We’ve parked on some scrubland next to our house on the edge of a newish estate for 6 years.

The parking area was stonechpped and slabbed by the builders of the estate in 2003 as part of the selling of part of our front garden to make a visible splay on the road corner.

The land itself used to be an access road to our garage but the newer estate road covers that.

The land was found to be unclaimed and was snapped up by a farmer who owned my local pub, it’s since been sold along with the pub to a local property developer.

I’ve got documents to say I’m allowed to pass over area by foot and vehicle. None to park. This is from land registry.

Cars have been parked on it for at least 22 years and I’ve photo and documentation proof of this.

The land owner throws her weight around and occasionally comes to tell me she could stop me using the land. But as a whole she leaves me alone.

I’ve got an indemnity policy that came with the house for vehicle access on the “drive” but it’s beyond vague as to what it covers.

So I came home today to find the area blocked off by rubble from Scottish power. Pub lady is having 10 houses built up the road. She’s quite the business woman. She’s told them they can use the area to dump all their waste.

Do I have any options? I am aware it is not my land.

You may have acquired an easement by prescription, depending on how long you have used it in that manner.

However, if you have an express grant of a right of way which limits it to passing on foot only then you may be in breach by change of user or excessive user.

It’s not a straightforward point and would require some digging before a definitive answer could be given. I suggest you speak to a local solicitor and seek their advice.

I’ve no idea about that but,

I’ve got documents to say I’m allowed to pass over area by foot and vehicle.

So I came home today to find the area blocked off by rubble

… she’s breaking the law here surely?

You could just take it up directly with Scottish Power I suppose?

“it’s my land” is her stance. She probably knows that I can’t spend top dollar on solicitors fees to investigate it all. But then I’m willing. She can’t build on it as it’s only 12ft wide. But she won’t sell it to me either!

Best do some overtime I guess.

So I came home today to find the area blocked off by rubble from Scottish power. Pub lady is having 10 houses built up the road. She’s quite the business woman. She’s told them they can use the area to dump all their waste.

If your access rights are worded the same as my servitude of access then this is a no no. If she won’t act then I’d be inclined to have a word with Scottish Power directly.

Failing that then you’ll need to get solicitors involved.

Just as a reminder most home insurance policies have legal cover as part of them, call your insurer and find out pronto.

Sounds like you already have an easement to pass over the land so they shouldn’t be blocking it but no easement for parking so you shouldn’t be doing that. I suspect there is little you can do about the parking. That’ll be down to the land owner selling the land or selling you that particular easement. I doubt you’ll have any adverse possession style rights in this case as the land owner is aware of your use and its only been 6 years anyway. You could count yourself lucky to have had 6 years of free parking use. Maybe once the building works are done things will return to the status quo.

I’d talk to the builders too, ask them to create a gap for you pending legal resolution of the issue – there’s no way they want to get dragged into a right of way dispute.