Land

Easement of parking - no planning permission for conduct relied upon - easement acquired by prescriptionBatchelor v Marlow and another:Ch D (Mr Nicholas Warren QC):11 May 2000

The defendants claimed to be entitled to prescriptive easements of parking and storage over the claimant's land.

The claimant applied to have their caution against first registration removed on the ground that the rights the defendants claimed were not capable of existing as easements.Bridget Williamson (instructed by Penningtons, Newbury) for the claimant.

Mark West (instructed by W H Matthews & Co, Kingston upon Thames) for the defendants.Held, granting the application in part, that an express grant of a right to park was capable of existing as an easement and therefore a prescriptive right must also be capable of existing as one; that even though the defendant did not have planning permission for the conduct relied upon, that was not illegal activity which would prevent the conduct from counting towards the prescription period because an enforcement notice had not been served and proceedings had not been commenced in respect of the use to which the defendants had put the land; that the defendants had failed to establish an easement of storage since their use effectively excluded the claimant from the land; but that they had established a limited easement by prescription to park vehicles on the land.