I want to install a shower room in a part of my (terraced)property which overhangs the passageway between our house and our neighbours, but out neighbour has objected as he believes the passageway to be "his". Any advice?
The situation is as follows:
We live in a terraced property with a passageway between our house and our neighbour. The passageway provides access to the rear yards of both houses (and there is no other access to these yards except via the property itself).
The Land Registry documents for the two houses appear to show that the boundary between the houses runs down the centre of the passage. Our neighbours, however, claim that they own the passageway and need only provide us with access to our yard through the passage. This claim appears to be based on the fact that, at the front of the property, their house overhangs the passageway and they have a window directly above the passage door. However, immediately behind their room which overhangs the passageway (if moving along the passageway), we have a walk-in cupboard which similarly overhangs the whole of the passageway. Beyond this room, the half landing and WC of both properties overhang half of the passageway each.
We wish to install a shower in the walk-in cupboard which overhangs the passageway. To do this we would need to run drainage along the passageway to join the sewerage stack, which is at the rear of the property below the WC. Our neighbour has refused to allow us to do this as he does not want the drainage to run along what he believes to be "his" passageway (despite having a drainage pipe of his own which is run in the same way).
Is there any way we could determine where the boundary runs? Or, even if our neighbour is correct and he has ownership of the passageway, do we have any right to be able to access the drainage (which runs from the rear to the front of the property underneath the passageway)?