Right Of Way

[Tud05]

I have a right of way , vehicular and pedestrian. It was signed by my husband and the owner of the land in an absolute. The land owner now wants to sell his house and wants me to give the right of way up or they will take me to court. Can they do this ? On what grounds? The absolute was signed about 40yrs ago .

[fiction-factory]

Have you asked him/her? It may just be an empty threat.
I am sure he wouldn't take you to court anyway without first going through process involving solicitor's letters

[woofgang]

what do they say the basis of the argument for taking you to court is? "Because I want something and you are refusing" is not enough unless you stole what they want or you have no right to it.

[Peter Pedant]

I have been thinking about this.

obviously you want to maintain your rights and not spend unnecessary money on lawyers

I suppose the short answer is: if the right of way was transferred to you in the right way ( haha pun intended ) then it should be OK/legal/lawful/watertight

Thing is: whaddya do ?
I would wait and see and not even reply unless it is a lawyers letter

You see they have made it more difficult to sell
as they NOW have to say that they are in dispute with neighbours ( that would be you ) and they have to declare it on the 'other forms' and they are the ones that started it !

[Peter Pedant]

this appears to confirm you are on firm ground ( further pun intended )

http://www.shoosmiths.co.uk/client-resources/legal-updates/Claiming-a-right-of-way-by-prescription-6146.aspx

[Peter Pedant]

o dear - is this Scotland ? Law is different there ( sorry )

[dzug2]

He's not just asking you (in a clumsy sort of way) to assign a right of way to a new purchaser of his property? Not an exclusive right of way, just a shared one?

[Dogsbody2]

The most likely answers to your questions are 'no' and 'there are no grounds'. However, please confirm:

you are talking about England & wales
the right (the legal agreement) was registered with the Land Registry and thus appears as an entry on the land title of the land that you hold. There may also be restrictions or obligations on you (as the landowner), for example, an obligation to maintain the track.

Note that these agreements are normally tied to a parcel of land, and not to an individual. They are called easements.

[Peter Pedant]

Dogz - I think the servient holder is saying that it isnt an easement that runs with the land

but is personal

If it was granted 40 y ago then it may well not have been registered
BUT the seller of the land with a right on it MUST know and therefore have known when he bought ( i e bought with notice )

the use of the word absolute worries me - that wouldnt be the way to do it here.

the other thing is that the other sides hould not be threatening in order to get a person to give up a lawful right....