Advice on Shared Driveways

[NewMason]

Hello,

I was hoping anyone could help is. We live on a property that shares a driveway (I know what were we thinking) They have to come past our house first to get to the neighbours property. The property is a tiny 57sqm 2 bed unit on 560sqm lot and has just sold to a developer. We are quite happy about that as they plan to rid the site of the small garage converted into a unit and build a proper house.

Problem is the driveway is very narrow and the new owner wants to take trees down to widen the driveway. The trees offer great privacy for us and also bear a lot of fruit which attracts huge amount of birds and our other neighbour!

Question is will the guy need our permission to take the locus tree down? The driveway is very narrow and they wont be able to get trucks down it unless they remove several trees.

Any help would be great!

[Ivan McIntosh]

Joint ownership, I would assume, so yes. They can apply to the court for a ruling on a dispute; there are various criteria, but generally speaking they would have to show that the detriment to them of having the trees remain would substantially outweigh the detriment to you of having them removed. Sorry..bit constrained for time atm to give a better reply.

[Winston001]

Good advice from Ivan.

Other questions are the legal status of the driveway - jointly owned or an easement over one property? How wide is it on the title plan?

[Dorothy49]

Thinking of the last time I lived on a shared d/way (and yes, never again!!), the driveway was also narrow, and not in great order, i.e. cracking due to insufficient fill packing it underneath. Is your shared d/way in good order otherwise, I'd be thinking well if they want to remove trees will it be to the detriment of the d/way itself, and if you did agree, can they replant or fence an area off to give you the same degree of privacy. If you can, make the situation work for you, otherwise stick to your guns. Remember, a developer is only in it for himself, they don't give a **** about you or anyone else. Good luck!

[Winston001]

Shared driveways can raise problems but mostly they are rare. That is because neighbours tend to get along because they have to.

The most intransigent situation I can recall was with a neighbour who drove cows and tractors twice a day along the right of way metres from the owners home. 400 cows at a time. As was his right. A nasty situation with no simple remedy.

Edit: just for clarity the house was subdivided off years earlier from a sheep farm and long before dairying was popular.

[FlyingKiwi]

Just resurrecting this thread with a query from a slightly different perspective. I am looking at a residential property which backs onto an existing right of way shared between two houses. The property that I'd like to purchase has direct road frontage, but in the past enjoyed informal arrangements with one of the rear owners to use their right of way now and then for vehicle access purposes (I presume for removal of gardening waste etc).

I am looking at subdividing at some point in the future and although I could probably provide an access/driveway from the front of the property it would be a tidier and easier solution to have the newly created rear section using the right of way which already exists there. The other alternative is to run an accessway from the front of the section, up against the side of the existing house which wastes land and is less convenient/attractive for both the existing house and the potential future lot which already adjoins the existing right of way (the rear boundary).

My queries are:

1. If I want to negotiate a new easement giving the newly created rear lot access to the existing right of way, do I need permission from both the dominant and servient tenements? Or just the dominant?
2. What would you consider a fair dollar value starting point for negotiations with the other party/parties? I've thought about working out what it would cost if I were to create an access way from the front of the property and going from there.
3. Any idea of the legal costs to carry out the above?

As mentioned, the subdivision isn't impossible without the easement but it would be a far better solution (for me).

I have not yet spoken to any of the owners and have no idea whether the houses in question are rentals or owner occupied, nor anything else about their current situation or view point, but I can understand it would be an inconvenience to add a third house to their right of way and that there should be some kind of reasonable recompense for their trouble.

Thanks in advance for any assistance