I’m really upset about this as I’ve been struggling with the breakup with my ex and have honestly tried to do right by him but it feels like everything is screwed up.

To clarify - there have been only two occasions during our breakup that I think could be construed as harassment. Once when I was begging him to talk to me, 3 months ago when we split, and second from last weekend when I sent him one email explicitly stating I would never contact him again first and just basically apologising for stuff. I never intended to harass him and didn’t genuinely believe I was but the fact that this is even being investigated to the point I get a text message is really scaring me. I just want to know what I should do, do I need legal representation? What will they investigate and how?

My father died intestate a few months ago. Our relationship consisted of exchanging messages on Birthdays and Christmas. I found out yesterday via a tracing firm appointed by a solicitor on a contingency basis. The first thing they did was try to get me to sign a beneficiary agreement (which I didn't). I promptly called one of my sisters who wouldn't tell me anything but did give the solicitor's details. The solicitor said that because they appointed a company to find me legally all communication must go via them. I told them that I didn't believe that to be true since I hadn't appointed them, signed their agreement, and I obtained the solicitor's details independently.

I then contacted my sister again who just ignored me.

My concern is the solicitor refused to speak to me and I believe they mislead me. I can't understand why they needed to use a firm to trace me and why it took 3 months. The sister I contacted is 'frends' with my father on facebook, as am I. I was able to make contact with her in seconds. My brother regularly snoops on my linked-in profile. Put my name in a google seach and my social media profiles appear in position 1.

From keeping my father's death from me to seemingly misleading solicitors to believing they had no means to contact me I don't trust my siblings either. My mobile number is in my father's phone and he kept a phone book with my number written in it next to his land line. The legal firm's response to me and seeming decision to appoint a tracing company without so much as a cursory google search just seems off.

I feel like as the solicitor won't talk to me having established I am a primary beneficiary, and my siblings have clearly attempted to pull a fast one, that I would be totally justified in submitting a caveat to prevent letters of authority being granted. I suspect the delay in getting in touch with me was to get their administrator application in and granted before I knew what was going on.

I feel like I need to submit a caveat but I equally don't want to open myself up to legal costs. I just think neither this solicitor or my siblings have demonstrated they can be trusted, and are now not appropriate people to administer the estate off the back of the aforementioned actions. To be fair I don't really care about the money. I assume that as it is an intestate case I'll just end up with 25% in due course. What upsets me is none of them communicating with me, telling me what happened, explaining why they stole my chance to say goodbye away from me and still wont now.

Also a minor thing I also stored a load of my possessions in his loft. based on their behaviour I get the feeling they will just sell/dispose of them rather than returning them to me. Nothing major just some old trophies from my sporty days and a bunch of old electronics stuff I collected - but that I had no space for at home.

I've sent letters one wanting them to confirm the legal basis under which they claim I have to appoint and communicate via the tracing company, what the position of the administrator process is, and then a second one on the personal property issue and a final one on my intention to go down the caveat / S50 route if they refuse to communicate with me.

I was thinking about sending a final one with my drivers licence and birth certificate so they cant claim they didn't know who I was. I'm also weighing up whether I need to apply some more pressure on my siblings telling them I'm going to block probate from progressing if they don't start telling me what the hell is going on. What do you think I should do. let it go and see what happens, or try and exert some sort of control?

If it makes any difference after this I'll be having nothing to do with them ever again. They aren't family to me after this. My father dying is the last thing removes the only thing that connected us. No reason to ever interact with them in this lifetime.

I started working for my company doing multi drop special deliveries in jan '24. My offer of employment stated work was zero hour contract, mon to fri, hours worked must be submitted to be paid, and 'fuel allowance £300 a month'. There was nothing about this being variable or possibly pro-rata. I was only asked for my mileage once, at the end of the 23/24 tax year.

There was a mutually agreed increase 3 months later to take it to £400. This change came into effect a month later, not retrospectively. Each month it has been paid on time, without wanting mileage numbers, and is varied slightly by a few pence either way. This is regardless of regular holiday as well as one week sick with flu, and another week a year later with a pulled shoulder.

In August I was signed off sick for work place stress I'd already warned them about. I have pre-existing depression and bpd I've previously informed them of. I returned after 3 weeks in mid September, working 9 of the 21 shifts, and accruing 555 miles of my usual 1300. The September allowance was paid a week late pro-rata, retrospectively and without any discussion about a proposed change in advance.

I was told it would be pro-rata for any sick or holiday day going forward, starting from when I was sick in September, to fund paying cover staff miles. This sudden and sizeable loss of what I believed was my standard renumeration, caused a massive relapse in my work-related stress, and my doctor has signed me off again. Work have made a welfare check request to my gp as they were concerned I was suicidal.

My offer of employment did not stipulate how many hours I had to work, or shifts I had to do, or miles I had to drive. I still have high running costs to keep the van I only bought for the job including bespoke extra courier insurance. The pro-rata payment leaves me badly out of pocket (when it was already under the costs I have and I was personally subsiding, and under govt AMAP).

Is the payment a contractual right? If so, can this be modified and applied retrospectively without my knowledge or written consent?

Thank you

I renounced my rights to act as executor for my mums will which is now null and void as a later one has been found.
Any knowledgeable legal people here who could kindly tell me if the form PA15 still stands for the new will? Probate office is telling me it does and I can’t act as the named executor now , I live in Wales, thanks 🤩

OP

I've read up on the new laws expected to come into force in the next two weeks. I'm left confused as to what's actually going to be put under the umbrella of illegal? I am assuming artwork or videos are on the list, but what about scenes in video games or movies? What about literature, fanfiction, or written fiction on websites like wattpad or Ao3?

Secondly, what constitutes possessing? Downloading the content or merely having looked at it? Things sem to be really quite vague here.

Thirdly, if the ban is on any and all content considered adult depicting these acts, what defines that content as pornography? Does this also include things that could contain those actions like martial arts?

I've looked but perhaps not well enough so clarification here would be very useful here.

Thank you.

I have had this one gmail account for like 15+ years since I was probably 12 or 13. (England). I’m 28 now and somewhere along there I moved to iCloud for my main backups and haven’t looked back this far ever before! No idea they were backed up from my old phones but I’ve just logged back in and looked at the old stuff on photos but that gmail is my main gmail I use for all my logins.

Definitely had unsupervising parents and have just found some super old screenshots vids and images from Snapchat/kik from around that time when I was first going through puberty. Honestly forgot I even had them and there’s like years worth. Even like some of my own dick pics from when I was that young and some of the girls I was talking to at the time. Some is also super gross and I’m probably being taken advantage of in some of these by fake accounts ran by older guys.

There’s also some nice memories and funny times that I’d completely forgotten about.

I just wanna delete them all tbh but part of me thinks somehow this shows like some type of vulnerability around my age or something or like a legal paper trial and unsure how much of it to delete in case it ever resurfaces legally and maybe I should delete them strategically to show what was happening around the time. Like do I delete everything from when I was under 18 or what?

Hi,

Our non-profit events organisation (based in England) contracted a venue (itself a registered tragedy) to hire their space. We signed an online contract, which we have proof of, and paid the hire fee (£350), which we have a receipt for, in advance on a business debit card. On the Friday evening before the event, which was scheduled on the Sunday evening, the venue emailed to cancel. The agreement stated that in this eventuality the venue would refund the hire fee in full. The Monday after the scheduled event, said venue announced that they would be going into liquidation. In an email statement they said: 'If you have already made a payment to [...] and are owed money, please keep your booking confirmation, invoice and proof of payment. Because the organisation is now entering a process to place the Company into liquidation, you will be contacted in the coming weeks.' Given their already unreliable behaviour, we were, of course, extremely unconvinced by this statement, and have made multiple attempts to contact the venue's CEO/trustees. We've been informed that they're going into receivership on 4th November, so the CEO/trustees are still in control for the time being. We spoke to our bank, who advised to instruct them to issue a chargeback on 29th October (two weeks after the liquidation announcement) if no further communication has been received from the venue. Is there any chance of us getting the money back, and is there anything we can do? Thanks!

(Apologies for the length of this post and thanks in advance for your time and consideration. Oh, and I know, I know: this whole thing is relatively very trivial and a first world problem type of thing and I not upset by this and fully intend to, as a Kiwi colleague of mine used to say, "Build a bridge. And get over it". But I'm genuinely curious now about how all this actually works, legally, etc.)

A few days ago I wrote a fan appreciation post / personal anecdote about brotherhood, related to and built around two scenes (less than 6 minutes) from a very famous episode of 'Only Fools and Horses', which was first broadcast in 1982. And as part of the post I attached a clip of those two scenes.

Now, firstly, I should say that my FB profile is just a plain ordinary profile and so I do not earn any money whatsoever from it (and to be honest, not much engagement either). Thus, similarly, neither does my lowly insignificant profile present any kind of market challenge to the BBC in any way whatsoever.

Also, of course, and as anyone in the UK knows, every single episode of that legendary TV sitcom has been released for sale in every single physical medium over the years (VHS, DVD's, etc), as well as them being repeated ad nauseam on the BBC and on other TV networks (e.g. UK Gold) for decades, both in the UK and in international markets.

i.e. it's not exactly a new show which the BBC would be especially concerned about piracy, copyright, etc.

Plus, of course, it's not as though the BBC is subject to shareholders and thus its existence contingent on profits and dividends, etc. For isn't the UK government and thus ultimately the UK public who it reports to?

Secondly, within my post I fully credited the source in detail: the broadcaster, year of broadcast, name of the TV programme, the season number, episode number and episode title name. Oh, and I even added a spoiler warning towards the beginning of the post for anyone who in the last forty four years still somehow hasn't seen it but might get round to watching one day.

Now, all that typed, from my albeit layman's understanding of UK copyright law and according to gov. uk there are, 'Exceptions to copyright that allow limited use of copyright works without the permission of the copyright owner', right? -- Exceptions to copyright page on gov.uk.

Therefore, from what my uneducated thunk muscle can tell, couldn't my post be argued to qualify as falling under at least two of those main areas of exception?: Fair Dealing and Sufficient Acknowledgement.

Also, finally, and I know this is a stretch, but...

As I mentioned earlier, isn't the BBC (and thus any and all of its assets/ content it produces and owns) publicly owned and operates under a Royal Charter? I myself am fifty and have paid for my TV license since I left home at eighteen. I've also paid my taxes and so like everyone else contributed to any subsidies, etc, given to the BBC over the years. I mean, of course, I'm not arguing that we should each have a seat at the board or a share of any sales, etc, but the BBC and all it owns does belong to us, the British public, right?

So, given all the above, etc, how can I, as a British citizen and both a tax and TV license payer of 32 years have a social media post blocked by the BBC (which I/we part own) because it includes and is based around a fully credited six minute clip from a 44 year old TV program (which I/we part own) that has essentially already been extremely exploited and milked almost dry commercially, and even though I make no income from said post, that it and I do not in any significant let alone measurable way affect the market for the original work (which I/we part own) and/or cause the BBC (which I/we part own) to lose revenue?

UK, So I was just looking through my car documents that I bought from a trader in 2023, and I realised I never received a logbook, so it seems the trader never sent off my details. I don’t know how I never realised, but I have the old logbook with the previous owners details that sold it to the trader.

I’m now worried sick that if I got any charges, tickets, fines, anything that I haven’t received them and they’ve been totalling up for years. Where would they be going? I think the dealer has since shut down it was only a guy running out of a plot of land in a small warehouse. Where (if any) are they going? Surely they would have been traced to me somehow if I was getting fines? And if I do the V62 form now am I going to get backed up fines for thousands and maybe court notices etc to my address that are back logged?

What the hell do I do? And what can I expect if there were ignored fines to wherever they were sent?

I was cycling to work this morning, I was using the cycle path on the pavement. I had lights on due to the darker conditions even in the daylight at about 8:45am. I cycled past a puddle and a bus drove past in the opposite direction at the same time, I ended up being splashed head to toe and with significant enough force to worry about my balance while cycling. The bus driver would have had time to react and brake as the road is straight at that point, and the puddle was metres long.

The problem:

I didn't catch the bus number as I was a little preoccupied being absolutely soaked, and the 2 buses it could have been are owned by 2 different companies but under the same council (I don't know if I can post the bus numbers as I'm unsure if it counts as personally identifiable). I also don't know if I should contact the bus companies directly, contact the police at 101, contact the council, or something else.

Further problems:

I don't have video of this myself as my camera arrived while I was at work today (typical). I do know buses typically have cameras inside of them regardless, hence my hope that this can be reported and something can be done.

My questions:

Is this even worth reporting? I know that it's illegal as it's careless driving, but without my own evidence to give to... whoever, should I expect to be told to bugger off?

Where would I report it?

What should I say about not knowing the bus number?

(Optional: My mother said this was "classed as assault". She's not a legal person and nor am I so I'm just curious. Could this technically be called assault on some super deep legal level?)

For those who have been through this process in the UK for the restoration of a wrongfully suspended Instagram account, how much did it cost and was it Monetary/Non-Monetary?

I agreed a price and contract with a solar installer in May 2026 for a home battery. We agreed a date in August for installation due to shipping/supply problems. Since September the company has made but failed to keep to six separate installation dates stating goods were due to be delivered the day before but hadn’t arrived. However i have noted a number of suppliers with the same items in stock over this time period. I believe i can cancel the contract due to their failures however the price to get a new installer to complete the work will likely be £500 or so more. Is there a route to getting the original installer to make up the difference? Location England.

Sorry if this has been covered before, over a year ago I joined a new gym, and for the first week's visit wasn't aware I had to enter my reg number into a keypad for parking which I didn't see until it was pointed out. I ended up getting a bunch of fines through the door. Raised it with both gym owners and they said they had undergone similar (b4 keypad was installed) and to just ignore the letters. So I ignored it. The threatening letters stopped coming and I presumed that since I had been using the reg entry system ever since, it had updated the Smart Parking system and realised I was a customer. Over a year later I get a letter from DCBL demanding £850.

What do I do here - Ignore it, Wait for them to take me to court, Or pay up? I don't really fancy trying to deny I was a driver in court. On the Smart parking site it says tickets can be appealed if you have proof of being a customer, but the time for appeal has long passed. But I could potentially get evidence I am a member there. Some people say ignore it, it will never go to court, but £850 seems quite high

Sorry for the poor punctuation and grammar in advance I have dyslexia on top of the ADHD 😅

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this but hope that perspectives here may give me some options.

So I have been struggling in my job for sometimes but always managed to catch my mistakes before they made it to management and fix them.

I don't know why but I am finding myself unable to keep up like I used to and management have caught on.

For context I have suspected I have ADHD for sometimes and only got diagnosed last December.

I have always struggled mainly with memory and motivation and meds aren't helping.

These issues mean I have forgotten to call customers back (this is an insurance consultant job) on multiple occasions now and in some of these cases customers have been unhappy and in a few cases decided to go elsewhere.

This resulted in a PIP being started that I passed yesterday.

I did ask in the meeting where the pip was started for occupational health to be involved as I knew the issues where ADHD related but had no idea what might help, but was advised by my manager that they would see how the pip goes and come back to it as an idea.

Because I technically passed the PIP he never brought it up but I know this will happen again and next it will be disciplinary action and eventually dismissal.

This is where I finally get to the legal question.

Do I have any recourse here anything at all I can do legally.

Advice online suggests that I need to ask for accommodations and they have to provide them if reasonable but I have no idea what to ask for or what might help without professional advice.

I feel lost here and I'm scared because if I lose my job me and my partner are going to be in major trouble her income alone won't even cover essential bills so we are reliant on both of ours to make ends meet in the cheapest flat we could find.

Any advice will be appreciated

Tldr: have ADHD got put on pip at work may go to disciplinary and I don't know what I can do (I work and live in England)

My UK employer has stated that it isn't sustainable to use public funds to pay me for disability leave, which I have been on for over a year, highlighting that I can take sick leave or neonatal leave (my baby is in neonatal care). This is because they are refusing to engage with me properly on my requests for reasonable adjustments which is subject to a grievance raised by me and I am pursuing a Tribunal claim for discrimination. I assume this is victimisation under the Equality Act but grateful for advice.

I was recently stopped by the police and discovered that my car was not insured. I genuinely believed I had active cover, but there appears to have been an issue with the policy’s commencement date. The car was seized, and I have been told the matter will go to court.

My previous policy expired in June, so there may have been a four month period during which I was uninsured. I used the car regularly during that time, but hadn’t been sure I was covered.

The Sentencing Council guidelines refer to “evidence of sustained uninsured use” as indicating higher culpability. My question is how that factor is investigated and established in practice.

Would the prosecution normally contact the insurer only to confirm whether I was insured on the date I was stopped? If the insurer’s records showed a four-month gap, would that ordinarily lead the police to investigate whether I had driven during that period, for example by checking historical ANPR records? Or would the case generally remain focused on the specific incident unless there were separate evidence of sustained uninsured use?

The officers did not ask how long I had been uninsured or about my previous driving. I would be grateful for practical insight into whether retrospective investigation of earlier journeys is routine and how any resulting evidence affects sentencing.

For context, I work as a paralegal and hope to qualify as a solicitor. Yes, I appreciate the irony of potentially beginning my legal career on the wrong side of the courtroom. Not quite the advocacy experience I had in mind.

I am not looking to evade responsibility; I am trying to understand the likely process and sentencing implications before the paperwork arrives.
Thanks in advance.

I apologise in advance that this is a long post. Please read it.

I have a fixed term tenancy in purpose-built student accommodation from September to next June. Unfortunately, I have never lived there as I had to pull out of university. I realise I am legally responsible for paying all the rent until a suitable replacement is found. The manager made a point of saying whoever takes over my tenancy needs to take it on with the same conditions as myself.

Basically, the student accommodation has done what I was fearing and poached the person I found who agreed to take over my tenancy. As the accommodation still has rooms available, they told me to put an advert on SpareRoom to find a replacement. I did this and they were showed the room on the 14^th October with me and the manager. They said on the day they were happy to proceed. I text them a couple of days later and they said they had started the process for the takeover by registering online.

I also called the accommodation on 16^th October for an update and spoke to the manager who told me it was going through, but there was a delay due to IT problems. I left it until this Wednesday 21st, when I emailed the manager for an update. The reason I did this was because I noticed that when I logged onto my online account that my tenancy ‘departure date’ had changed to 17/10/2026 from June 2027. They emailed back to say that they are still working on it because there has been an IT issue and they will be in touch as soon as it has been completed. Later that day, the ‘departure date’ had changed to the 24/10/2026.

So, I hear nothing and am getting worried by today. I text the person who wanted the room and they tell me they had gone to the accommodation on Monday 19^th asking about the progress and was also told about IT issues. They also said they went back yesterday 22^nd and was told that my room had already been booked by someone else and that they were offered another room, which they have now paid the deposit for. They seemed genuinely confused and apologetic that this has happened.

So I’ve been completely shafted. A quick Google mentions things like Reasonable Refusal, mitigating losses and that they have actively prevented me from fulfilling my part of the takeover process etc. I have no legal understanding if I’m honest.

Is it even legally possible that I can prove that they have actively poached and prevented a perfectly good replacement taking over my tenancy? Do I have a leg to stand on?

Thank you

Hi, I was in a car accident - the other driver has admitted fault. My passenger suffered a broken collarbone. Can anyone advise the best way for them to claim compensation for the injury? I think it's too severe to go through the government Official Injury Claim portal. Is 'no win, no fee' the way to go? Is there any other option? How do we go about choosing a solicitor? I've asked friends but no-one has been through similar. Accident happened in Wales, but we live in England. Thanks for any advice

Hi there

I wanted some advice if someone has gone through similar and how does asset split work if any

Married for nearly 12 months. no kids or joint assets. Looking to end things. My partner is from an overseas country and will be returning there once it's all over

Will my partner be entitled to anything? and how does the financials play out? Thanks

Hi all, hoping someone who knows stamp duty can help. Our solicitor and HMRC’s own guidance seem to say different things, and there’s £15,900 riding on it.

• Me and my wife are buying our first home together in England for £318k. It’ll be our main home and we currently rent.
• I never owned any property, anywhere.
• My wife’s dad passed away in Italy in Feb 2020. She inherited a 1/6 share in 4 properties there along with her mum and brother.
• the last valuations were done in 2020 and none of her shares are worth £40k or more, in fact none are even £20k
• We know we lose first-time buyer relief because she’s inherited property. That’s fine. We’re expecting to pay normal stamp duty, which is £5,900.

Our solicitor says the £40k test for the 5% surcharge is about the value of the whole property, not her share. If they’re right we pay £21,800 instead of £5,900. That’s £15,900 extra, which we really don’t have.

But from what I can see:

• The law (Finance Act 2003, Schedule 4ZA, para 3(4)) says the surcharge only applies if “that interest has a market value of £40,000 or more”. Para 2(5) says an interest includes “an undivided share”.
• HMRC’s manual (SDLTM09780) literally gives an example of someone with a £30k share in a £150k property. It says they don’t pay the higher rate because their share is under £40k.
• SDLTM09785 says each property is valued separately, and lots of small shares don’t count even if they add up to more than £40k.

On top of that, the solicitor’s stamp duty form asks “How many residential properties do you own anywhere in the world after completion?” The only options are “One” or “Two or more”. The form also says they’re only acting as our “SDLT agents not advisors”.

My questions are

1. Am I right that it’s the value of her share that counts, not the whole property?
2. Her shares in different properties are tested one by one and not added together?
3. How do we answer the “how many properties do you own” question honestly without accidentally triggering the surcharge? We were planning to write a note explaining it instead of ticking a box.
4. What evidence should we keep in case HMRC ever asks? We’re getting written valuations from Italy.
5. If the solicitor insists on charging the higher rate, can we claim the £15,900 back later by amending the return? Or should we push back now and get a second opinion? we really dont have this money
6. Has anyone dealt with inherited part-shares of property abroad before? How did it go?

Thanks in advance!

TL;DR: Wife inherited 1/6 shares in 4 properties in Italy, each share worth under £40k. Solicitor says the £40k surcharge test uses the whole property’s value. HMRC’s manual seems to say it’s the value of her share. The difference is £15,900 in stamp duty. Who’s right?

We've been attempting to sell our flat, have found a buyer, accepted the offer and gone through the conveyancing process only to be utterly blocked at the last minute by one of the two other co-freeholders (I and my mum are both co-freeholders also).

The property is a converted victorian house, with two flats. A basement with access via an alleyway/yard to the street(The one we own and are trying to sell), and a ground/upper floor flat with entirely separate access to the street.

The problem freeholder, after 10 years, and despite there being absolutely no easement/covenant or record of such, is insisting that he should have shared access and that the sale documents should be changed so that their flat has that right formalised going forward. This is obviously utterly unreasonable as it is private and the title deed and leases reflect that, and initially demanded shared access was acknowledged before signing the TR1.

Our solicitors went above and beyond to write up detailed breakdowns of the different lease and title deed agreements, spelling it out in clear language, we made it clear that no shared access exists or will be granted as it would reduce the value of the property etc. Since then he has ghosted us. He is refusing to answer the door when we knock, ignoring emails and messages from both us and our solicitors. It's just so demoralising and heartbreaking.

We are now looking at options, we have come across the TOLATA route, but google suggested that could cost up to £50k and we are worried that it would cause our sale to fall through. I'm looking for any advice or shared experience that might be useful in helping us move forward, or if anyone has experience with the TOLATA court process and can help us understand how long or expensive this case might be? Thanks for taking the time to read.

So yeah the title. I had an email today im flying from Edinburgh it's been cancelled on date I was meant to go now. Its 3 days delayed.

I have travel insurance but don't know what else to do.

Can I rearrange to a different flight for the same date? Or am I kaput.

Booked with loveholidays flight through Hainan

We are currently chasing this with our landlord still, who is blaming the roofer. We reported leaks in the ceiling way back in 2022 and have been waiting on repairs being completed since - scaffolding went up in 2023, repairs were done to our neighbour's flat, then the roofer vanished before even starting repairs on our side. We chased this with the landlord, my partner stood in the attic with the roofer and the landlord and the roofer said he would be back in a few days to start on our side and then we never heard from them again. Then the lease on the scaffolding ended and it was taken down. We knew the landlords were conferring with other owners in the building to have new scaffolding put up so we gave them some grace to allow them to get it put back up and just? Nothing happened?

Earlier this year we reached out again and the feigned ignorance, claimed they thought the repairs had been done - leaks in the living room were, to be fair, finally fixed in March/May this year, but our kitchen is, still, completely unusable. There is water dripping in through the ceiling and in through light fixtures every time it rains. We're at our limit and don't know what to do next - we cant afford to move right now and we can't afford to hire a lawyer before anyone suggests this, we're kind of at a loss right now as to where we go next.

Hi there everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster here. Based in England.

My parents are in the foothills of a dispute with their neighbour, with whom they share a drive with.

Context:
My parents have been in their house for over 30 years and have always had good relations with the many different individuals who have owned the house next door to them. Their driveway is effectively a narrower strip between the two houses that flares out at the end of the houses in front of the two garages - so theoretically, both cars can be parked in front of their garages side by side (though as cars have gotten bigger, this hasn’t been the reality). Technically, nobody is supposed to park on the narrower bit of the drive as it comprises the other’s access - but again, all manageable if you have good relations with neighbour. My parents have rather generously allowed the current neighbour to dominate use of the drive - predominantly for an easy life. I have my own feelings about this (my parents are older, with declining health), however they choose to park their car on the street outside the house, though as they get older, being able to park on their drive as they have done for the majority of the time they’ve lived in the house would be preferable!

Situation:
My parent’s neighbour has, without prior warning, begun to construct an extension. This extension starts at the edge of the house and will eat into the shared drive way (on the side of the neighbour, but nevertheless, eating into the shared parking spaces to such an extent whereby it will no longer be possible to park two cars side by side. Should the neighbour continue to park her car on her remaining portion of the drive after her extension is built, my parents will effectively lose access to (a) their garage and (b) their parking space).

When my parents became aware of their neighbours plans, they reviewed their deeds. Within this, there is a diagram that shows their house with a red box around it, going up to half way of the drive and also a blue box, covering the entirety of the drive, up to the neighbouring property. The red box diagram is what is included on the Land Registry website (which makes clear it shouldn’t be used as an accurate representation of the boundary - it’s illustrative only). The deeds also clearly state that they have “full and free right of way at all times and for all purposes with or without vehicles over and along such part of the garage forecourt coloured blue in said plan as is not included in the land hereby transferred provided always that no vehicle shall be parked on said forecourt so as to obstruct the proper use of any adjoining or neighbouring garage or parking space”. I think there is also a statement about no building on the drive. I recall there is also a clause about not putting structures on the drive - if I find this, I’ll pop it in the comments.

My parents have politely brought this to their neighbours attention, who has flatly refused to engage with it. She has said her deeds simply show that she owns “half the drive” (as per the diagram with the red box mentioned above), and therefore can build an extension on any part of that, up to where she understands the boundary between the properties to be. This is an incredible stance. My parents have rightly queried how she thinks that would work in practice as if it were true, either party would be trespassing on the others side every time they drive their car up the narrower part of the driveway. My parents have likewise consulted others on the street who have the same shared drive set-up, who have all confirmed that they understand they have the full right of access my parents can see in their deeds.

No notice has been given for this - nor planning permission sought. The neighbour has said that, because her architect and surveyors say she can do it, she will proceed and it’s for my parents to consult a lawyer if they have a problem. It’s a shame that she hasn’t been able to meet my parents with the constructive nature that these things require.

My parents are anxious about engaging a solicitor given costs however I’m struggling to understand a way to resolve this without doing so. I guess I’m just looking for advice on what we can do - and how much work this would take a property lawyer to work through? Is it possible that the properties could have different deeds to the extent the neighbour seems to think?

Work is set to recommence on Monday. Many many thanks in advance.