Party wall over right of way situated on my land

[reasonable]

I have a path which runs between my neighbours house and mine. THe land belongs to me, and through it runs a ROW by foot. My neighbours have built a ramp which breaches the line of the ROW and therefore my land. It does not breach it sufficiently for me to be bothered. However, I want to errect a boundary fence. I have approached the County Council with regard to my plans, they have looked at the neighbours ramp - which is built with brick and concrete - and could be considered a 'party wall',. And said that they do not see it as an obstruction to the pathway, although conceed that it does sit on the ROW. However the sticking point is - they will not allow me to build a fence which will butt up on to the wall of the ramp - as by doing so - the footpath will be breached by a further (width of steaking wood) ? 4 inches! So together with their construction and my fence there will be a lessening of perhaps a foot onto the footpath. I am scuppered now, in so far as I can not erect any boundary !! Any ideas - I do not want to get controversial with my neighbours - but I do know that they have not gone down the lines of the Party Wall Act. I want to sell my house and make the boundary apparent as well as giving privacy to my house by way of a fence. Please help !!

[andy-hughes]

Neigbour disputes are a minefield, as i am sure you are aware.

From my experience, it's always best to go in 'soft', and have 'hard' as an option if being nice doesn;t get a result.

Call your neighbour round for an informal chat - always better on your territory, and explain the situation nice and calmly. The approach to use is that you are constrained by officialdom - all of us in this together, and thanks to their rules you can;t proceed with your border arrangements.

If you try it this way - both of you against the powers-that-be, it could work. Of course, if your neighbour becomes unreasoinable, and they may, at least you have tried, and you can tell them that you did want their co-operation, but you don;t have to have it, and you will proceed down the legal route, if that's the way they want to go.

If they insist on being awkward, then get the Planning Department involved, and let them take it all foward for you.

Hope things work out - good luck!

[reasonable]

thanks for your time to reply. i have tried talking to my neighbours but impossible. THey have just erreected their ramp and it will cost them to take it down, they would just see me as being difficult and as far as theya re concerned they do not want me to put a fence up as it will restrict thier access onto the footpath.
I was thinking that I could just get an injunction out and ask them to conform to the Part Wall Act. They have been very unreasonable with me and are intending to use the footpath for access with their vehicle. It has already gone beyond being pleasant, and I feel that I am being walked all over

[jen78]

Be very careful about getting into disputes which are disclosable on any sale.

An injunction can be a very expensive way to go and then there is the issue with getting compliance and enforcement if needed.

You could try and be more formal, without getting too aggressive yet, by stating that their breach of the PWA is prejudicing your attempts to sell and the potential value of your property and you want to give them the chance to come to some kind of amicable agreement before you are forced to take things further.

Always worth sending by registered post to make sure you have proof of sending.

One idea may be to come up with a reasonable compromise yourself, cost it, make a plan and put it to the neighbours in that way so they can see some kind of way forward which might be more persuasive to them.

What is the ramp for?

[reasonable]

thanks for your rresponse - the ramp is to facilitate wheel chair access to and from the back door from their car, however, they do not have vehicualr rights down the path, but have suggested that today's car is the updated version of a barrow (deeds state barrow way rights)! They are not very reasonable and have threatened me with the Disability discrimination act and harrassment. I have never been anything but civil and when they were putting the ramp up I asked them if they maight come round to discuss the ramifications - they refused.
I have sympathy with their problems - the wife has recently become disabled - but they seem to think that on the back of that they have cart blance to do anything they want