private right of way

[william76]

I'm in a very old property that lay derelict for 50 years. It lies on a private (maintained by the home owners not the council) road, lets call it street 'a' . The other owners of street 'a' have used my driveway for more than 20 years as a shortcut to another street we'll call this one street 'b'

Do these other owners have a perpetual right of access to use my driveway as a shortcut or can this 'easement' be reversed?? Basically by using the locked gate at the end of my driveway for which only residents in street 'a' have a key to, they save walking another 100 metres round the corner to access street 'b'. The access is pedestrian only.

At the beginning of my driveway you couldn't reverse a vehicle out with anyone walking through at the same time as too narrow. The residents association are supposed to maintain the driveway as a seeming condition of using it but it seldom happens so dogs foul the drive and kids leave crisp packets on it. I also seem to pay council tax on the property as the house and driveway as a whole whilst I seem to in fact be sharing the driveway. Any advice welcome. Thanks [email protected]

[ccfluff]

It depends what it says on the deeds to your home. On the map from the land registry is any part of your drive sectioned off and coloured either in yellow or green? is anything mentioned about access rights? if not i doubt they have any access rights.
Try this website which may offer you an more in-depth answer, www.boundary-problems.co.uk

[themas]

It is possible for a prescriptive easement to be created by 20 years unencumbered use of a route. You say they have used it for more than 20 years, but also refer to a locked gate across the driveway & the people having keys, so I don't think it will be prescriptive. Someone must have set this arrangement up at some time in the past, including the residents assn liability to maintain it.

There should be documents about this - check the deeds, as others suggest. Also, assuming you have bought the house fairly recently, you could ask the solicitor who did the conveyancing for you what the situation is.

If it is a documented easement, whether you can reverse it probably depends on the wording of the easement. You may well need legal advice on this.

[william76]

Thank you for all responses. The issue looks quite a mess but I think there's a prescriptive easement on the driveway whereby others on my private raod can use it as a short cut to another road simply because they have been doing so for over 20yrs.

Could you approach the residents association that issue the keys to the gate at the end of my driveway and BUY OUT the prescriptive easement???

[Bethany12]

Prescriptive right only occurs where people are using a portion/part of privately owned land WITHOUT permission over a period of 20 years.

The fact that certain individuals have keys indicates that they were granted permission, which precludes a prescriptive right being generated.

I may be wrong, but that was the situation I found in my previous property and we revoked the right and it was upheld.