Shared garden or not?

[gardenwoess]

this could be long! I bought an apartment in 2007 with bi fold doors which opened into a garden. I was young at the time so it was technically bought by my parents who handled everything

The other apartments had no access to this garden at all unless they walked up a road, down a main road, up another road and let themselves in
The only access is via my apartment except for that

The title deeds don’t really seem to show any ownership of the garden now I’ve looked but I’ve had sole access since 2007

Now someone has installed a door into their apartment through a wall at the back and is claiming the garden is shared. My management company are expensive and useless
If the person sits in the garden on the bench I have out there, I can’t open my living room window with smacking them on the head, and same with the bi fold type doors (sliding though but you get the point)

I am literally staring at the back of their head, unable to open my window while I’m watching TV and can’t hear the TV because of them on the phone screeching down it an inch from my window

any bright ideas?

Just post the land registry stuff you have, the weekend is already here !

We can literally tell you the answer in a couple of minutes if you post the plan and deeds

From your photos all people have to do is step over the fence.
However
There are many areas of land owned by people that they can’t actually get to. It’s irrelevant

do you recall the owners of land ( with the help of Green Peace ) selling 1m2 plots of their own farmland in order to avoid the LA making a compulsory purchase. People all over the world paid £1 for a plot. None of them could actually access their land. It didn’t stop ownership though

Agree it’s the only way to know for sure.

If I was you, I'd put in a narrow gate that locks. You've assumed it's your garden all these years so carry on with that assumption and secure the access. If the neighbour wants to continue to use it then the burden of proof is on them.
And start cutting your own grass! Or grow a wildflower meadow so you don't have to...

We get no say in anything with them

I asked them to mow the front gardens less as they were pure mud, they said fine but you’ll still pay
I asked why we were paying for a boiler to be removed from the flats on the next road, they said you are all one site
They don’t respond to anything unless you stop paying

Can you check the sales listing for the neighbours flat - see if a shared garden was included ?

Plus how much you offer to take away their rights to it.

You may also come a cropper if a communal external space was a requirement for planning purposes.
Flats must have some sort of space, even if it’s a balcony. You cannot remove external space from other flats if it was a planning requirement ( irrespective of whether the current owners agree as it voids the planning approval ) which if it was built within the last 50 approx years there will be.

Mine was slightly more expensive but it’s tricky as they all sold at different times and only mine and one other have the same layout
mine is bigger with a bigger kitchen and the one with the same layout is upstairs - mine did sell for more than theirs
the one with the door/no door sold for 40k less

It says “small patio area” on the listing and has a photo of the flags outside their window/door

That could be illegal. OP needs to sort out legal ownership before denying access to others

Ok.
So it sounds like they have flags outside their house. That’s theirs
So it would follow the flags outside yours are yours.
Then the rest ie the grass is communal.
Logically that follows and us quite normal for flats.

So I can go and sit on the flags outside theirs as they are sitting on mine? (It might get rid of them!)

Obviously not. If it’s yours. You just need to check to make sure.
On Land registry.

But logically it does sound like the developers gave you all a private space immediately outside your property. If that’s what they gave the neighbours. It’s not unusual to do that.

but they didn’t give the neighbours anything? To access those flags they have to walk out their front door, up the road, down a road, along the main road and back down another road and then over the fence

if that makes sense! Same for all the other ground floor people. It’s not like you can pop out to it with a glass of wine or carry a chair, it’s a decent walk

Tbh I’d just go and knock on their door, be nice and explain no one has been in the garden in 18 years and the flag stones with the bench belong to you. The bench and the flagstones under your window are not communal, they are your private property so could they sit somewhere else. I wouldn’t say the garden is private unless you have proof, but I would say no one has had access to the garden except you until now. Point out your bifold. I would ask innocently if they have any info that gives them garden access. And I would say that sitting on your bench and flagstones is intrusive, a bit like if you went and sat right outside their window. I’d just say this in a nice way, they may not realise the bench is yours. They might just go and get their own bench though.

I thought you said in a pp that when neighbours property was listed for sale they had the flags outside their property.?

So the flags are under a window not outside a door?

This one

So if the developers modus operandi to get over planning requirements on external space is to provide a small patio area at the rear then it would be logical to assume you have at least been given sole ownership of the same.

It would explain why the management company are mowing the lawn. They wouldn’t do that if it was under your sole ownership.

Yes (sorry I have changed some details as this is so identifying)

no door, just flags and a window for 16/17 years
new neighbour added door next to window , for access to bus stop, no issues, never used garden, never sat out on their flags but liked to sit at the front
property listed again as “small flagged area”, new neighbour moves in, now sitting in garden

If your flat is the only way to access the garden, how do the management company access it to mow it? Via your flat?

Just post or pm your title documents. It will save all the speculation and worry

There’s a small gate in the fence which they bring the strimmer through, the mower has to be lifted over as it is too narrow to fit through

you could technically access the garden but as I said it’s a decent length walk and not one I would do carrying a chair/wine/book!

Again re your last para. That’s not unusual.

Op it’s clearly not yours, sorry. It’s maintained for the building. You just happen to have the easiest access to it. Do you think the big outside their window is yours too since there is nothing separating the two areas of land.

But I could confirm if you post the deeds