Cases - Webb v Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
Record details
- Name
- Webb v Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
- Date
- [2011]
- Citation
- EWLandRA 2010/0892
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Commercial property - landlord and tenant - easements - access to garage over council lan
- Summary
-
In this decision by the Adjudicator to the Land Registry, Webb's claim for a prescriptive right of way across the Council’s car park was upheld.
From 1981, Webb drove across the council's car park, at all times of day, to access his garage. Between 1982 and 1984, the council offered him a licence for access over the car park outside working hours but he ignored the council's letters. In 1997, the council changed the layout of the parking spaces, which forced him to use a different route over the car park. In 2009, the council demanded that he stop using the car park and erected a fence, closing off the car park.
The Adjudicator noted that although the 2009 letter (and the new fence) made the user non-peaceable, by then, Webb had used the car park ‘without force, secrecy and permission’ for over 27 years. The licence negotiations did not make the use ‘with permission’, as the offer of a licence for use out of office hours could not imply a permission to use the car park at all times. Furthermore, the period of user of the 2 routes across the car park could be added together when calculating the total period of use.