each of which are £3 to download from the Land Registry. What you'd be looking for on your title is something in the "C" register and in his, something on the "A" register. If you find anything you want checking out, either upload it or if easier, feel free to pm me and I'll have a look for you.

Original poster
BasinHaircut · 04/05/2020 10:01

Well he doesn’t actually use it @MarieG10 as He has a shed there and well established ivy that must be over a decade old growing over the long since used gates so he would have trouble claiming any rights through use!

I think I’ll ask if we can see the relevant part of the deeds. No reason not to share with us if he is confident he is correct I guess!

OP posts:
MaggieFS · 04/05/2020 10:01

Despite it obviously being the OP's land, it IS worth checking the rights of access just in case a (probably) pedestrian gate needs to be fitted in any new fencing to prevent greater problems and costs in future.

100%agree with pp who said take a photo as it is now to prevent false claims it's been used for cars recently.

ReadilyAvailable · 04/05/2020 10:02

He wouldn’t have been able to get a car in without accessing from ‘our’ side, over our land. It’s really only the width of a car behind his garden and the rest of the way down.

He could, presumably have done exactly what the previous owners of your house did and made enough space within his own land to actually turn and park despite the narrow lane.

They probably found it really annoying that he took the piss driving over their driveway rather than doing so.