Neighboors using my driveway | Legal matters | Back Room Forum

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Thu 19 Sep 2013 11:26

Neighboors using my driveway - sheinielle

I don't know if there is a law regarding driveway.I bought a house which got driveway on it,now my new neighboors live beside me don't have a driveway and have a big bush covering their front house .If I go out using my car,,he uses our driveway to get into their front to park his car.The annoying thing is when I got back and park my car infront of our house or our driveway. The neighboors disturb us and tell us to move our car for him to get out from their front as they don't have a driveway. Is their a law that I can complaint on this matter.

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Thu 19 Sep 2013 12:20

Neighboors using my driveway - Bromptonaut

What do your deeds say?

Thirty years ago when still single I lived in a multi occupied semi-detatched house in Stanmore.

Garages or hardstandings stood behind the houses which shared a driveway with the adjacent house in the next pair of semis. Although she could not drive the elderly widow next door, who'd been there since the war, was very strict in not allowing us to park our cars (four twenty sometihngs each with a car) between the two houses.

Such aragements were fairly common in 'Metroland' and no doubt other bits of the inter-war sprawl of London (and other cities too).

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Thu 19 Sep 2013 12:24

Neighboors using my driveway - Simon

I'd say he is taking a liberty. Put a fence up along the border between the houses, that'll stop them!

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Thu 19 Sep 2013 12:49

Neighboors using my driveway - bathtub tom

Park your car in you driveway and go on an extended holiday.

Park your car in you driveway, take the wheels off and stand it on bricks.

Park a skip in your driveway.

If you want to be really awkward, make sure you neighbour's car is in their garden when you do any of the above.

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Thu 19 Sep 2013 21:34

Neighboors using my driveway - monian

Check your deeds and any allied covenants. If your neighbour has no right to cross your land and he continues and you don't challenge, in time he will acquire legal rights to use your drive.

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Thu 19 Sep 2013 21:53

Neighboors using my driveway - Simon

I like the skip idea whilst their car is 'in'!!!

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Fri 20 Sep 2013 00:39

Neighboors using my driveway - Andrew-T

Check your deeds and any allied covenants. If your neighbour has no right to cross your land and he continues and you don't challenge, in time he will acquire legal rights to use your drive.

Indeed check them - it's just possible that he may have an easement to cross your drive to get to his. That may only be specified on his deeds though. But if the drive is 'yours', create a blockage and he will soon tell you if he has any legal right to cross it.

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Sat 28 Sep 2013 14:10

Neighboors using my driveway - FP

I really don't like some of the advice posted above - stuff like "park your car on the drive and go on holiday" or "put a skip on your drive" or "put up a fence" and the suggestion this should be done to block in the neighbours' car.

Even if the OP is legally within his rights to do this (and nobody here knows for sure), such actions will most likely leave a legacy of bitterness which the OP will have to live with for years - and if this means something like long-term low-level harrassment I for one would rather do without it.

Surely the best way to proceed, as has been suggested, is for the OP to check his deeds. If these are in the hands of a mortgage company the Land Registry will allow you to print off the relevant information for a small sum - possibly cheaper than obtaining copies any other way. However, the last time I bought a house my solicitor gave me a photocopy. The OP's solicitor should also have checked whether there are any easments, restrictions or covenants affecting his land.

After checking, and assuming the neighbour is in the wrong, discussions in as friendly a tone as possible should be started, escalating to a letter from a solicitor and eventual warnings that access will be refused and that the neighbour must make his own arrangements for moving his vehicles. Only then should a fence be erected.

As the OP says he has only recently moved in, I assume the neighbours have been accustomed to using the drive and expect to go on doing so, but if they have no right the situation must be resolved, if only to prevent further legal complications, for example, when the OP sells the house.

Edited by FP on 28/09/2013 at 14:12

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Sat 28 Sep 2013 23:43

Neighboors using my driveway - Simon

With all due respect I think that your advice constitutes 'pussy footing around'. This 'jack the lad' next door is quite clearly taking the michael and needs putting straight. Being seen as a soft touch and taken for a mug isn't going to do the OP any favours. Yes you are right you should check the deeds etc, but let the neighbour do the leg work if he thinks he has a legal right. Stand your ground, tell him to naff off and if you are proved to be wrong, so what?

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Sun 29 Sep 2013 01:32

Neighboors using my driveway - FP

"Stand your ground, tell him to naff off and if you are proved to be wrong, so what?"

Then you've made a fool of yourself and created a lot of resentment which could have unpleasant repercussions.

I really hope I never have a to be a neighbour of yours.

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Sun 29 Sep 2013 01:52

Neighboors using my driveway - alan1302

Agree with FP on this - you need to check the legalities first before jumping straight in.

Not sure why you would jump in so quickly Simon without checking your facts first?

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Sun 29 Sep 2013 09:19

Neighboors using my driveway - Simon

I really hope I never have a to be a neighbour of yours.

That's okay, I'm not a people person lol!!!

If I'm proved wrong then I'll eat humble pie... but I bet I'm not!!!

Edited by Simon on 29/09/2013 at 09:21

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Sun 29 Sep 2013 12:31

Neighboors using my driveway - FP

"If I'm proved wrong then I'll eat humble pie... but I bet I'm not!!!"

You may very well be right - the neighbour may well be taking liberties. But I don't think this should be about who can make a correct guess, without knowing the facts.

An extreme (if unlikely) scenario might just be that the neighbour does have some right to use the drive and could land the OP into a lot of legal trouble if he boxed in the neighbour's car.

I take your point about your not being a people person, Simon, but I think there are times when it's best to make an effort.

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Mon 30 Sep 2013 00:22

Neighboors using my driveway - Andrew-T

I really hope I never have a to be a neighbour of yours.

That's okay, I'm not a people person lol!!!
If I'm proved wrong then I'll eat humble pie... but I bet I'm not!!!

Either eat humble pie, or maybe get a brick through your window when hostilities escalate ...

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Mon 30 Sep 2013 20:44

Neighboors using my driveway - tony g

Rights of access can be a nightmare .

My parents owned a house where a neighbours property had a right of way over my parents property to access his own house .

The title deeds on both properties weren't clear as to how long the access to the neighbours property should continue .

When my parents sold the house ,the new owner was advised by his solicitor to close off the access ,he did and was successfully sued by the neighbour in the high court .The end result was his two days in court cost him £60,000 in legal fees and the right of access was permanently defined in the neighbours favour by the courts .

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Mon 30 Sep 2013 21:36

Neighboors using my driveway - Bromptonaut

Rights of access can be a nightmare . My parents owned a house where a neighbours property had a right of way over my parents property to access his own house . The title deeds on both properties weren't clear as to how long the access to the neighbours property should continue . When my parents sold the house ,the new owner was advised by his solicitor to close off the access ,he did and was successfully sued by the neighbour in the high court .The end result was his two days in court cost him £60,000 in legal fees and the right of access was permanently defined in the neighbours favour by the courts .

If title deeds don't specify how long right of access should continue then likely answer is 'in perpetuity' - see my earlier example of shared drives in 'Metroland'. Solicitor's advice IF as clear cut as purchaser assumed was dodgy in extreme.

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Tue 1 Oct 2013 19:32

Neighboors using my driveway - tony g

( If title deeds don't specify how long right of access should continue then likely answer is 'in perpetuity' - see my earlier example of shared drives in 'Metroland'. Solicitor's advice IF as clear cut as purchaser assumed was dodgy in extreme. )

A lot more complex than you would ever imagine ,

The title deeds on both properties stated that the right of access or use of the right of way would continue , until such time as an adjacent road or driveway was completed . The road was completed about 5 years before the house was sold .

Bizarrely the neighbour was able to win his case because the new access route couldn't be defined as a road within the meaning of a legal definition of what constituted a road .

The new road was a properly constructed single track road ,about 200 metres long ,Tarmac surfaced . But for very technical reasons it couldn't be defined as a road .

I believe that after the case was lost ,the new owners may have recovered their costs from the solicitor who gave the wrong advice .

It seems that sometimes the law can ignore a logical and sensible definition in favour of a fine point of law .

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Sat 5 Oct 2013 11:14

Neighboors using my driveway - Leif

I believe that after the case was lost ,the new owners may have recovered their costs from the solicitor who gave the wrong advice .

I do hope so!

It seems that sometimes the law can ignore a logical and sensible definition in favour of a fine point of law .

C.f. Nick Freeman. :)

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Sat 5 Oct 2013 11:10

Neighboors using my driveway - Leif

I really don't like some of the advice posted above - stuff like "park your car on the drive and go on holiday" or "put a skip on your drive" or "put up a fence" and the suggestion this should be done to block in the neighbours' car.

I agree, your post is very sensible. The OP should not deliberately antagonise the neighbour, since they MIGHT have a legal right to access via the OP's driveway. In any case, even if they don't, it always makes sense to deal politely with a neighbour, you never know when you might need them to be tolerant of you. That does not mean lying down and giving in of course. My neighbour found that my holly trees had fractured his buried drainage pipes, which legally I was responsible for. We sorted it out amicably. I removed the trees (they were too near the boundary), he repaired his pipes, all very friendly. It is much nicer to have friendly neighbours.

Find out the legal standing, then if they do not have access rights, inform the neighbour that they do not have access rights, and that you will erect a fence in one month, giving them time to arange access via their land.

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Thu 3 Oct 2013 13:25

Neighboors using my driveway - lancekerry

Yes you can. Its your drive away. Only you have authority to park car in your driveway.

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Thu 3 Oct 2013 19:07

Neighbours using my driveway - Andrew-T

Yes you can. Its your drive away.

Eh? You can what? Please explain.

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Thu 3 Oct 2013 20:21

Neighbours using my driveway - FP

"'Yes you can. Its your drive away.'

Eh? You can what? Please explain."

Sounds as if someone didn't bother to read the whole thread. He thinks no-one but the homeowner ever has any rights over the driveway.

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Mon 7 Oct 2013 09:17

Neighbours using my driveway - skidpan

1) Check boundaries, rights of way etc on your deeds. You may need a solicitor or surveyor to help with this.

2) If your neighbour has a right of way that's it but if you were not made aware at the time of purchase you may have a claim for negligence against your solicitor.

3) If there is no right of way inform your neighbour of the fact and attempt to sort the issue amicably.

4) If 3 does not work it may require letters, fences solicitors etc especially if your neighbour claims (as I would expect him to at this point) that he had an agreeement with the previous owner/occupier.

Best of luck, you will probably need it.

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 21:45

Neighbours using my driveway - Simon

Solicitors, Surveyors, Courts..

Why not start by asking the neighbour what right he thinks he has?

I'm still waiting to be proved wrong on this topic by the way...

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 11:34

Neighbours using my driveway - skidpan

Why not start by asking the neighbour what right he thinks he has?

I had presumed that the OP had already asked his neighbour that question and got nowhere thus advised them the correct way forward.

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 12:13

Neighbours using my driveway - tony g

Simon
(I'd say he is taking a liberty. Put a fence up along the border between the houses, that'll stop )

Much to simplistic an approach ,read my previous posts and you'll see what can happen if you simply close off an established right of way .The cost of two days in the high court to resolve the issue was over £60,000 and the owner of the land lost ,Therefore insuring that a permanent right of way was guaranteed .

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 18:22

Neighbours using my driveway - Bromptonaut

Solicitors, Surveyors, Courts..

Why not start by asking the neighbour what right he thinks he has?

I'm still waiting to be proved wrong on this topic by the way...

Unless the OP cpmes back with an update we've no idea who is right or wrong. I will repeat again that shared drives/access, provided for by covenants in deeds, are a common feature of many city suburbs built between the wars.

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 19:21

Neighboors using my driveway - Ben 10

Do you have any photos we can view explaining clearly the situation?

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Fri 18 Oct 2013 16:50

Neighboors using my driveway - Skezza

OK, I have a couple of questions:

1. Is this a housing estate or a village or somewhere remote or what? Usually that will answer your question as to whether he has rights of passage. I imagine he doesn't, truth be told, but you need to find out from your deeds as has been said above.

2. What about the space in front of his house? I assume there's a road there yes? seeing as he's blocked off his own driveway. Is that double yellow lines or something, or a narrow road? Why can't he park his car in front of his house on the road?

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