The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
‘ My neighbour wants to use my land – should I let him?’ Dear Toby
My neighbour has planning permission for a substantial redevelopment/extension of his house, and he came to see me the other day as he would like to install a three-phase electricity supply into the new building.
The nearest electricity pole is on my property, and to upgrade his supply my neighbour would have to dig a trench across 16 yards of my land.
UK Power Networks (UKPN), which maintains electricity networks in my part of the country, has requested a formal “wayleave agreement”, and I am uncertain as to the best way to proceed. There do not seem to be any pre-existing legal rights.
I have no wish to put a spanner in my neighbour’s building project, but neither do I wish to give UKPN carte blanche to do as they please free of charge.
Any advice you have would be gratefully received.
AIt
is refreshing that you want to help your neighbour, and I do not wish to disrupt a harmonious relationship – but you are wise to consider your options, and how best to protect your interests and the value of your own home.
There are three conventional ways in which rights over land for utility supplies can be granted, namely a wayleave agreement, a lease or an express easement.
An exception to this rule of requiring express permission would be if, say, your neighbour’s electricity supply was already going over, along or through your land, and it had been occurring without your permission (or that of the property’s previous owner) for 20 years or more. This would be a right acquired surreptitiously by long use and is called a “prescriptive right”.
Since you say no such rights exist, it does seem your neighbour needs your co- operation to upgrade his domestic electricity supply from the usual one- phase to the more stable and consistent three-phase supply he is seeking.
To my mind, you are better entering into a legal agreement of some kind, with your neighbour included in that agreement, than to just reach an agreement with UKPN only.
A wayleave agreement is the usual format for rights in respect of a utility supply to be granted. It is a form of contractual right under which a payment is made and is terminable in curtained defined circumstances.
Likewise, a lease is usually for a defined period and subject to the payment of rent. Leases are common for mobile phone masts
An easement is an express legal right one parcel of land (the dominant land) has over a different parcel of land (the servient land), and they are usually permanent.
As permission to use your land is an essential factor in the desired building project, you’re in a strong position to dictate terms.
To remain neighbourly, these terms should be reasonable – but remember reasonableness cuts both ways, and your neighbour should therefore expect you to seek something in return for helping him.
‘You could seek legally binding reassurances about working hours, noise and parking issues’
Only you can say what is important to you, but factors to consider are money to compensate you for disruption while the work is carried out, as well as a requirement for any damage occasioned by the work to be put right (I would add “to your satisfaction”). And, of course, an ongoing annual fee to use your land for the supply network.
But I suggest there are other factors to think about here in terms of, for instance, whether the proposed building work next door is going to be disruptive to you in a wider sense.
It strikes me that you could use this as leverage to have a discussion about such things with your neighbour and, if you are concerned, seek legally binding reassurances about, for example, the working hours of the contractors, noise and parking issues.
It may be that your own property could benefit from some rights of access over your neighbour’s land (for instance, to maintain the exterior of your house or boundary structures not accessible from your own land), and so you could use this as an opportunity to tidy up issues like that, and generally improve your own position.
In short, this is a moment to think carefully about the legal relationship between your plot of land and the nextdoor plot, and decide if mutual benefit arrangements can be fine-tuned and improved.
Formal legal advice would be a sensible investment. If you do not have an existing relationship with a solicitor, the Law Society’s “Find a Solicitor” tool will help you search for one with relevant skills and experience in your locality. You can find it online at: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk.
As your neighbour initiated all of this, and it is necessary for him to achieve his desired redevelopment/extension, you should definitely ask him to pay your fees to draw up the necessary legal arrangements.