blocked access to communal back garden

[Turnbull2]

I have just moved into my flat in Glasgow and have a particularly unfriendly neighbour in my block of 6 flats. He has added his own additional door lock with padlock as pictured to the only door to the shared back garden of ~2000sq ft. He has used the whole garden, planting his vegetables with shallow trench beds of soil throughout the garden. It is supposed to be a shared garden, none of the other tenants care as they are students. What is the law that I could bring up and actions I can take if he continues to refuse to give me the keys to access to the shared garden?

There’s no push bar or any other indication it’s a fire door, so I don’t think it’s a fire safety route. Surely you need everyone’s approval to start digging the garden and growing things, even just taking up room with pots. Just because he has done it, doesn’t mean everyone should. Is the garden big enough for everyone to do this? Same with hanging washing, it seems a bit selfish unless you all have an apportioned part of the garden.

He’s obviously in the wrong, but I wouldn’t stoop to his level.

As per pp’s helpful post : focus on fire safety.

send clear letter mentioning legal access and fire safety then get on the phone following the fire safety links above

OP, if what you want is to hang out your laundry and perhaps do a little veg gardening on your own account, why don’t you explain this to him? If he’s had students damaging “his” garden (as he sees it), it might be that he is afraid you’ll try to stop him from using the communal garden as an allotment. If it’s only you and him who want access, maybe reassure him that his veg is safe before going in all guns blazing? I completely understand that he is a CF (Cheeky F…..) but if you could resolve this without making a mortal enemy of him, perhaps it would be better for all, in that whatever happens, you both have to live there!

Or just put another padlock on and tell him you'll remove it once he engages.

I'd ask nicely then send him a letter requesting a key within 7 days. If that's ignored I'd cut the lock off and keep doing it. You could replace it and give him a copy of the key.

My deeds to a similar tenement property state clearly that this is a communal drying green, ie specifically for purposes of drying washing. Can you see if the cast iron posts are still in place for tying washing lines, and if accessing the lines would affect the plant beds?

He doesn’t want to engage. He’s made that perfectly clear. So better to watch him struggle imo.

I quite like the idea of a second padlock, and a note on the door saying to contact flat 2 to discuss the door security.

ETA forces him to talk to you to about garden access and is low cost and non destructive

It doesn’t matter if they are students. Presumably if they pay their rent, they have the same rights to the garden as anyone else who lives there.

"there is a fire escape that is locked securely"

Surely this is illegal?

/misses point of thread

People have been using doors for a lot longer than 140 years - and more doors obviously means more possibilities to get outside to safety from a burning building.

Just because they live in an old building, that doesn't make the residents any less important or deserving of more chances of survival than those in new buildings!

If you've purchased a property and discovered a neighbour has claimed a communal area as their own, your legal rights depend on whether there's a clear title to the communal area, if the neighbour has been using it for a long time, and whether any prior agreements or easements exist. You should first check your property deeds, the Land Registry, and any relevant agreements to understand the legal status of the communal area and the neighbour's claims. If the neighbour is claiming it based on adverse possession, they would need to prove they have used it openly for a certain period (typically approx 12 years).

The first step is to try and resolve the issue with your neighbour amicably. Explain the situation, show them your deeds and Land Registry documents, and see if they're willing to negotiate or reconsider their claim.

If you can't resolve the issue with your neighbour, you should seek legal advice from a solicitor specialising in Property/Land law. They can advise you on your rights and options for resolving the dispute.

Depending on the specific circumstances, you might need to consider legal options such as:

1. issuing a formal legal letter: Your solicitor can write a formal letter to your neighbour outlining your position and requesting they remove themselves from the communal area.

1. Seek a court order: If the issue can't be resolved, you may need to seek a court order to enforce your rights or to prevent your neighbour from using the area.

Don't forget that you also have the option to take legal action against the Seller of the property for not disclosing any ongoing boundary disputes or disputes in general. Whatever you do, act quickly as the law is seldom on the side of parties who don't take action on grievances, and who wait a few years to do so.

Yes, this. It's pure arrogance to assume that his desired use of the garden is the 'right' one, and that anybody with a different priority is 'wrong'.

The students could just as legitimately see it that he has spoiled their outside barbecue and chilling area by filling it with plants!

Crowbar

Or add another padlock and lock it when he is out in the garden, so he can't get back in. He won't be able to just ignore the access issue and blank the others with equal rights to use it then, will he?!

I really don't get the people on here who are suggesting sending polite letters asking him to please give them a key. When somebody has demonstrably stolen something from you, you don't start nicely asking for it back as a 'big favour' if they would be so kind.

Allotments are a wonderful thing; but there do seem to be a lot of people who have/create them with a certain superior mindset - as per previous MN threads.

You don't have the moral upper hand and automatic exclusive right to take over and grow your own vegetables on any old land that doesn't solely belong to you and where there's no official tenancy of it for you alone.

It doesn't matter how much work you've put into it and how much you've spent on tending property that isn't exclusively yours to use, without even consulting with the actual/rest of the owners/tenants. By that argument, scammers often put a load of dedicated effort into trying to get your money off you, but it doesn't mean that they therefore 'deserve' or have any rights to it!

Agree. But if they’re not bothered OP isn’t going to get much in the way of support from them.

I can kind of see why he did it when the other tenants were transient for 5 years, and students don't usually look after their rented gardens (remembering my uni days!) so if he was the sole stable resident and wanted to grow veggies then I see why he locked it.

Obviously he now needs to share the key with you and the lock be changed so it can be opened from both sides, and a plan drawn out of how you can both use the garden in the way you'd like to, but I can see where his motivation has come from living in a student tenanted property for years.

He was well within his rights to get the other property owners to contribute to the cost of maintaining the garden, which is now maintenance works in a tenement - someone needs or wants works done and they speak to the other owners and split the cost.

He didn’t do that, and then went on to keep the garden for himself, which makes me think he has deliberately not asked to split the costs because in his mind, it justifies his actions. So I don’t think he is the innocent helpful neighbour here.

But what is 'looking after'? What if the students weren't bothered about it looking pretty and manicured, but wanted to be able to hang out there sometimes?

And if they were never going out there anyway, why the need for the padlock - blocking off a potential fire escape for them should the worst happen?

It isn't up to the neighbour to decide that his way of using the shared garden is more noble or important than theirs, and so they should lose all of their rights to it and he gets exclusive rights to the whole thing.

Invest in a decent pair of bolt cutters.

need to go out daily - maybe 2-3 times.

Put a sign on the door stating it’s a communal garden.

He’ll soon get fed up of buying padlocks.

If he won’t engage in discussion then stop trying and just get on with doing what you know is right.

It's a bit like somebody knitting one of those lovely adornments for a pillar box, BUT then blocking it off and considering it 'earned' for their own exclusive use as a direct result - because 'nobody else cares about it - all they ever do is shove their letters in and then walk straight away'.

I would contact your local fire brigade. What if a fire broke out at the entrance? People could die as a result of his selfish actions. They have the authority to take action on this.

Surely the locks should be changed if only he has keys. And fire doors should not be locked.

Agreed - he could get into extremely serious trouble if he was directly responsible for people burning to death, just because he didn't want to risk anybody potentially stepping over his cabbage patch.

Do they actually let prisoners tend gardens or allotments?