Any rights

[auntsallyann]

my ex husband is not in good health, diabetes, heart problems and is now on disability allowance, he is 60, has been having problems with his next door neighbour for several years over parking his car.
There are 3 houses in a row the one nearest the road (person A) owns all the land around the other 2 properties, though each house owns its own gardens. My ex needs to drive over persons A land to enable him to park his car (which would then be parked on land owned by my ex) this has never been a problem for the first 6 years of my ex living there, as person A did not move in until 5 years ago the previous owners never had a problem with it. My ex has tried talking to person A regarding this matter but he is a really horrible person and will not listen. At first he gave my ex permission to drive over (ex has this in writing) and charged him �300 a year for the privilage of this) now he has received several letters saying he no longer can drive over his land and he has now put up a gate with a padlock. So my ex is now parking on a busy road right on the bend - no where else, he has to carry his shopping etc from the road to his front door which is about 200 yards, is there anything my ex could do about this, he thought about writing to his MP. He really needs to park in front of his housefor health reasons, he only has to walk a couple of feet and he is really out of breath. He is really getting worked up over this guy everytime he sees him he starts to panic wondering what this guy will do next, its really upsetting as at one time my ex would of fought back but his health is too bad now, id appreciate any help thanks

[Barmaid]

Your ex may already have an easement. The key will be the deeds to the house which should say if there is a legal easement. I think he needs legal advice. Hope that Buildersmate or Jenna see this, they know more about this sort of stuff than I do.

[auntsallyann]

thanks Barmaid, from what I can remember the deeds say that he has a legal right over the land on foot and smothing about a wheelbarrow!! but doesnt mention vehicles.

[buildersmate]

Then legally I've afraid you are stuck. The easement that you have was probably written in a time long ago when few folks had cars - there is no legal mechanism for acquiring a right of way for a motor vehicle other than by negotiation and frankly �300 per year (now withdrawn) sounds pretty steep anyway.
Its history now but demonstrates why it is necessary to put such arrangements on a legal footing at a time when the neighbours are friendly.
You may be able to get a marked disabled space on the main road by working through the MP - but not sure that it helps.
Local newspaper campaign? - "Local man with disabilities confined to his home by his neighbour"? - might be counterproductive.

[auntsallyann]

thanks buildersmate, we were thinking about the local paper like you've said, think thats now going to be the next step and as this guy is a local business man - won't do him any favours will it :) thanks

[cassa333]

Also if he has lots of shopping etc he could always get a trollybag and wheel that along from the car. He obviously doesn't have rear access then?

Sometimes I think we make stress for ourselves. I know this new neighbour has made it difficult for him but as has been said there isn't much he can do and should (i know it is difficult) make the best of it...

Has the area just been gated just for driving along and do you need a key to walk through?

Have you found out why he doesn't want cars going down there.

You could also look into emergancy vehicles getting access. I don't know but that might be an angle to use.

[bednobs]

or if the place no longer suits his needs because of his disability, perhaps he should find somewhere that does, somewhere with parking outside, or on a drive etc. If he needs to park in front of his house for health reasons, then he could find somewhere where he CAN park in front rather than writing to an mp about a neighbour exercising rights he is perfectly entitled to. it seems really harsh to "shame" the neighbur with a newspaper story too, when it really isnt the neighbours fault the ex cant walk very far