Do I need to register a right of way?

Ragglegumn

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I have an acre of land with a derelict house on it, I will be renovating the house to live in. The 1 acre is part of a larger parcel of land which is family owned for 200 years. There is a 1km lane to the property. It is used by myself, my cousin (who has a house at the end), ad two other land owners. There is no dispute over the use of the lane and the lane itself will not be changed or altered. My solicitor believes i need to get a right of way signed by the other landowners due to the intensification of use - the renovating of the house.

I would have thought that as there has been a house on the site for a couple of hundred years, this wouldn't be a major change of use.

Any thoughts?
 
I guess I am being hopeful that a random internet person will shed some new light which could mean saving a significant amount of money in legal fees. Foolish perhaps.
 
Any thoughts?
I don't know if you can access this article as it is behind a paywall but it outlines a problem that arose. Here is extract from the answer:

"This is one of the better examples of a right of way by prescription that I have come across and if this matter ends up in court, your neighbour is likely to lose the case. Then as well as having to remove the gravel, he would be faced with a hefty legal bill for the costs of defending the action.....

.... If the matter is resolved, you could consider in the future making an application to the Land Registry under the Section 49A procedure where it is possible to register an easement on the grounds of long use.

This would avoid any similar issues going forward".
 
Yes, I would say if solicitor is advising, then get it. You don't know what will happen down the line in terms of the ownership of your property or the others. The solicitor has likely seen plenty of cases of disputes and expensive remediations of rights of way so I would heed them. People can be funny with land and rights so I would take some time to understand what you would be asking them for and how it might impact them. Ask you solicitor what advise he would give one of them if they presented themselves to the solicitor with the documents you will be asking them to sign.
 
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