wrote:
To access my house I share a mile of unmade road (& public bridleway)
with one neighbouring property.
For several years I have politely tried to get agreement to repair the
road and share costs.
Every attempt has been thwarted by unco-operative stances and excuses.

Now my neighbour is in the process of divorce & again is not
interested in contributing - even though such work will obviously
improve both our properties' value.

Can I do the work and send them a bill? How do I get them to pay their
share? Is it harder now they are divorcing?

Having read all the (very informative) posts, I'm so glad I appear to
have done a similar project by negotiation. I live (and own the portion
adjoining my property) on an unadopted lane. It needed surfacing, and I
finally got all the users (not necessarily owners, either), to talk
about it and we got it done. All the owners and some of the users
contributed. It took a while, but we didn't have to get involved in
covenants and deeds happily. The contributions weren't done precisely,
but everyone was happy to chip on (geddit?): the owners of each section
paid the lion's share, but most of the majority users put some funds in
too. The road looks good (will keep the area and prices looking good),
is safe to walk along (it was dark at night, so the potholes made it
challenging) and we all lived happily after, and some even got to know
others a bit better. There was one party who was a bit mean, but at
least they contributed.

The only problem we have know is stopping the water company digging it
up in arbitrary places wherever it fancies cos it's too lazy to mend an
alleged leak any other way. I agree it may need (and have the right) to
dig up the nice new surface to find a leak, but trying to dig six holes
(and destroy the surface) at whim is beyond the pale, especially when
there are other technologies it could use without digging holes (which
would cost it more in time and money).

I know there was a road locally that had always been unsurfaced that the
new owner of a property two miles along in the middle of nowhere (in the
middle of the Yorkshire Dales) got the council to surface due to some
16th century deed (which everyone though was a bit beyond the pale).

On Feb 15, 7:30 pm, wrote:
To access my house I share a mile of unmade road (& public bridleway)
with one neighbouring property.
For several years I have politely tried to get agreement to repair the
road and share costs.
Every attempt has been thwarted by unco-operative stances and excuses.

Now my neighbour is in the process of divorce & again is not
interested in contributing - even though such work will obviously
improve both our properties' value.

Can I do the work and send them a bill? How do I get them to pay their
share? Is it harder now they are divorcing?

thanks in advance

According to http://www.bridlerides.co.uk/law.html


Responsibilities for bridleway maintenance

The responsibility for maintaining bridleways is split between the
landowner or occupier, and the County Council or Unitary Authority.
From your point of view (and ours), this split doesn't matter too
much, because the County Council has overall responsibility to resolve
any problems. But you might like to know who's responsible for what:

Landowners are responsible for:
* maintaining gates - and bridges over man-made obstacles such as
ditches (25% grant available from County Council for gates)
* reinstating cross-field bridleways within two weeks of cultivating
* making sure electric fences have safe crossing points
* cutting back hedges etc which might obstruct bridleway.

The County Council or Unitary Authority is responsible for:
* resolving problems on rights of way
* maintaining surfaces (including vegetation)
* maintaining bridges over natural obstacles (eg streams)
* waymarking where route is not clear
* removing, or requiring removal of obstacles.

The Institute of Public Rights of Ways Officers(IPROW) has much more
detail on bridleways



That said, I think a bridleway only has to be passable on horse and
the surface may already be sufficiently good for that.

Tim.

wrote:
On 17 Feb, 22:00, "Peter Crosland" wrote:
John Briggs wrote:
Peter Crosland wrote:
John Briggs wrote:
Peter Crosland wrote:
John Briggs wrote:
Peter Crosland wrote:
wrote:
On 16 Feb, 16:20, "Peter Crosland" wrote:
Have you checked to see if the neighbour's property is
registered? If it is you can buy a copy from the Land
Registry for AFAIK £4. This will tell you what their legal
liability is.

that sounds like an excellent next port of call

thankyou very much (and also to all other replies)

Don't forget to check the status of the road with the Highway
Authority who my be liable for the upkeep regardless who
actually owns the land.

It's a public bridleway.

And your point is?

That tells you the status of the road.

It would if the OP has actually checked and established what the
definitive map says about it. He may believe it to be a bridleway
but the exact status is crucial and AFAIK he has not done so yet.
If, for example, it is defined as a Road Used as a Public Path
(RUPP) then the Highway authority may be responsible. As I said
before it is essential that the OP finds out the status before
proceeding further.

He told us that it was a public bridleway, and (eventually) that he
owned it. If we think that we can't believe the facts as presented
to us, then we can't say anything sensible.

What I am saying is that the OP may think it is a public bridleway
but unless, and until, he has checked the definitive map we don't
really know. Past experience suggests that people may quite
genuinely believe a road to have a particular status when the facts
show the opposite.

Peter Crosland



it's in the deeds and on the Def. map as a bridleway (with a number).
Mine and surrounding property/land was part of a large private estate
auctioned in numerous lots in late 19th century, so AIUI it's a
privately owned road with public access on horse, foot or bicycle.

In which case the Highway Authority are usually responsible for maintaining
the surface.

Peter Crosland

On 18 Feb, 15:55, "Peter Crosland" wrote:
wrote:
On 17 Feb, 22:00, "Peter Crosland" wrote:
John Briggs wrote:
Peter Crosland wrote:
John Briggs wrote:
Peter Crosland wrote:
John Briggs wrote:
Peter Crosland wrote:
wrote:
On 16 Feb, 16:20, "Peter Crosland" wrote:
Have you checked to see if the neighbour's property is
registered? If it is you can buy a copy from the Land
Registry for AFAIK £4. This will tell you what their legal
liability is.

that sounds like an excellent next port of call

thankyou very much (and also to all other replies)

Don't forget to check the status of the road with the Highway
Authority who my be liable for the upkeep regardless who
actually owns the land.

It's a public bridleway.

And your point is?

That tells you the status of the road.

It would if the OP has actually checked and established what the
definitive map says about it. He may believe it to be a bridleway
but the exact status is crucial and AFAIK he has not done so yet.
If, for example, it is defined as a Road Used as a Public Path
(RUPP) then the Highway authority may be responsible. As I said
before it is essential that the OP finds out the status before
proceeding further.

He told us that it was a public bridleway, and (eventually) that he
owned it. If we think that we can't believe the facts as presented
to us, then we can't say anything sensible.

What I am saying is that the OP may think it is a public bridleway
but unless, and until, he has checked the definitive map we don't
really know. Past experience suggests that people may quite
genuinely believe a road to have a particular status when the facts
show the opposite.

Peter Crosland



it's in the deeds and on the Def. map as a bridleway (with a number).
Mine and surrounding property/land was part of a large private estate
auctioned in numerous lots in late 19th century, so AIUI it's a
privately owned road with public access on horse, foot or bicycle.

In which case the Highway Authority are usually responsible for maintaining
the surface.

Peter Crosland



Yes, but maintaining it to what standard??

"Passable by horse" is the answer often heard round here - not much
good for vehicles hence the situation...

"Zhang DaWei" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:00:09 +0000, "Sven" wrote:

If you find that your neighbour does have an obligation to contribute,
point
it out to him.

Or accidentally trip over on the dangerous road and sue for injuries.
That's
the culture of today isn't it? :-(

Would that only apply if any attempt has been made to maintain or
repair it? Or am I misremembering and misapplying something I heard
some years ago about why councils don't now routineky clear footpaths
of ice and snow?

Yes and no.

If the obstruction is an act of god, then there can be no negligence, so
this is the reason why people don't clear snow.

But a road being "made up", is not an act of god, hence it requires repair.

tim

it's in the deeds and on the Def. map as a bridleway (with a
number). Mine and surrounding property/land was part of a large
private estate auctioned in numerous lots in late 19th century, so
AIUI it's a privately owned road with public access on horse, foot
or bicycle.

In which case the Highway Authority are usually responsible for
maintaining the surface.

Peter Crosland



Yes, but maintaining it to what standard??

"Passable by horse" is the answer often heard round here - not much
good for vehicles hence the situation...

This might help.

http://www.iprow.co.uk/index.php?pag...tId=11&subId=9

You should also try asking the Highway Authority in writing.

Peter Crosland

On 19 Feb, 11:05, "Peter Crosland" wrote:
it's in the deeds and on the Def. map as a bridleway (with a
number). Mine and surrounding property/land was part of a large
private estate auctioned in numerous lots in late 19th century, so
AIUI it's a privately owned road with public access on horse, foot
or bicycle.

In which case the Highway Authority are usually responsible for
maintaining the surface.

Peter Crosland



Yes, but maintaining it to what standard??

"Passable by horse" is the answer often heard round here - not much
good for vehicles hence the situation...

This might help.

http://www.iprow.co.uk/index.php?pag...tId=11&subId=9

You should also try asking the Highway Authority in writing.

Peter Crosland



Thanks for the link altho I can't see any specifics (or am i missing
something?)

Problem I have with asking HA is that they are not likely to mend the
"bridleway" (as they see it) in a lasting manner to accomodate cars/
small trucks for a number of years.
Even tho they may well offer a token "bridleway" amount of cash/
materials (after whingeing abt how little of all our council tax is
left in the coffers etc), they will most probably also start
concerning themselves with how I plan to use their token contbn to
mend my access road (and 'their' bridleway).

I fear that ultimately they would attempt to make me (and any
contributing neighbours etc) spend thousands more than I already think
I need, in order for me to meet their "EU Cobblers Part MCMLXIV
blurgh..." standard for private roads and public bridleways.

To me, at this stage, it seems very high risk to involve any council
or HA bods at all - the "can of worms" seems too big and the benefit
seems non-existent in real terms.

Anyone have any experiences in this light?

continuing thanks to everyone for all your inputs

On 16 Feb, 11:15, Palindrome wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
[...]

This is one area where there seems to be considerable "market failure" -
people are so used the model where the council does all the thinking for
them, that they simply can't/won't get their heads around doing it
privately/co-operatively.

You can understand why. There are so many ways to argue that the costs
should be split and for each, there are winners and losers. No one wants
their neighbours to be able to boast about how they "won" -so no-one
will agree to a plan that means they pay more than a different plan
would result in.

I guess it depends where you live. In this S Wales valleys community
we had no trouble getting all 50 or so owners to contribute
financially and manually (pensioners and disabled excepted, without
any arguments). It brought everyone together, has lasted 30 years and
was the best £100 I ever spent.

--
Nogood Boyo