Young kids in Cottesloe have been blocked from using a rear laneway after a couple erected a gate to block off the public lane.
There has been a battle brewing in the leafy seaside suburb ever since Sonja Madden and Greg Madden sealed off 54sqm of crown land on Lillian Street and put up an electronic gate more than a year ago.
Ben Tiller said he bought the property behind, on Curtin Avenue in early 2016, because he wanted to use the public right-of-way at the rear of his home for his four kids.
"I saw that as very valuable living on Curtin Avenue with the traffic," he told Radio 6PR on Tuesday morning.
"I've got a young family and we are regularly out the back and up the hill to junior footy clubs and surf life saving and having that rear access really encouraged me to purchase the property.
"It has become bizarre... there doesn't seem to be a lot of clarity to this point, so we hope that the council (Town of Cottesloe) make a decision this evening, which will provide clarity going forward."
The father-of-four believes the owners didn't originally get permission from the town to erect the 1.8 metre gate but have since got retrospective approval.
He claims one of the conditions of the approval was the gate should be unlocked, but it remains shut with a code none of the residents know.
"The conditions require access be granted to all neighbours - all properties adjacent to the right-of-way whether that be pedestrian access for myself or one other neighbour or vehicular access for another two neighbours," he said.
"The gate is locked by code - the code is not known to anyone and I think the council is not enforcing their own conditions for some reason."
At a council meeting last week, elected members went behind closed doors because the issue had become a legal matter.
"We really are in the dark and not sure how things will go tonight," Mr Tiller said.
"There maybe three outcomes: either to leave the gate, remove the gates or some sort of compromise solution.
"Really I couldn't tell you with any certainty how this is going to go."
Mr Madden said a gate in some form or another had been at the property for almost 50 years.
"When we brought the house in 2012 the gate was already there," he said.
"Council records show the gate has been at the property since 1995.
"The whole thing is a mess...but we will have to wait to see what council does tonight."
The Town of Cottesloe didn't want to comment on the gate, as the matter was up for discussion on Tuesday night.
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