I'm living on a private street which is a dead end but my landlord isn't the owner of it, it's someone else. From one side we have access to the side road for a cars, and from the other a gate which leads to the main road.

Three years ago the owner of the street decided to weld the gate for no reason. He done it in the morning when everyone living on the street were at work/school. I contacted my landlord to see if he has contact details to the person that owns the street, but he doesn't.

Few months later someone made a hole in a wooden fence next to the gate and straight away we started using it because it's much safer than the side road. Few months later the landlord came back to put a new fence. But yet again in the morning hours when no one living on a street was at home. Then I contacted local council, but they said that the street is private and they can't help me.

Half a year ago someone made another hole in the wooden fence. Yesterday they changed the wooden fence to the metal one. Again they did it in the morning avoiding people.

In conclusion: The owner of the street welded the gate without giving notice, he is constantly avoiding people living on the street and no one has got contact detail to him. Side road even there are houses there is not safe in the evening because one of my neighbours was assaulted down there. Also one of the neighbours travels on a mobility scooter and because pavement is narrow she needs to drive on the road and avoid cars.

Hello and welcome to CAG. People should be along later to advise you.

What does it say in your lease about this private road please?

Best, HB

When was the street built? how long was the gate there and was it ever locked before? How long have you lived there (not strictly relevant but will help strengthen any argument if it is for some time) What do the deeds of the properties say about access?

what other access is there? How much do you want to spend on this to get the gate situation sorted? It may prove expensive because you have accepted it for 3 years when you may have had a right of access called an easement.

The street name is Adelphi Gardens in Slough.

I would post the link to the Google Maps but I can't at the moment

. There you could see how it's built.

I believe the street was built in 1900's because I found a picture on the internet describing a bingo hall (which used to be a theater) which is next to my street

, that on my street workers of the theatre used to live, and it was in 1962

. I'm living here from 2009.

My neighbour who moved to Scotland a month ago said that he lived here for 30 years and they always had a key to the gate.

This is the first time that they welded it.

About the deeds I will need to ask my neighbours because most of the people are renting the homes from private landlords like me.

The other access is from the road as seen on Google maps. I think cost is not a problem because every person living on our street want to have it sorted and I think what delayed the decision was the hole in the fence and we could walk through it. At the beggining we planed to write a petition, sign it and then send it to the owner of the street. But no one knows who he is.

Hello again.

I was asking about your lease rather than the deeds at this stage. Do you have a lease agreement and does it mention the gate?

You may be able to find out who owns the street from the land registry, but has anyone spoken to the council about this?

HB

how long has the gate been there and was it ever locked in your time there before this event, even for say a day a year?

it looks as though the landowner has trampled on your rights of access but with everything else in life you have to assert those rights and that means chucking some money at it.

You will get it back eventually but unless you can get a pro bono lawyer it will cost you a good few quid.

How many people in the road are likely to pay into a fund for a lawyer? If no-one is then accept the situation, you arent having your property devalued.

waiting 3 years wont have done you any favours though

the layout makes it look like a right of way to the main road as the path is separate from the land that is a car park for the theatre.

Also can you determine who put the gate there in the first place and whether there was planning permission for it.

I suspect they the entity you refer to as the landowner isnt the owner of that patch of land. The council planning dept should know who owns the street (if they dont) and the land the other side of the gate and where the curtilage of the properties lie.

If you get the answer that it is not owned by the person who did the work and you can then remove it all and leave it on his property.

@honeybee13 I dont't have lease documents only tenancy agreement. It doesn't say anything about the gate in there. Only general information about the house.

@ericsbrother When I moved in in 2009 the gate was already there and I have been given keys from my landlord to use the gate. There are about 50 families living on the street and they are all keen to have the gate open again.

I bought the papers from Land Registry and under Property Register it says:

"is expressed to grant the following rights:- with the right in common with others to use the alley leading from the said property to Bath Road Slough aforesaid part of which is coloured brown on the said plan." Which describes they alleyway that I'm talking about

then you may remove the gate and hand it back to the owner.

Again, someone should have done something 3 yars ago because the LL will now try and force you to dance to his tune.

Once the gate has been removed you should inform the council about the LL blocking a public footpath/right of way. That will at least give them notice about this issue.

Dont take the fence down, this is about keepeing a right of way open and you dont want to go further than that so angle grinder to remove weld and lift it off its hinges.

immaterial that a key was given out, the landowner had no right to put the gate up in the first place as it impinge upon your visitors.

get together with the other occupiers and let landowner know that you WILL take legal action if he puts it back and that will cost him thousands.

If you arent actually willing to follow up this threat then dont bother with anything at all

I'm not as confident as some other posters that as a tenant renting a house you have the right to physically remove the gate. If anyone has the right to remove it that may be the owner of your house, presumably your landlord?

Be careful you don't expose yourself to being prosecuted for criminal damage to the gate.

Have you asked your landlord to ensure you have the access you thought you had?

Even if the person who put the gate there wasn't entitled to it doesn't automatically follow that you as a tenant have the right to remove it.

I'm not as confident as some other posters that as a tenant renting a house you have the right to physically remove the gate.

the rights of an easement apply to anyone living there or using the path to visit those properties. Once an easement is created it cant be taken away and that is what is happening. It would be sensible to get everyone livingthere singing from the same hymn sheet but the rights are yours, even if you are just delivering pizza

This is a reply from council:

"The residents used to have a key to the gate and have a private right of access through it to the Bath Road. This should be written into the deeds. However, it is a private access issue and not something the Council would be involved in."

Are you sure it is the freeholder that has blocked access to the gate not someone who lives on the street who wants to stop people going past their home?

It is worth finding out who did block the access. They've gone to considerable trouble and expense to do it. Who owns that fence?

Just cut the gate hinges at the time when everyone is at work, or pay any builder to do it.

I found the contact details to the land owner, and here is a reply:

I do not believe that you are the leaseholder of these premises and I would suggest that you refer the matter to your landlord.

 

I am not interested in Slough Council’s views on these matters, as it is not their property and I have been the freeholder for many years.

 

I am quite certain that this is not convenient to the residents, but unfortunately it seems impossible to enforce any kind of order in this day and age or respect for other people’s property.

 

If the residents undertook to ensure that the gate was not broken down and only used by residents, it might be an easier situation, but as there seems to be a pretty transient group of people living on the estate now, I am sure this would not work.

It's in the deeds!

He must leave that access open.

Point this out to this freeholder, better if countersigned by your landlord.

After all if your landlord loses access from this path, their house will be devalued (even if slightly) and at point of sale they would need to declare that access has been blocked hence possibly losing a potential buyer.

Who wants to buy a place with an open or future dispute attached to it?

Maybe the freeholder is in the wrong but the freeholder's position seems to be that Rudy93 has no legal right to enforce it because Rudy93 is a only a tenant renting the house from the Leaseholder and the Freeholder is only willing to engage with the Leaseholder (Rudy93's landlord presumably) about it.

Rudy93 needs to raise it with his Landlord. It would be better for all the Leaseholders to join together collectively to tackle the Freeholder.

Even if Rudy93 did have a right to enforcement of access that's a right to be pursued through action in the courts, not a right to physically remove the gate. That could get you arrested for causing criminal damage.

I disagree with the criminal damage.

Sometime ago I posted here about steel door being fitted by the management company of my building blocking access to my shed.

They didn't consult.

They gave me the key immediately when I informed them that I was going to cut the door and have a local Bobby supervise in case there was a breach of the peace.

Police were cooperative and said that as long as I had free access in the deeds and gave them notice I could cut the door and even bill them for the pleasure.

I disagree with the criminal damage.

Sometime ago I posted here about steel door being fitted by the management company of my building blocking access to my shed.

They didn't consult.

They gave me the key immediately when I informed them that I was going to cut the door and have a local Bobby supervise in case there was a breach of the peace.

Police were cooperative and said that as long as I had free access in the deeds and gave them notice I could cut the door and even bill them for the pleasure.

But you own yours don't you? OP is just a tenant.

doesnt matter about being a tenant, there is an easement specified in the deeds and no-one can lawfully interfere with that. All it needs is a will to do something about it rather than just moan to the neighbours who are also moaning to their neighbours.

Now, the alternatives are going to court and getting an injunction or taking the gate down/freeing the locks or whatever and seeing who comes round to try and repair it and tell them in no uncertain terms they are risking a lot by continuing to block the access. Knowing who exacty to take on with thsi would be a good move

I hope for your sake Rudy93 that the coppers who turn up when you are destroying the gate have same in depth knowledge of the obscure laws of property easement as the learned contributors here. Especially as your freeholder doesn't seem to be an amenable and reasonable one who won't be too bothered if you destroy his gate...

Just to be sure, get your landlord on board, as said his house is losing value.

Get the local police involved and if they are as helpful as the ones I spoke to, they will make arrangements for an officer to be present when the gate is removed so that there's no breach of the peace.

get the whole street involved, a sharp letter warning the person who put the gate up that they are about to incur the costs of putting thiongs right may encourage them to rethink or at least do nothing when weld is ground off as they would then know that this is just one step of a journey. As siad, an injunction will be best course but will cost you lot about £8-10k initially but you will get that back from the subject of that injunction.

So, homework first, who is LL or at least who put gate up to try and claim the land (that happens, people fence off land and claim they owned it for donkeys years soo they can develop when they actually have no rights to do so) ad whack them with letter stating the facts and your intentions.