Change a right of way

[Moorhorse]

Hello!
i have inherited a house from my grandad. We didn’t realise until it was signed over that he also owns the lane the house is on.

this lane has access over it for the houses backing onto it to access their houses, not for parking. It also leads to a stables with 8 acres which the owner has access over the lane for agricultural and equestrian uses only.

the owner of this land sold the 8 acres to a property developer, and kept approx half an acre (small patch of grass, 6 stables two storage rooms) she has now approached me and asked me to change her rights over the lane to domestic so she can build two bungalows to sell. She offered 3k and to paint and render our house (our house needs some work doing, but not outside what we can manage)

i don’t want to allow this, there are already 45 odd houses being built behind my house, these two will be much closer than the others, also the lane is a dirt track that we lift and relay every couple of years, I don’t think it’s up to more traffic (considering traffic of building it and then the ongoing traffic of those living there, their guests if the have any, deliveries ect ect)

can i say no? Is there any way she can get around this and build anyway?

[Moorhorse]

I can’t seem to edit the post to clarify, Ty e building developers also have the adjacent field and will be gaining access via that.

[luxardo]

Of course you can say no, it's your land.
If she gets planning consent she can build anyway. However, it may make it more difficult to obtain consent if her plans show a garage or drive and she has no access to it because you refuse to grant it.
She may have to adjust the plans and remove the drive and garage (if indeed they are on the plans). And not having access for a car will make the bungalows less attractive to a purchaser.

Is allowing access to another 2 properties really that much hassle for you ? I'd negotiate, maybe cash plus an annual rent to pay for maintenance costs.

[Moorhorse]

Sort of yes because the other houses are build quite far away across a sump pond, these would have to be right up to my house which currently is quite private, the sump pond is like a buffer between us and the new builds, this would ruin that*

[luxardo]

I get the impression you are trying to use refusal of access to stop these bungalows being built ? You just don't want them built as they will be close to you and you like the privacy ? Understandable.
You will be able to make an objection once planning permission is applied for. If the plans show a garage or driveway you would be able to object on the grounds the plans show vehicle access when there isn't any. In fact, lack of vehicular access even if they don't show a garage or drive is grounds to object.

[Moorhorse]

yes that’s exactly it! Thank you, but I don’t think she will get to planning without my agreement, she says she will put an agricultural building on it and sell it as that

[luxardo]

you can only wait for the planning application, it may well be the council will simply refuse

[Amethyst]

Have you got a copy of the deeds from the land registry ? Presumably she has and has taken advice that for the proposed bungalows to have access over the lane there would need to be an amendment at the very least - or actually purchase the land and change the use.*

I don't think your objection has anything to do with finances but if it were you could negotiate a payment for the land to include an uplift clause / % of the value of the bungalows ( as they'd be worth less without the access rights ).

Have you looked at the plans at all ? we once had bungalows built behind the bottom of our garden and objected so that they had clauses that loft conversions / second stories couldn't be added in the future, windows couldn't face our property and the properties garden only backed directly to ours so the actual structures had to be built a certain distance away.