[Penninehillbilly]

BTW - have you used the access? if not it might be worth using it now and then to re-enforce your rights? if you get complaints it would bring it out into the open and clear it up once and for all.

[shygirl]

don't underestimate a farmers ability or knowledge. definitely keep him on side. he may be gruff cos he fears what changes new neighbours will bring.

[devonlady]

BTW - have you used the access? if not it might be worth using it now and then to re-enforce your rights? if you get complaints it would bring it out into the open and clear it up once and for all.

But, please, give him plenty of notice that you are going to do so!

[juliem]

What ever you do...keep in with your neighbour....and don't ever consider going legal .I have a dispute over who owns a ditch with the Mod .I initially booked an appointment with a solicitor..£200 per hour.  before seeing sense .A relatively straightforward case was going to cost £500 to sort.

[cloddopper]

Who now owns it Juliem  ?
 If it's not you and  MOD ask for payment in maintaining the ditch tell them as far as you know it is their ditch & responsibility ?
 
 I was told that boundaries are the thickness of the ink line drawn on the maps at the land registry .... question them & be prepared to pay up big time . Often on the older big sheet TF  & 1921 editions of Parish maps it will indicate who is responsible for ditches .
 These are sometimes found in the County's reference library ( England & Wales .
Then if you need to you try and trace any land sales involving the ground to see if any changes have been made tot he bounbdaries .

Don't do what a plonker who lived near to me did ..  He tried suing the farmer who owned adjacent land  , saying that the farmer had stolen 1 & 1/2 acres off his plot .. had he bothered to check his facts and seen the latest land registery maps of 1988 for the plot he would have seen  the land being disputed on he Parish map was never his in the first place as the boundaries changed due to a land & property sale in the late 1970's .

The guy turned a bit screwy just after that and got put away for GBH & the attempted murder of his wife .
 

[juliem]

It's a very long ditch straddling a few fields...but very important as it drains a lot of fields not in my ownership...and then feeds into land drains on the MOD site.(was 50 acres of green fields 2 months ago)
The Mod have agreed to  improve the land drainage from the ditch (they are only legally maintained to maintain status quo to a water course) but they insist the ditch is mine.....I don't want it because of the maintainace and hedge cutting. Probably dug  some 200 years ago.
Anyway will persevere myself...I will have to give them access and I'm wondering whether the mess and damage they make with their heavy machinery cleaning it out  will be worth it. There are also a couple of drains from septic tanks going into the ditch.....what happens if they discover these?
The warehouse when it is built in 1 years time will occupy 30 acres and they have these attenuation ponds to deal with the drainage...all kinds of calculations to prove the local watercourse is going to be able to cope on the planning website....but you just know their will be flooding somewhere downstream.
They have just finished building a 5 metre bund across the field to me...which means I won't see any vehicles but the warehouse is 18 m high.
Anyway back to the point..concentrate on battles you can win and don't go legal.....before you know where you are you can find yourself paying out a lot of money and receiving solicitors letters only puts peoples backs up.
I live in the middle of nowhere but I've still managed to have disputes over boundaries with most of the neighbouring landowners...have generally found that they can be sorted with goodwill.

[JEP]

the ditch on your side of fence is owned by your neighbour & the ditch on there side is owned by you
[/size]its the 1066 rule[/color]

[juliem]

yes your right...but it's surprising how many people do not understand this. If I was dealing with a farmer they would understand that...but the MOD are another kettle of fish .My neighbour reckons the MOD when they buy land try to alter boundaries so they don't assume responsibility for maintainance of ditches/hedges.

[stufe35]

BTW - have you used the access? if not it might be worth using it now and then to re-enforce your rights? if you get complaints it would bring it out into the open and clear it up once and for all.

But, please, give him plenty of notice that you are going to do so!

If you have a right of way that's what you have.  It is not a right of way to be exercised at the convenience of the landowner.. it is a right of way to exercise at your convenience.  It is him that is inconvenienced by having a right of way through his land.

Please understand you have no obligation at all to give notice of use of a right of way.

[stufe35]

the ditch on your side of fence is owned by your neighbour & the ditch on there side is owned by you
[/size]its the 1066 rule[/color]

Not true---.  Think about it..you go round the edge of your field digging a ditch to drain it...5 years later your neighbour now claims the land is his ?  I don't think so.

It is a presumption that might be applied in the face of no other evidence during a court case (eg no accurate plans, no other boundary features, no other historic knowledge/evidence)..it is not a rule. Furthermore it would be evidenced by a mound of earth (dug out of the ditch at some point in the past) adjacent to the ditch, not a fence.

[devonlady]

Stufe35, it would be normal and common courtesy to inform your neighbour that you were going to make use of your access across their land.
He could then arrange his livestock accordingly.

[Penninehillbilly]

Stufe35, it would be normal and common courtesy to inform your neighbour that you were going to make use of your access across their land.
He could then arrange his livestock accordingly.

Surely if you are walking or driving through you would be shutting gates behind you?
Shouldn't bother livestock.

[harmony]

Stufe35, it would be normal and common courtesy to inform your neighbour that you were going to make use of your access across their land.
He could then arrange his livestock accordingly.

If you have access rights you don't need to inform your neighbour at all. When exercising your right you should have due regard for your neighbour and stock and if your right is by foot then don't use a vehicle etc. Your right to access shouldn't mean he has to move stock around.

[stufe35]

Stufe35, it would be normal and common courtesy to inform your neighbour that you were going to make use of your access across their land.
He could then arrange his livestock accordingly.

My house has a half mile track across a neighbours land to get to it.  Are you really saying I should give him a call every time I leave for work, go to the shops, or the postmans coming, or grannys visiting, or im popping home for lunch ?

 I have to disagree with you . What is  normal and common (and in fact a requirement of law) is that landowners should keep rights of way clear and available for safe use by the people that have the right to use them. No advance notice required.

This is not a discourteous expectation. Their advance notice that people will be using their land is written in their deeds.

[stufe35]

In answer to the original question on this thread, the laws for responsibilities for boundary features are different in Scotland to England, and im unsure of the rules.  However where a gate is concerned I would imagine the conundrum could be solved by considering who would use the gate (ie pass through it)...and the answer to who should pay for it will be resolved.

I think your friendly farmer is trying to let the right of way across his land be lost and forgotten with his " kind " offer to block the gate with a fence.....watch yourself and seek a thorough understanding of your rights of way.

You cannot loose them by not using them...but you risk creating false expectations.