Am I the nightmare neighbour?

My father in law has a house which has 'foot and barrow rights' for his neighbours.

When we're sat outside, there's all sorts of folk traipsing through his immaculate garden.

He's not allowed to lock the gates either.

He's had to install cctv as there were things going missing from his garage.

They walk up his driveway, past the double garage, turn and walk right in front of the kitchen window, past the back door, past the double patio doors and then through a gate into the next terrace. And so it goes on for the rest of the row. He has a huge corner plot and beautiful trees and garden and it's not private, although he owns it outright. He thought that he would be able to discontinue the practice but it has defeated him.

I wouldn't feel very safe living there with children.

Can you put a fence up at the end of your garden and loose the metre or so creating the allyway but giving you privacy

@Welshmonster

no way would I be putting a spring closer strong enough to close it, on a door a toddler has access to. They could lose their fingers.

In the first instance just go & talk to him, he seems nice enough.

If nothing changes put locks on. Tell him it'll be unlocked from 7pm to 9am (or whatever) on the day his bin needs to go out & you'll unlock it if he needs it for a delivery or something, but his visitors will have to use his front door.

i wouldn't care what the Deeds say, he's been letting visitors take the piss & put your toddler at risk, he can take legal steps if he wants to, he's not likely to get anywhere with it.

If there is a right of way it’s unlikely to be for the specific purpose of putting out the bins and more likely to be for him and his visitors to access the rear of his property. You are not allowed to lock the gate or block the access. He doesn’t have to use the front door if he prefers the back. You mention two gates however, and the ROW should have a route shown on the deeds. He and his visitors are not free to traipse all over your garden and probably not to use either gate. They have the right to pass along the route of the ROW for the purposes specified in the deeds.

Are you renting or is it owned? Check your deeds to see what the access arrangements say. You may be able to put one of those bars on the gate where it will close automatically like fire doors.
does your neighbour have a front door so people can access his home?

speak to him first about safety aspect and the fact your kid was put at risk as he might take action

can the bins be kept elsewhere.

Lock your gates, unlock on bin day

People should be respectful of your home as they use the access but you moved to a house with ROW over your garden . It seems normal to put a please close the gate sign up and you could mention it to your neighbours. You could see if you can agree a lock , you could fence off the strip of the path, possibly move the path around the end of your garden. Some people are happy to live more communally than others, talk to your neighbour. But at the end of the day you might want to move.

You're defintely not a nightmare.

I see several solutions to your problem:

1. Put an automatic closer on the gate, something with a spring, so the gate will always close after someone has gone through it.
2. Put a lock on the communal gates and give your neighbour a key/code. (A code would be better, as you can periodically change it)
3. Put up another fence with a locked gate to wall off your own garden from the shared access. This would give you the most privacy, but would also be the most costly and you'd lose part of your garden.

I hope one of these will solve your problem.

He should be telling his guests to use the front door. I have access across my neighbours back garden. I have only ever used it for access when absolutely necessary ie something too big to go through front. I always let her know if I can. I would give him a key and keep it locked.

Does he come and go through the back/your gates, or just his visitors?

If he comes through for general access it is probably because he has positioned furniture across his front door and can’t easily get in and out.

If he uses the front and his guests use the back they are fuckin weird.

I would go down the route of not blaming him in the first instance but explaining how your toddler got out and that it’s shaken you so here is a key for bin day.

If he then continues to let people in that way you can have another chat about it.

the right of access is for taking bins out, not for random nosey visitors.

Does it say that anywhere though? My back garden is the only way my neighbours access their house - them, their family, visitors, deliveries. It's just the way it is in some places

YANBU, the right of access is for taking bins out, not for random nosey visitors. I'd slap up a lock today and not think any more about it. And I would explicitly state your garden is private property and your neighbours visitors are not to have the code as you will not accept random people walking through. He's clearly allowing them to do it.

Does he have right of access to the rear of his house through your garden or is it specifically limited to moving the bins.?

Is he only supposed to use the side gate & not the back gate?

You can probably install a lock on your back gate with no issue and not give him a key but if he does has some access right you will have to negotiate on the side gate.

You could start by checking your deeds to find out exactly what his access rights are and then have a conversation with him about what to do to stop so many people using his back door.

This. Really state the toddler/safety aspect.

Fit the gate with a spring and slam lock so that it can't be left open/unlocked.

No decent person could argue with that.

We had a similar situation and we keep the gate locked for security. Only 2 neighbours had the combination, but as tenants changed none of them know it and haven't asked. It's actually a really onerous way to take bins out, and the two houses with access built bin shelters at the front because it was not convenient to walk 3 houses across and about 20 metres around the side of our house, navigating a locked iron gate, to take bins out.

Yep lock on both gates and give him a key. Explain you have had toys stolen and toddler escaped.

Depends on what your deeds say. If they say neighbours have access then not a lot you can do, and can't lock it.
Shared access arrangements like this always causes issues.

Have you spoken to him about it?

As he sounds reasonable, could you simply ask him to tell his visitors to only use the front? My Dh had this arrangement, painful, frankly, as people would walk right past his kitchen window!

I had the same problem with my last rental. Drove me insane. I have no solution as that houses deeds stipulated no lock. But when I eventually bought, it was a non-negotiable that I'd have no ROWs.

So no advise but immense sympathy.

The deeds will probably say it's for general access not just bins as the access would have been for people to take coal through to their own houses when the houses were built (assuming it's a Victorian terrace or similar). But anyone with an ounce of common sense/courtesy wouldn't let their mates traipse through someone else's garden whenever they feel like it. Sounds like you're on reasonable terms with him so maybe just say it makes you uncomfortable and can he keep it for bins or emergency only. Sorry you are having this aggro. I've lived in similar properties but luckily for me people kept their wheelie bins out front.

Buy a lock for your gate and only open it on bin day.