extinguishing right of way on footpath

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damson

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The owners of a property near me have applied to extinguish the right of way along the section of footpath in front of their property. (They're at the end of a cul de sac.) If the right of way was extinguished, could they take in the footpath as part of their land and build a wall enclosing it?
 
damson said:
The owners of a property near me have applied to extinguish the right of way along the section of footpath in front of their property. (They're at the end of a cul de sac.) If the right of way was extinguished, could they take in the footpath as part of their land and build a wall enclosing it?
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If they are applying to extinguish a right of way would they not already have to own the property, otherwise what standing do they have to do so?
 
I don't think that you need to own the property in order to apply for an extinguishment order. My mother's house is adjacent to a laneway which is, as far as I know, council property and the residents applied successfully to have the right of way extinguised as a protection against anti-social behaviour after which it was gated in.
 
Many one off houses do own the footpath in front of their house and out to the centre of the road. If they do own the footpath, and successfully extinguish the right of way, subject to planning I see no reason why they could not incorporate the footpath into their property as you suggest.
 
Thanks Vanilla.

How would I find out whether they own as far as the centre of the road? Would it be marked on deeds in the land registry that could be inspected?

If they did own it, would they need planning permission to build a wall? (Someone said to me there was a planning exemption for a wall to the front of your property as long as it was only a certain height...?)

It could cause a problem with turning cars for the other residents on the road, which is very narrow (normally drive to the end and turn there).
 
You will be able to see if they own out to the centre of the road if you obtain a copy of their land registry map. If their house is in an estate, and yours is in the same estate, you could in the first instance have a look at your own map and see what the situation is with your own house as this will give an indication. It will also help you to pinpoint where their property is when trying to get a copy of their map. If it is registry of deeds it is unlikely you will be able to establish this as you will not be able to obtain a copy of their map.

Again if it is an estate, the planning for the entire estate may contain conditions in relation to the location of their front wall. If not, planning for a once off house may also contain a condition as to the location of the front wall viz a vis the roadway- so if they change the location of the wall they could be in breach of planning. So you could also obtain a copy of their planning permission from your local planning authority.

Otherwise generally I believe you are correct in stating that a wall below a certain height does not generally require planning- however I'm not an expert on planning.
 
OK, thanks Vanilla.

It's an oldish road, not an estate. As far as I know from speaking to people, the property owners owned all the land originally (field - including the road/footpath area) and then the access road was built at the same time as the property(extension of a previously existing road) and the road/footpaths were 'taken in charge' by the council. Does 'taking in charge' mean the council now owns them or do the original property owners still own them?
 
Taking in charge does not affect the ownership of the land. It was and still is very common for sites to be sold to include the area out to the middle of the road.
 
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