Land Law - Access and usage.

Anyone on here able to advise on land law, access and usage.

The it turns out that the land at the rear of our house belongs to a guy that owns some garages back there too, now he plans to charge us 5 quid a day to park there when we'd be able to park there with no charge. The land has been used by the residents since 1936.
I'm also concerned that he has plans to charge me if I park and wash my bike there too.
Can anyone point me in the direction of some advise or people I could talk to, I have got our land registry deeds from the land office, but its this fuzzy bit with the fact that we have been using it for years that is the issue.

[tigersaw]

Maybe you can claim passage over the land through presumed dedication as its been going on for so long, but if he is the owner I guess he's within his rights to demand payment for parking, though enforcing it is another matter.

[Biker Biggles]

Sounds like a job for Ed.

+1 on Ed,

In the mean time, bearing in mind its been 5yrs since I did the legal frameworks module and I may have killed the relevent brain cells. From what I remember you sound to be out of luck mate, the bloke owns the land and assuming he still uses it himself as well then you've got no leverage.
If the situation was that he no longer used the land but local residents all regularly use a section each, then provided they can prove use of that parcel for a period of 12yrs IIRC. They canould then put in an ownership request (a plant pot in place on that parcel would surfise, but you must be able to prove it)!

Would it be worth the residents all putting together a few hundred quid each and offering to buy the area adjacent to thier houses? It could just be that the land owner is miffed that its getting wrecked by frequent use but yet he's still expected to sort it/still wants it to be kept reasonable.

Obviously Im speculating but its worth a shot, you can but ask.

I know that our previous house access was by a road owned by Lord strathblane - who never had an issued if you had been there for over 12 years. If you left before your 12 years was up you had to pay him money. But I suppose that this is Scottish law and not sure if its any different

Prescriptive easement? Here's some land registry guidance on it. Read it from start to finish and apply it to your situation. Might be more hastle than it's worth in terms of time and money to enforce it though.

http://www.landreg.gov.uk/assets/lib...ts/lrpg052.pdf

[Red Herring]

I think it very much depends on if the land is unfenced (ie: you had unrestricted access) and you have been using it unchallenged for over 12 years. If on the other hand you have been using it with permission, regardless of it it was free or not, then the owner has retained control of it and you won't have any rights.

Doesn't look like adverse possession. Need
to exclude everyone else and no mention of a fence or exclusive possession - everyone's been using it for years and years.

We haven't been using it for the 12 years as we haven't been living there that long, though I know a number of the other residence have. Land has full access as there is a gate and the area where the garages are is not near our houses, its just our boundary, about 15ft of gravel, grass and blackberry bush, then a fence for the railway line.

Pay him, then hurt yourself on his land and sue him.