Prescriptive right of way

Itchycoopark

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If a prescriptive easement is not registered and then not used for a 13 year period does the easment extinguish?

My neighbour is a commercial building. I belive it may have previously had a claim for a prescribed easement over my property even tho it was not registered. However the building was closed for a 13 year period and could not have used this easement for a 13 year period. However very recently it has reopened and started to use the easement again after a 13 years. Can I successfully deny any attempt by the owners to get this easement registered because of the 13 year non use of the easement?

I am with a solicitor and we are getting an SC opinion but would like to hear if anybody knows of any cases were easements have or have not been successfully extinguished.
 
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A prescriptive right not used or registered between 2009 and 2021 will be lost.

It is possible for a prescriptive right to be lost prior to that through abandonment (or by agreement should it occur) but the onus would be on the person claiming that it was abandoned to prove it. You would need to prove no use whatsoever as minimal infrequent use can be sufficient to preserve a prescriptive right.
 
Thanks. It was a commercial building that used my driveway as a public fire exit route. But it was closed for 13 years to the public and actually had thier fire exits blocked up for security as the building was not being used. Would this be enough to show they abandoned the right? However they did put in planning permission in the years it was closed and planned to use my drive as a right of way for public access but not as a fire exit. Would a planning permission count as using the easement? Thier claim of a right of way was very far fetched but these business guys seem to tell any lie to the planning department to get what they want.
 
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