Moved into a mid-terrace three weeks ago. There is a shared rear access lane behind the houses and someone has painted yellow hatching on the tarmac directly behind my back gate. Nothing in my title deeds mentions any parking restriction and my solicitor said the lane is unregistered. Can anyone tell me if these painted markings have any legal weight? And is it worth raising with the neighbours or just ignoring it.
@Twingate_Paul, short answer is no, painted markings on a private lane have no legal force whatsoever. Yellow lines only mean something on adopted highways where the council has made a traffic regulation order. On an unregistered private lane they are just paint.
That said, there might be a backstory. It is quite common on shared lanes for neighbours to have informal agreements about who parks where, and someone enthusiastic with a tin of Hammerite has decided to make it official. Worth having a casual chat with the immediate neighbours to find out whether there is a long-standing arrangement, because even if it is not legally binding it is the sort of thing that festers if you ignore it.
One thing I would check is whether the lane is genuinely unregistered or just not on your title. You can do a Land Registry search on the lane itself for a few pounds. If it turns up as owned by a management company or one of the other houses, that changes the picture slightly. But painted hatching on its own means nothing.
Thanks @greenwhistle_hants. So is it worth writing to whoever painted them, or just ignore it entirely?