ChrisW

Is that the same as an indemnity insurance policy? Our Solicitor feels that as the lane owners are aware of the application and have said we don't have a right of way that indemnity would not necessarily work. He feels the best way is to try and reach agreement or do a deal on limiting future development, sadly in laws are not up for that. Their solicitors were supposed to gain a prescriptive right of way that enabled our house to be built and use the access but it ended up being worded such that any use by a new dwelling was questionable in law. Its a real pain and we have spent the last year trying to get them to engage with their solicitor to sort it out, so potentially them deciding to look for a new one is a start. Long term history is that the lane provided access to a number of fields and one of them had houses built on. The lane in question was a "Green Lane" or Occupation Lane" not owned by anyone, which was their understanding after research some 30 years ago, even from solicitors letters we have seen dating back about 40 years seem to say as much. And then the lane was somehow bought, and they cant understand how that happened. As i say its long and complicated and far from over in their eyes.

We are waiting for some suggestions from our solicitor, but in laws are old school and worry they work in league..... despite working for the same outcome and having professional standards etc. We have already passed on his advice which they don't like!! I am not hopeful of a good outcome but at least this part they are paying for.

Afternoon all. I am looking for any recommendations for good solicitors or lawyers in the Nottingham or Lincoln area in the East Midlands that I can pass to my in laws. Looking for a company/individual who specialise in rights of way/access/prescriptive rights of way for homebuilding, etc who won't mind doing a lot of digging to try and get to the bottom of something they have been trying to establish for a long time. We have a full pp for a plot in their garden but the right of way granted over an access lane owned by others is not up to it in our solicitors opinion, who is a land specialist. The in laws realise they need a better solicitor to deal with it as there is more land that could be plots in the future potentially landlocked. We have some options up our sleeve suggested by our solicitor but we want the in laws to get the best advice.There is a very long history in the land which seems to have put it beyond their solicitors to deal with defectively. There are so many listed it seems like pot luck picking one. Thanks in anticipation

Thanks for the comments @Ferdinand & @Temp I will post a sketch of the site later when I am back but it is heartening to hear positive thoughts. We are going to try and get legal advice booked in next week hopefully. I think I may well put a hold on the planning application until I am certain we wont have any problems as I have another access route that may be possible. It would cost a bit as a strip of land would need to be bought from a neighbour in another direction and we would need to talk to the planners again about access. Ref getting the services to site, they would all reach our bit of the garden through the inlaws garden so the lane would only be used for vehicle access. Will post more later Chris

This will teach me to be flippant, the nobody road we thought no body owned is actually owned by 2 people!!. If this is better to be placed as either a new thread or in another section I would be happy for admins to move it as necessary @AdminSo my question is does this ownership create a ransom strip or not? I can give a bit of back ground to help any possible answers. Use of the road and access to houses and land off it has been freely available to all households since at least 1974, this is the date my in laws bought the house so one must assume access rights pre existed this date. The in laws had made enquiries to establish ownership including a potential landowner about 20 years ago but everything drew a blank, (not sure if this was done by a solicitor or letters they wrote, my suspicion is the latter though. The road/lane is L shaped running off a main road, the inlaws own the long part of the L leading to their house and 4 other houses and the short section linking to the main road is owned by 2 others and this has another 4 houses on it. The search I did yesterday shows the short section of the L was bought in 2002 (from the landowner who denied ownership) and a small section of it was later sold in 2004. Would clear unobstructed use for years on end prevent it being used as a ransom strip or are we in for a bit of a struggle. I am kicking myself for not checking this out much earlier but the inlaws have been spot on up to now. Solicitor appointment is on the cards to establish a clear way forward. Any suggestions and ideas welcomed Chris

Found out today after 2 pre apps and numerous discussions with the council that we are in the same position. Our nobody road has been nobody's for over 40 years and everyone knows its nobody's…. We are lucky that our advert will only cost @£150 though. I am going to try and prove that nobody owns the nobody road as the land has never been registered with land registry so am punting £35 for an online title check. Must admit there is always the possibility that our nobody road was purchased or acquired by right before registering came into force in which case it will be somebody's and everyone will have been under a false illusion for 40 years. so I can see the benefit of the paper add, not that people look at the notices. Light-heartedness aside it will give us reassurance to know that either nobody or somebody owns the road and remove the potential for speculative claims by anyone, fingers crossed.

We are just about to begin the planning application for our new house, had a positive pre app response from senior planner on design so fingers crossed for the next three months. Plot is in a high clay area solid for at least 2 meters deep if not more with a hefty load of flints for good measure. Plenty of trees and hedging on site also, hawthorn, plum, pear silver birch so foundations and slab are going to be interesting. Which frame company to go for, what heating style, windows etc. plenty of decisions to make if planning goes our way so will be looking through the posts for help on the way. Anyone else building in Nottinghamshire around Newark or Southwell? Chris