My neighbour is blocking my garage: as a private tenant, is there anything I or my landlord can do to get him to stop?

Question: I rent a house that comes with a garage. Instead of using the garage for my car, I use it to store some of my furniture and bits which do not fit into the house. Access to the garage is over a private access way. There are lots of garages at the back of the terrace of houses and there is room for everyone to get in and out of our garages easily, and to turn. However, one neighbour parks his white van outside my garage when he is not working, which means I cannot get into the garage when I need to. What can I do?

Answer: Your landlord’s title deeds are likely to include a right to use the access way to get into the garage, plus covenants regulating and restricting the way the access way may be used, for example, prohibiting the obstruction of the access way and garages with parked vehicles.

Ask your neighbour not to park his van in front of your garage. Perhaps he thinks that as you do not keep a vehicle in there, you do not use it or need to get into it.

If he fails to stop parking there, report the situation to your landlord or to the landlord’s letting agents, and get them to take action.

Your landlord may be in breach of the terms of his tenancy agreement with you if you cannot use the garage you are renting from him.

You and your landlord should write to your neighbour explaining that he is creating a nuisance and requesting him to cease parking in a way that prevents you accessing your garage.

Ultimately, if your neighbour is interfering with your right to access the garage, you and/or your landlord could seek a court order requiring the removal of the van and stopping future obstruction.

These answers can only be a very brief commentary on the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor.

If you have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email legalsolutions@ standard.co.uk or write to Legal Solutions, Homes & Property, London Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE. We regret that questions cannot be answered individually, but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a legal director in the private wealth group of Foot Anstey (footanstey.com)