preventing parking

The fact that it is not recorded as having an owner at the Land Registry only means that it has not changed ownership since registration became compulsory. It does not mean that nobody owns the land. There is no such thing as unowned land in England, although tracing who does own the land might not be possible. A solicitor might be able to find out who owns it, and could advise you as to whether you, either alone or jointly with the other garage / house owners, have any chance of gaining ownership by adverse possession.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar
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"nightjar .uk.com>"

I wanted the manager of the offices (part of the NHS) opposite our house to do somethng like that. He said he couldn't because he'd have had to obtain planning permission. I should have remembered that we (school governors) could get permission for a similar notice, fixed to a wall with the owner's consent, directing people to the tucked-away school.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

LOL, yes, although real doggies might see it as an invitation to leave more messages. M.K.

Reply to
markzoom

I would have thought that obstruction of a main gas c*ck and meter would be highly relevant. M.K.

Reply to
markzoom

I am sure there is a procedure for ckaiming ownership of unowned land, is something like you stake a claim, everybody has 25 years to disprove it, its yours.

Rick

Reply to
Rick

I can only advise you to obtain a copy of your deeds and see what they say about this land.

If, as you say, you have a garage that forces you to drive over this land, then I would think that your deeds will mention your rights of access over it.

I am in a similar situation, but at the front of my hose. The deeds state that I can park there, (they were badly put together, along with lots of other deeds in this area) but I also have rights of access over it along with my four neighbours who share this right. As soon as any one parks on it, we all lose the right of passage over it. It's as simple as that.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

It is totally irrelevant to the question of what rights you may have over the road. Whether you have rights over the road, which you seem to be unable to prove, might be relevant to whether that is the proper place to have a gas meter and gas c*ck though.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

It is called adverse possession. It used to be that you could claim land if you could demonstrate an unopposed use of that land (it has to be an actual use, for example growing crops or grazing sheep) for 12 years or you could claim a right of way if you could demonstrate an unopposed use of the path or road over 20 years. However, the rules were tightened up a couple of years ago and it is more difficult now. It really needs professional advice to do it.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

Unfortunately my expert with the legal books is at home with flu, but I found this on the web about unadopted roads

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So it looks like it's a legal minefield. See also this parliamentary question on unadopted roads, which come under the highways act 1980 sections

205-218.
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first option is probably to write to the clerk of the town/parish council and ask an opinion. They will have seen similar local problems and will tell you what is legally feasible. Which is probably not a lot.

The residents in a private street of about 20 houses hereabouts put up their own no-parking notices along the lines of "This is a private road, no parking, no turning". As long as the council turns a blind eye, as they probably will, this might have some effect (especially if you drew a fuzzy wheel clamp picture on it), however it has no legal force and a busybody can try to have the signs removed. As this itself would be a legal procedure, and there are probably no penalties for putting the signs up anyway, you would be pretty safe for a few years.

rusty

Reply to
Rusty

It's been there ever since the house had gas (a long time) so I would have thought that I gained adverse right of access to it? It's also a safety issue that access to it remains clear. M.K.

Reply to
markzoom

There is no 'adverse right of access' because you already *have* a right of access along that lane. There is no adverse possession because you have not taken exclusive possession of the land, you have simply overhung it.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

I expect you would find that it is you that has had to have had the access to it, not how long the meter has been there to accrue any rights. If it really is that much of a safety issue to you get your meter moved on to your own land where you have complete control over it and get your flue lifted higher.

Reply to
simon beer

You'd be well within your rights to put a "Private parking-Wheelclamping in operation" sign on YOUR wall, next to the track

So long as you didn't actually clamp any vehicles on the "unowned" track you'd not get into trouble, but hopefully it'd scare people into not parking there.

sponix

Reply to
s--p--o--n--i--x

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Your first option is probably to write to the clerk of the town/parish

Hmm, very interesting! Thanks for the info. I have actually put "89 Private parking" on my wall which has had some effect in keeping people away. I think the people using it (legitimately) for access actually prefer not to have anyone parking there as it's easier to use the drive and garages, so they haven't taken any action as I only let my visitors use it twice a week and tell others to move on.

I think the numerous neighbours with access twigged that it's the least of various evils, since, if I didn't bother keeping people off it, there would be cars parked there all the time. I would have much less incentive to move strangers if I couldn't use it myself and they can't be bothered.

They probably also realise that future owners of my house might not give a blind hoot and park there permanently regardless, as well as strangers, since the house only has one tiny garage and one private parking space. There might be a chance that the "89 Private..." sign would give a future owner of my house posession of the parking spaces next to the house (adversly?). Again, from the point of view of neighbours using the access, that would be the least of evils since it would at least be clear of cars when the new owner wasn't in.

It sure is complicated...

M.K.

Reply to
markzoom

There might be a chance that the "89 Private..." sign

If your house is #89 it must be on the corner of the main road and the side road which rings a lot of bells. From experience here, one way you could get a no parking order would be if traffic was finding it difficult getting off the main road due to persistent bad parking in the side road and backing up or obstructing traffic in the main road as a consequence. But the police would need to investigate and support the application with evidence from neighbours and the application needs to go via the parish/town council and get approval by the county inspector of highways. There will be a queue of hundreds of such applications and yours will be a small scale one at the bottom of the list so you could well be waiting for 4 to 5 years as it grinds on its way through the system, so its a major project.

And the downside is, while it's hard to get a parking order, it's even harder, if not actually impossible, to get rid of one. So if you succeeded, you or a new owner would effectively be prevented from parking up at the side of your own house for generations to come.

Tricks used here are (a) to find some red cones and put those out (probably illegal) (b) get a smallish old banger and park it outside your own house permanently (probably legal). This would cost you the tax disk and MOT per annum.

rusty

Reply to
Rusty

I don't know what you are worrying about, in another thread you kept telling everyone that you were pissing off abroad so solutions didn't have to apply to UK regs....

Reply to
:::Jerry::::

I did suggest that a way back. Of course, if it really is a private road then tax/MOT are not necessary - just SORN, which is free.

Reply to
Bob Eager

Hi,

Just put a prominent notice up saying 'Absolutely NO parking in this area, full access required for emergency vehicles. No responsibility will be taken for damage to vehicles in the event of any emergency'

Then remind people who park there with a note to say if there is a fire in the garage block the fire tender may need to shunt their car out of the way and they'll get a bill for any damage (to the tender!)

If you can get the local fire services to back you up on this all the better.

cheers, Pete.

Reply to
Pete C

I think part of his problem is he doesn't want _no_ parking, but to keep it reserved for himself and his friends when they want to use it several times a week.

Reply to
Peter Parry

I will be abroad half the year, in the UK the other, initially, so it's doubly important I sort all the anal crap in GB. M.K.

Reply to
markzoom

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