Neighbour path between house and garage

Questioner

Our house, built in 1979, has a neighboring path that runs between our house and our garage. We have lived here for about 35 years. The new neighbors now want to use this path and walk through our garden a few times a day, with children and bicycles. It is a special construction but it is a neighbor path. The neighbours have a garage (at the front of the house) but this was converted into a studio by previous residents and is now used as a workroom. The neighbor says he has the right to transfer and wants to use this, which has never been used for 35 years. We had a calm conversation with the neighbor and indicated that it was quite an invasion of our privacy, but he wasn't too bothered by that. An offer to make a financial contribution towards the construction of a bicycle shed at the front of his house was kindly but firmly declined. What can we do?

Lawyer

You could request the court to remove the neighbour's path, but the owner of the dominant property (your neighbour) has a reasonable interest in its maintenance. The reason you mention of non-use has disappeared from the law as a reason for removal. You may, if possible, designate another location for the path.

Lawyer

A neighbour path is different from an easement; a neighbour path is subject to the law of obligations (only applies between the legal subjects involved) while an easement is subject to the law of property (and applies to everyone). The neighbour path was removed from the law in 1992 and is also not something that is registered in the registers. I am therefore first of all curious on what basis you conclude that there is a neighbour path. Perhaps you can dispute the existence of a neighbour path, especially since I understand from your message that it has not been used for 35 years. In this respect, it is important whether the designation as a neighbour path was expressly agreed or tacitly because neighbours only started using it as such. The fact that the owner of the land tolerated its use by neighbours does not automatically lead to the conclusion that the path is designated as a neighbour path. If you would like, I would be happy to look into this further with you.