Can My Neighbour Park on My Right of Way?
A right of way lets someone pass over your land. It does not let them park on it.
That distinction sounds simple, and it is, but it sits at the heart of a great many neighbour disputes, and it was one of the central findings in a recent six day trial at Sheffield County Court in which our Civil team acted successfully for the landowner.
The judgement is worth reading if you own, are buying, or are about to carry out works on rural property. Here is what it decided and what it means in practice.
The background
Our client had sold part of her land, including a farmhouse and an adjacent barn, to a neighbouring couple. The two properties share a private access track running up from the public road.
Shortly after completing, the buyers demolished the barn entirely and rebuilt it on a larger footprint, initially without planning permission. The works brought heavy construction traffic along the shared track for well over a year.
What followed became a dispute on four fronts: where the boundary actually sat, whether water from the new works was flooding our client’s land, whether the buyers and their contractors were entitled to park where they were parking, and a counterclaim alleging our client had failed to disclose a public footpath crossing the land she had sold.
Parking is not passage
The buyers held a right of way “for all purposes in connection with the use of the land as a single private dwelling.” They treated that as permission to park wherever was convenient, and their contractors followed suit.
The court disagreed, finding both trespass and nuisance. A right of way permits you to pass and repass. You may stop briefly for something incidental, such as opening a gate or letting another vehicle by, but you may not park, and the right does not stretch to accommodate a major construction project.
Arguments that the landowner had waived her rights, or was estopped from enforcing them, both failed. Being an accommodating neighbour in the early days does not surrender your legal position later.
The cost of reinstating the damaged track formed the largest part of the award.
When the plan and the ground disagree
The transfer plan showed one boundary line. The parties had agreed a different one before the sale, marked it with a fence, and discussed it in text messages at the time.
The court preferred the agreed line. Applying the principles in Pennock v Hodgson, the judge held that physical features on the ground form part of the proper interpretation of a transfer rather than something a plan can simply override. In the alternative, he found the parties had reached a binding boundary agreement before the sale.
A conveyancing plan is persuasive, not conclusive. But getting it right at the outset saves a great deal of difficulty later.
Drainage and the cost of skipping a survey
The works connected surface water into a drainage system serving a septic tank, which was never designed to take rainwater. The tank was overwhelmed, and effluent backed up onto the lower lying property.
Separately, the buyers cut into a hard surface beside a boundary wall without a drainage survey, so water collected and found its way onto our client’s side.
The court found causation established and awarded remedial costs, plus general damages reflecting that sewage is a more unpleasant nuisance than most. A drainage survey before works begin is cheap. Litigation afterwards is not.
The counterclaim
The buyers alleged they had not been told about a public footpath crossing their new land. The court dismissed it. The footpath appeared on the local authority search, on a historic conveyance plan their own solicitors had seen, and was marked on the ground by a signpost and a stile. They had bought without a survey.
Reasonable diligence is the buyer’s responsibility. A misrepresentation claim is not a remedy for not having looked.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I stop on a right of way?
Briefly, and only for something incidental to passing, such as opening a gate or allowing another vehicle through. Stopping to load or unload may be permitted where the easement would otherwise be useless, but that is a narrow exception and depends on the wording of the grant.
Can I block my neighbour from parking on my land?
If they have no right to park there, yes. As the landowner you are entitled to insist on your strict legal rights, and damages for trespass are available as of right without proving loss.
Who pays to repair a shared access track?
Usually both parties contribute in proportion, under the terms of the transfer. But where one party’s works cause damage well beyond ordinary wear and tear, the cost of putting it right can fall on them.
My neighbour’s building works are flooding my land. What can I do?
Where their works have caused or contributed to the flooding, you may have a claim in nuisance. You need not show their actions were the sole cause, only that the damage would not have occurred without them.
Do I need a licence for building works that use a neighbour’s access?
If the works go beyond what your right of way allows, yes. A licence agreed in advance protects both sides and lets you record the condition of the access before heavy vehicles arrive.
Talk to us
Thomas Tilbrook heads our Civil department and leads on boundary, nuisance and property disputes of this kind. If you are in disagreement with a neighbour, or want advice before works begin, get in touch. The earlier the conversation, the more options there usually are.
