Build a wall down shared drive without neighbour's consent

[littlebluemoons]

History of problems with neighbours. Suffice to say they are prime examples of CFs!
Currently they have converted part of their front garden to park on and their car is half in their front garden and half on the shared drive.
I think that legally speaking the shared drive is supposed to be kept free for ‘right of way’. However we have a wall at the rear of the shared drive so it kind of nullifies that.(?) And the fact they occupy part of the shared drive with their car, also means it’s de facto not being kept free as a ‘right of way ‘.
Our front garden is a mess and we would like to make full use of what is our property- the property deeds state that the borderline of our property is down the midway of the shared drive. So we would like to build a wall or fence down the midline of the shared drive thereby enlarging our front garden and using the full extent of the property which is legally ours! However we will no doubt have opposition from our neighbours, it might also make it difficult for them to get their car in and out - but I really can’t give a damn about that at this stage.
Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of whether we are within our rights to build such a fence? (There are no covenants on the property or the shared drive)TIA

What do the deeds actually say? A shared drive afaik doesn't mean you own half each.

The deeds show a red line all around the perimeter of the property and that red line goes down the middle of the shared drive. However historically it was a shared drive with 2 garages at the rear.
It is contradictory I know.

When you say a shared drive, do you mean an actual shared drive where you each have a right if way over the half owned by the other house, or a situation where there are two driveways side by side with nothing on the ground to divide them?

I'm not legal expert but I thought shared drives meant 'shared' not half each, in which case you can't build a wall down the middle.

Cross-posted

@FGSWhatNow yes it is an actual shared drive

All nearby properties with a similar setup have a low wall or fence like this - down the middle of the shared drive. However they probably had both sets of neighbours agreeing on this. In our case our neighbours would have nothing to gain and might not be able to park their car as they currently do.
And as I said , they park their car partly ON the shared drive

Shared means you both have the right to access both halves, so no, you cannot just decide to arbitrarily remove their access to any of the shared bit.

You could speak to a legal expert and perhaps ask to buy them out of the shared access. Some sort of legal papers would probably be required to make sure future owners of next door could not overturn it.

The rear part of the drive already has a wall down the midline of the shared drive- this wall is between our garden and theirs. So part of the shared drive has already become not shared- but split between the 2 properties. Surely this changes the idea of right of way of both parties to both sides of the drive ?

Test the water with a row of planters...

If it is in fact a shared drive you cannot build a wall on it sorry op x

As I understand it ; a shared drive means that you each own half of it, so legally all you can take down the drive(without crossing onto their bit) is a bicycle/motorbike. Usually there is a 'gentleman's agreement' that allows each of you to go over the other person's half with your car to get to/from your garage.
This however, gives you no legal redress if the other party get p*ssy for whatever reason and goes on holiday leaving their ranger-rover parked in the middle of the drive.

I would consult a solicitor.

If the area that the shared drive leads to is no longer accessible from the drive then if you went ahead and built a fence it would probably go in your favor if they wanted to remove it as like you say it is no longer needed to access anything. And o ce its built they cannot remove it without causing criminal damage, I think.

Have you got your deeds handy, what is the wording?

There's no reliable free way to find this out. You need a solicitor to look at your deeds.

It's clear that own half of the drive as the red line shows. Whether your neighbour and you have an equal right of way needs to be sorted out. We have a big plot looking at our red line, but it includes a right of way for two neighbours. Also the footpath outside our house is owned by us, but everyone uses it.

Our neighbours once put a metal railing down the centre of the shared drive, but they placed it so that the slight loss of space was on their side not ours. We didn't care as it was a rental property and still had room to park properly.

I think a genuine shared drive legally enforceable would involve easements for the benefit of each owner to drive over the land owned by the other owner. You would need to consult the details of your title to see if this is the case. I suppose the alternative problem is if they have acquired this right by usage over time. Definitely one for a solicitor I would think.

Please do not rely on advice on here. Speak to a local Solicitor who can check your deeds. Just because the neighbours have marched ahead and done things doesn't make it right. You could come across all sorts of problems in future.

Thank you for all replies.
@stairgates I dont have the deeds handy but this is the way I view it too - the rear of the shared drive is no longer accessible to both us and them and therefore the drive surely can't be considered as giving right of access any longer.
Also the fact that they occupy the shared drive ( at least their half of it) by parking on it, surely means that we are also allowed to occupy our half of it - perhaps with a row of planters as someone suggested

Speak to a solicitor. Don’t just ‘go rogue’ because they park thoughtlessly.

I have a ‘shared drive’ but in fact own the full width of it (on the deeds) with my neighbour having right of access over it to their private parking spaces. Despite being the legal owner of the land, I am not permitted to build a fence or wall on my drive as it would likely impede access for my neighbour.

As others have said, ownership and rights of access are completely different things. A driveway can be owned by one person, but another person can have rights to use it.

You really do need a solicitor to find out what the precise position re your house is, and for advice on what, if anything, can be done to change it.

There’s a massive difference between parking a car (which can technically be moved) and a permanent wall. They’re not comparable at all.

Thanks everyone for the replies , it's helped clarify for us that we need to speak to a solicitor. One of the things that would hopefully go in our favour is that there are no restrictive covenants on the property. There is nothing restricting us from building on the drive unlike some of the posters who own the drive but are restricted from building on it.
As an afterthought, although we would prefer a garden at the front , we do always have the option to convert it to a parking place. However this is a distant plan B! And it wouldn't make things any easier with the neighbours as they definitely wouldn't be able to continue to park half on the drive as then we wouldn't be able to get our car in and out.

Save yourself some money.

Before consulting a solicitor buy and download a copy of your and your neighbour’s deeds from the land registry website - costs c. £6 - to check how the drive is owned legally.

Click on the ‘search property ownership’ link.

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

You will then know whether the entire drive is owned jointly, whether you each own your own half (happy days!) or you each own half with a right of way over the other’s half.

You can then seek legal advice based on this information