Case Summary: Easements – Right Of Way

Keith Webb & Anr v Walsall Metropolitan B.C. [2011] EWLandRA 2010/892

Summary

This case is a good reminder of the importance of dealing with an unauthorised user. Here, the Land Registry Adjudicator upheld the Applicants' claim for a prescriptive right of way, rejecting the landowner's argument that historic negotiations between the parties for a licence to govern the use of the access route meant that the use had been with permission. Even though the access route had changed at one point, the Adjudicator allowed the two periods of user to be added together to result in a total period of use which exceeded 20 years.

Facts

The Applicants' house was adjacent to a car park owned by the Respondent Council. During 1981, the Applicants built a garage at the end of their back garden next to the car park and they used the car park to access the garage from the highway. In 1982, the Applicants sought to negotiate with the Council for a licence to cross the car park in