A Staunton couple, who were seeking to prohibit a neighbour from using their property as a right of way, have failed in their Court of Appeal challenge.
Stephen and Theresa Harper, the owners of Broken Cottage, near Slad Brook Lane, appealed a county court decision that 84-year-old Sarah Hayling was entitled to a vehicular right of way to her neighbouring property over the common, a field owned by the Harpers. Hayling had owned her property, Birchlas Cottage, since 1946.
The defendant claimed that the principal access to her cottage had always been via a green lane, leading from Slad Brook Lane onto a public footpath running along the edge of the common to both properties.
The Court of Appeal agreed, holding that there was sufficient evidence to conclude that the then owners of Hayling’s cottage had lawfully used the path for a continuous period of at least 20 years. The court stated that, in the circumstances, Hayling had established a “lost modern grant” to use the path, and that she and her successors were entitled to a right of way.
Hayling v Harper and another Court of Appeal (Ward and Carnwath LJJ) 2 April 2003.
Malcolm Warner (instructed by Rowberry Morris, of Gloucester) appeared for the appellants; John Clargo (instructed by Marshall & Galpin, of Oxford) appeared for the respondent.
References: PLS News 3/4/03
