Home & Garden1 min ago
Right to pass and repass
I have and end of terrace and on the land registry the 3 joining houses have the right to pass and repass on foot only, I have just finished some work to the house and have added a step at the back door. I have been approched by the person next door saying that I can not put a step as it restricts their way past. Their is a large are around the step. There is enough space to get a wheelie bin by.
My question is does he have a point or should I tell him politely to go away!
Answers
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.The area over which the easement to pass and repass is granted is presumably shown on your plan at the Land Registry. It is a Private Right of Way. However, over the years the user's may have accrued additional rights which are not stated ie to pass and repass on bicycles, motor bikes, horses, with carts, barrows, wheelie bins etc, and others may also have accrued those rights such as the milkman, dustman, etc. and yet others again may have accrued rights to put things under it like telephones, gas, electricity, water etc. To place a concrete lump upon the right of way such as you have done is (a) classed as "seizure of land" and the right of way users are entitled to an injunction against you to remove it and not do it again (at your cost - minimum �5000 but usually �10000) and (b) as a trap, so that persons or possessions injured by it can claim against you (personal injury claims can run into millions). You should have told your household insurer before you did it and they would have prevented you, and if you tell them now they will immediately cancel your policy. The best thing for you to do is remove it as quickly as possible before anything adverse happens and leave the right of way entirely alone in the future.