Private Road - neighbour in other road claiming access (new build)

[SezW]

Hi,

 

Sorry for the convoluted title, but here goes..

 

I live in a Victorian terrace, with a garage at the rear, accessed by a private road. All the houses in the terrace have access, as do some in the next terrace along, as well as the owner of a field which is located at the rear of these properties. When we bought the house some 14ish years ago,the search by our solicitor threw up no owner for this private access road, but told us we, as well as the others mentioned, had historical access to it.

 

All has been well and we have lived in harmony with our neighgbours over use of this access road until recently. A brand new housing estate sprung up to the other side of this road, with some new properties backing onto it. IT is hard to describe, but the corner house on this estate has claimed (whether legally or not I know not) a portion of no-mans land at the top of the private road, but not attached to it. He has erected a chain link fence, and laid gravel, apart from an area with a manhole cover in it.

 

Still with me?? Sorry... The problem is this, although he could have placed access to this fenced area from his own garden, he chose to install a gate onto "our" private road, and is now demanding that we residents no longer have the right to use this as parking, as we have done for many years. When one of the neighbours tried to talk to him, he became verbally agressive and stated the local councillor told him to do this?? I have a letter from our local council, written a few years ago to me, stating it is a private road, and as such the council have no interest or claim on it.

 

Am I correct in thinking this man has no rights on the private road, and that we, as residents, can ask him to move the gate? He is causing some considerable upset to many elderly residents here, by trying to remove their limited parking spaces. How do we go about registering the road to al our properties also?

 

This really is becoming an issue and I feel we need to address it as soon as possible.

 

Do please ask me for more (and clearer) details. I am aware I have probably not explained it as well as I could!

[green_and_mean]

You should contact the Council again and ask for advice from the highways department. If it has been used historically as a right of way it may be that you have a legal right to use it. Having said that unless he locks the gate there is nothing he can legally do to stop you parking there without going to Court.

[patdavies]

You should contact the Council again and ask for advice from the highways department. If it has been used historically as a right of way it may be that you have a legal right to use it. Having said that unless he locks the gate there is nothing he can legally do to stop you parking there without going to Court.

 

If you have a right of way over this land, you may remove the gate and lock to allow you to freely pass.

[grockle]

gardenlaw.co.uk is a good forum to ask this question, they have experts on this very subject

[sameagle]

I bought a house about 25 years ago that had a piece of ground that you had to travel across to reach "my" land and drive.

 

My solicitor discovered that it didn't appear to belong to anybody, and the local Council didn't know whose it was, either.

 

Solicitor stated that as the previous owner had used it, unimpeded, for 12 years minimum, I could carry on.

 

It was still being used by the owners about 12 months ago, the last time I went past.