Shared Driveway access

[nixie]

This has probably been asked before but.. I've just bought an end terrace house that has parking for 5 cars behind the garage. The other houses also have parking but no where near the amount of room we have. All houses have shared access to their land over the other land and own the land behind the house. What I'd like to do is combine our bit of land into the garden as it would increase the space tremendously (we only have one car so don't need parking for 5. As we are the last house none of the others need access over our land to get to theirs (and I won't be letting them park on it). Is there anything to stop me making this part of our garden? Or if there are issue doing this is there an accepted method of changing the access rights so we can do this (through agreement with neighbours etc)?

[Eve]

This is the Land Registry Practice Guide on easements (rights of way).

http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library /documents/lrpg062.pdf

May take a bit to get your head around but just remember that:

Dominant - the one with the right.
Servient - the one subject to the right.

Give the Land Registry a ring and see if they would accept an application for the easement to be released on the grounds that it is no longer required for the purpose it was granted (I believe this is a reason in the US but may be worth trying here).

Maybe you coul dlink it with abandonment if no-one uses it anymore as it's not required.

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/www/wps/portal/ !ut/p/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gfN1MTQ wt381DL0BBTAyNjY0cTE19PQwMLE6B8JG55dwNidBvgAI6 EdPt55Oem6hfkhkaUOyoqAgACg2Fe/dl2/d1/L2dJQSEvU Ut3QS9ZQnB3LzZfTEY1NDE4RzdVOVVUNTAyMzNBNDRNSTE wRzU!

If they accepted it then they would more than likely write to the houses which have the benefit of the right of way to see if they want to object. If they don't need it or use it I can't see how they can effectively object in the circumstances you describe above.

Just be careful in case they try to do the same although you could object if you still need a right of way over their land.

Alternatively you could all sign a Deed of Release but this means all the owners of the properties who benefit from the right have to sign which may be tricky if one objects or can't be traced (eg property is tenant

[nixie]

Thanks, will have a read of that doc (looked confusing at first glance!). I'd guess that buying a copy of the deed and title would be a good idea as well so I can see exactly what is mentioned in them (We only briefly touched this area with the solicitor, its our first time buying so didn't think to ask more questions). The example title on the land reg site seems to indicate that any easements would be marked on the map and noted in the title plan, so if I bought these and it turned out that there was no mention of a ROW in them would I be within my rights just to put up a fence.

I obviously don't want to loose car access to our land, but nearly doubling the garden size is very attractive (and I'm sure must add value to the house. However I also don't want to get the neighbours backs up.

[Eve]

It should be referred to on the title,, however, it may not include all the details you'd be interested in and may just say that it's subject to a right of way, possibly with the area of land affected marked on the title plan.

Hopefully, it may refer to house numbers which have the benefit of the right of way.

It may well refer to the document which granted or reserved the right so it may be possible for you to get a copy of that from the Land Registry, usually �5.00 for a copy document or �20 if it's in a lease.

If your solicitor is to do this for you then make sure you discuss beforehand any additional costs and fees so you don't have a bigger bill sprung on you at the end of the matter.

If the land is not subject to a right of way then, provided it hasn't been used so as to enable any rights to accrue (this can be checked with the seller's solicitors and a statutory declaration obtained to assist) then you should be able to fence it off.