Access rights to my property

[mhuntington]

The back of my property is such that to access 1 of my downstairs and upstairs windows for cleaning I have to walk onto my neighbours land and then as I am stood at the window this is actually my land.(roughly 2 \3 feet out from the wall) What access rights do I have to be able to go onto his land in order to gain access to my land. If any! And if I do have rights how do I enforce them as he has now put stones to block me going through my gate to the window!!! A bit of a sad man but world would be boring without people like him! He has also told the window cleaner he is not allowed to trespass on his land to gain access to mine!

[bednobs]

is there anything in the deeds that allow you right to pass over his land? Did your solicitor pick it up when you bought the place? If there is nothing in the deeds etc then im afraid you probably don't have any rights at all - could they be cleaned frm the inside? or with a long pole?

[mhuntington]

the problem is that i built an extention on the back which after completion and by the lay out means that I now need to go over "victor meldrews" land. so no the title deeds etc will not have anything. I may be wrong but felt that I heard that there was always a way of aceesing your land for maintenance in law? maybe not?

[redcrx]

cleaning your windows isnt really a maintenance issue is it. Itd be different if you needed to fix the wall of your house or something
I cant see how he can block your own gate though, surely that gives you access to your own land.
try one of these for doing your windows http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIte m&item=400017173105&cguid=fb041cc011c0a0e20541 7101ffee0535

[mhuntington]

I used "cleaning windows" as an example and clearly not a good one. What if I needed to repair the windows or brickwork or guttering. is that a different situation? Would I be allowed access then? He has blocked the gate as it leads dirrectly to his land and initially he had no problem with me putting it there. Now he has different ideas.

[themas]

From what you have written it appears you only had an informal arrangement with him, so you don't have any rights. There is some sort of legislation about access to neighbouring property for essential maintenance but I don't know the details. I don't think it would apply to something like window cleaning though.

[lampgb]

A visit to your solicitor has get to be the best thing to do. It is not a good idea to fall out with a neighbour over such an issue as these problems could be registered and affect a future sale of your home.

[buildersmate]

I'm with Themas on this one (as usual).
I think that the relevant legislation he refers to is the Acess to Neighbouring Land Act 1992. It applies in England & Wales only.
It's scope covers this:
The maintenance, repair or renewal of any part of a building or other structure on your property,
The clearance, repair or renewal of any drain, sewer, pipe or cable,
The treatment, cutting back, felling, removal or replacement of any hedge, tree, shrub or other growing thing which already is, or is in danger of becoming, damaged, diseased, dangerous, insecurely rooted or dead
The filling in, or clearance, of any ditch.

I'm not sure whether window-cleaning 'counts' as maintenance either. You could write a letter quoting the Act and the terms above and see if that gets the wind-up him. If he still refuses, you can apply to a county court for an order for basic preservation works to be undertaken. Clearly that's where it starts costing money.