ChatterBank32 mins ago
Access through Passageway between houses
Hello there, we live in a mid-terrace house with a passageway between us and one of our neighbours.
Now, originally both houses' kitchen doors opened onto said passageway, but the neighbour has blocked theirs up and have French Doors opening into their garden.
We have fitted a gate onto the front of the passageway because we have 2 dogs and when we let them into the garden we don't want them to run out onto the road (we live on a main road), There is also a door on the back of the passageway which has been there since before we move in (about 10 years) - both gate and door are fixed to our property,
Everything was fine with our previous neighbour - a sort of gentleman's agreement, to keep both gate and door shut (when the door is left open the wind howls down the passageway).
Now we have a new neighbour and the gate and door is constantly left open and her child is using the passageway to store his bikes, a problem when it comes to bin day. the gate has also been damaged twice by it being left open and blowing in the wind, and the noise of it banging against our wall and kids playing in the passageway becomes annoying after a while! (especially since it's right outside our kitchen door)
We tried attaching a friendly note onto the gate asking it to be kept closed, (because we never see her) and that was greeted with an ugly confrontation between her and my wife while I was at work,
Is there any way of solving this (restricting access, gaining ownership of alley etc) because all other options seem to be failing - am in process of looking for copies of our deeds (they're in the house somewhere)
Now, originally both houses' kitchen doors opened onto said passageway, but the neighbour has blocked theirs up and have French Doors opening into their garden.
We have fitted a gate onto the front of the passageway because we have 2 dogs and when we let them into the garden we don't want them to run out onto the road (we live on a main road), There is also a door on the back of the passageway which has been there since before we move in (about 10 years) - both gate and door are fixed to our property,
Everything was fine with our previous neighbour - a sort of gentleman's agreement, to keep both gate and door shut (when the door is left open the wind howls down the passageway).
Now we have a new neighbour and the gate and door is constantly left open and her child is using the passageway to store his bikes, a problem when it comes to bin day. the gate has also been damaged twice by it being left open and blowing in the wind, and the noise of it banging against our wall and kids playing in the passageway becomes annoying after a while! (especially since it's right outside our kitchen door)
We tried attaching a friendly note onto the gate asking it to be kept closed, (because we never see her) and that was greeted with an ugly confrontation between her and my wife while I was at work,
Is there any way of solving this (restricting access, gaining ownership of alley etc) because all other options seem to be failing - am in process of looking for copies of our deeds (they're in the house somewhere)
Answers
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Much is going to depend on the ownership and access arrangements in the Land Registry title register (or the deeds in the unlikley event your land is not registered).
But I suspect the answer is going to be that ownership is straight down the middle and there is an easement entitling each of you free and unrestricted access down the passageway.
Does the party wall between the two houses above the passageway fall straight down the centreline of the roof of the passageway?
What happens in the back garden? - is the centreline of the fence in line with the centreline of the passage?
Why can't you put a gate at the back end of the paasage between it and your garden to stop the dogs getting out?
But I suspect the answer is going to be that ownership is straight down the middle and there is an easement entitling each of you free and unrestricted access down the passageway.
Does the party wall between the two houses above the passageway fall straight down the centreline of the roof of the passageway?
What happens in the back garden? - is the centreline of the fence in line with the centreline of the passage?
Why can't you put a gate at the back end of the paasage between it and your garden to stop the dogs getting out?
The front bedroom of the neighbours house is over the front half of the alley, and our bathroom is over the back half of the alley, in the back garden the fenceline follows the centreline of the alley, and we have a gate onto our back garden to shut the dogs in, it's just getting them into the garden if the gateon the front of the alley is left open, also the fact she is storing stuff in the alley is a bit of an issue really, since I'm not prepared to move 2 bikes everytime I want to take something into my own back garden or take the bins out.
OK, then its all down to the ownership/easement arrangements, which I suspect will say each of you has a right of way down the whole width of the passageway. So its going to be a case of gentle persuasion that it is really hard for you to get through with her stuff stored in there, and coming up with ready suggestions as to where else she can store it (her back garden) when she protests.
The worst of this situation is trying to avoid fouling up the relationship completely. The law may be on your side, but that doesn't make the law easy to enforce.
The worst of this situation is trying to avoid fouling up the relationship completely. The law may be on your side, but that doesn't make the law easy to enforce.
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