Confusion On Ownership Of Land

[Tarser]

There is a drive that runs alongside my house that goes up to a small area with four garages - Mine and those that belong to the next three houses up. In my deeds, it says that we (the owners of these four garages) need to 'contribute a fair and proper proportion of the cost of maintenance and upkeep of the driveway leading up to plots' W X Y Z(our house numbers).

There is enough room for the four of us to get in and out of our garages with our cars. That is surely the purpose of the area. I have converted my garage to a studio so I park my car in a space outside my garage. It has always been assumed that this driveway and the space outside the garages belongs to the four houses. If it did not, we would surely not be liable to paying for its upkeep as stated in the deeds.

Matters have been complicated by the owners of the houses on a completely different road having their gardens go right up to this drive. They have built garages at the ends of their gardens and use the drive to get their cars into their garages or leave them just outside. This doesn't bother me.

What bothers me is that a new neighbour has moved in to one of these houses where a garage has been built and he has completely filled his garage with junk and an old car. He has now decided to put a huge camper van right next to my car and another car on the other side, making it difficult for me to move in and out of my space. He blocked off my immediate neighbour's garage and moved his car a little to allow them to get their car out. There's not much space there but he has started to colonise it with his vehicles.

We have told him that the area belongs to the owners of the four garages. It doesn't belong to the owners of houses from a different road - who will not be charged to upkeep the drive- and that he is using our area for his own purposes which we find inconvenient to say the least. He has said that he's done his research and the area is a 'no-man's land' so he can use it.

How can I find out for sure who the area belongs to? If it's 'no-man's land' why is it that only four home owners have to pay for maintaining the drive? We believe that the new garages, belonging to houses from this different road were built illegally, hence the fact that they don't have any responsibility for its maintenance.

So, we four garage owners are paying for a drive that several others not only use but also want to take away the part that we use for our cars. I find this encroachment very disturbing and would like to know what I can do about it to clarify ownership and who has legitimate use of the area.

[sddsddean]

You have to do a Land Registry search to see who really owns it, though if its mentioned in your deeds, you probably do. If you have no joy on line, you can send them a query.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry

[Tarser]

sddsddean, sorry, I neglected to thank you for your answer! Apologies and thanks!

[1ozzy]

Better late than never