Private Right of Way

[Bluebell99]

If a private right of way was granted many years ago (over 40) over a piece of ground which has subsequently been used as a garden apart from a drive of approx 10' wide which was understood to be and has always been maintained as a right of way, can the dominant tenement insist that the right of way be re-instated over the whole of the gardened land, even though there is no reason to use it as the 10' drive leads directly to their property entrance? Ever since we dug up a piece of our lawn which was adjacent to the drive, to use as a car parking space to enable the drive (ROW) to be kept clear, our neighbour has been claiming that we have no right to do this. At intervals over the last few years we have had notices and letters about this, including one put through our door on Boxing Day and a further letter just received instructing us to clear land adjacent to the drive (as shown on a plan with no measurements, which has supposedly been drawn up by a land surveyor) of all obstructions. This includes mature trees and 2 hedges obviously planted many years ago by previous owners of our property. We have the same right of way over our neighbour on the other side (as does our dominant tenement) and have always considered the drive as the right of way and that it is perfectly adequate. Our dominant tenement does not seem to be dissatisfied with access over our other neighbours drive, even though the plan sent to us purports to show the area around their drive is also considered part of the right of way.

[buildersmate]

Do you not have a plan or sketch (if still on Deeds) or Land Registry Title Plan that roughly shows the nature of the width of the strip of land burdened by this easement? Won't prove anything to the nearest foot, but its a start.

[Bluebell99]

Unfortunately there are no measurements on the plan and the neighbour is trying to claim that the ROW should be about 22 feet wide but only our part of it.

The drive extends through one neighbours land, into our land and across to this difficult neighbours land. Our difficult neighbour does not seem concerned about the first part of the drive (which is on the land of our other neighbour) only the part on our land. The original owner/builder of the difficult neighbours property had an 8' wide gate flanked by brick walls on either side so even if the ROW had been wider (which we don't think it was) it could only be accessed through an 8' wide gateway.

The difficult neighbour installed a huge gateway (yes, you've guessed, about 22' wide) about 6 years ago and now seems intent on trying to bully us into changing our garden to suit this gateway.