Right of way dispute

[mashpatooties]

Hi everyone
First time poster and sorry this is a bit long.
We bought an end terraced house back in March.
During conveyancing we found out that left hand neighbour in attached terrace has right of access through our side gate in order to bring wheelie bins back and forth weekly. No problem at all. She's been lovely, respectful and we've made a lovely friend in her.
Right hand neighbour in detached dormer bungalow, rang our bell one day and said that they wanted to let the window cleaner into our back yard to deal with windows on the side of their property (the house is built right up to the boundary line and actually guttering etc overhangs it and our summer house).
We agreed and expected to go and unlock the gate and let them in. Turns out they had a key to the gate and let themselves into our yard.
I'd just got out of the shower so couldn't act in the moment but chatted to DH about it and we decided to let it go for now.
A few weeks later we were again interrupted on a hot day of sunbathing in the garden with the man letting himself into our yard to let the window cleaners through. But instead of just doing that, he wandered around our yard, stuck his head through the summer house door (where our hot tub is and we are frequently nuddie in) and when I went over to see what was going on, he ignored my obvious annoyance and tried to chat me up about our nice garden, love what you've done with the place etc.
Based on this, we changed the locks (as is reasonable when moving into somewhere new especially as it was previously a rental) and gave LH neighbour a key.
Fast forward to this week.
They tried again to let themselves in our yard.
We were at work but saw that they angrily rang our ring doorbell several times which we ignored.
They knocked on LH neighbour and asked her to let them through which she refused.
They repeatedly came to the door until they eventually found us back from work.
They produced a house deed showing that they have right of way despite our deeds not showing this at all and the vendor stating that only LH neighbour had access. We had them in to be respectful and find a solution but the man became really aggressive and unpleasant so we asked them to leave. They wouldn't leave and so we threatened police. They eventually left.
Turns out vendor had given them a gate key to "be neighbourly" and never knew that they "had rights".
Our conveyancing solicitor says they're not responsible as there's nothing on our deeds to suggest there's any dispute and vendor had stated what he had.
HM Land registry shows all associated documents as only being LH neighbour access.

What is our next step and has anyone else been in this situation?

If they had not overstepped and man hadn't been creepy and abusive we would have facilitated occasional access for maintenance. As it is, I already said I clean their windows and I do..

I think you’ll have to go down the legal route to resolve this
tbf to him if it’s on his deeds you’d take it as a done deal if I was him that he gas right of way

Can you get a copy of his deeds from the Land Registry to check what he says?

if he’s had the key for years he may have acquired rights of access not shown on the deeds I guess

it would be unusual for one set of deeds to show a right of way on a neighbouring property, but for the neighbouring property not to also show it...

in the rare cases where that does happen it is usually shown on the deeds for the property over which there is a right of way, not the other property...

go to the land registry website and download their property deeds as well as yours if you don't have them - to check the legal position...

Even if he does, would that allow him to peer in your summerhouse?
I'd get legal advice on this, from another lawyer, as in not the one you dealt with before. Especially about the key.

Definitely check with HM Land Registry and get a copy of the deeds. From
memory it takes 80 years to establish a ROW if it’s not in the deeds. Your solicitor can advise.

The fact that an old deed shows a right of way existed does not mean that it still exists or is still enforceable.

Your home insurance may cover taking specialist advice on this.

You don't need to do anything. He can't get in to your garden. He needs to take you to court. He probably won't.

If it was on ours too, I'd agree..we had no knowledge and may not have bought the house if we'd have known.

Thank you. I hadn't thought of the insurance, I'll look into that.

We have done that, it shows on theirs but not on ours.

In my world, it shouldn't do but he's one of these entitled arses who believes that he's lord of the manor. He's also creepy AF. He's physically able to see into the summer house should he wish to and he's proven that he feels that fine to do.

Fingers crossed! A friend told me I'm breaking the law by not giving them access but to me, until it's proven one way or the other I'd like to protect my privacy and security.

Thanks for everyone's replies so far.

We downloaded up to date copies of ours and their deeds. Theirs shows right of way over ours. Ours only shows right of way for LH neighbour.

We did some digging.

Their bungalow used to be in line (at the front) with all of the other houses on this row. At some stage, the bungalow was knocked down and rebuilt to allow for a driveway, setting the house back off the road.

There was also an extension built which is about in line with our summer house.
As I mentioned in the post, their house is built right up to the boundary line and guttering actually overhangs onto our side.

Be careful. You've already got a neighbour dispute to declare if you want to sell, and there are lawyers already researching luxury penthouses in Dubai and villas in Barbados to retire to, using the proceeds of this.

Good Lord, his soffits and gutter are well over your boundary if I’m reading the photo right. Did your surveyor not highlight this to you for further investigation?

I understand that and it does worry me but that said, and I know I don't have a crystal ball, we really look at this as being our forever carry me out in a box home. It's perfect for us and we love it. We're F53 and M61 and have no desire to move again as conveyancing was brutal!!

Nope!! And I'm going to look into that too....

@mashpatooties can you reproduce exactly the wording from his deeds (no need to give away the address etc.)

It’s a civ matter and police won’t be interested and to take it to court will be very expensive and a long time too so leave him to do that should he wish - he can threaten all he likes but threatening you IS actually a police matter so I’d remind him of that and also call the police if he’s refusing to leave your house/garden etc again but frankly don’t let him in!! The fact your deeds to YOUR property show nothing about him having right of way makes me think he’s added the extras onto his deeds at some point!!!

It’s 20 years

so he is trespassing onto your property which you could basically enforce his house being moved/ahem knocked down to put it back on his land and take it off yours! Should you wish! I’d remind him of that too!!

Yep pushing his luck!!! The fact he’s built his house over YOUR property and somehow has a right of way over your property that’s not in your deeds smells like a rotten fish!!!!

It's only 20 years prescriptive access if accessed without permission though. And the neighbour explicitly had permission from the previous owner - so no right of way has been created that way. Unless the ROW predates the new building of course.

Yes OP, you need to find out if the surveyor raised the overhang with your conveyancing solicitor, because if they did then the conveyancer absolutely should have looked in to the neighbouring property to see if there was a mismatch (which there clearly is).

Is that deed for the property that was demolished. Where the boundary line is another dispute, as the title plans are never that accurate. The previous owners should have sorted the overhang when it was being built, and I'm afraid you should have noticed and raised it with your conveyencer. I think I may go for Dubai and Barbados, it's so difficult to decide.