to find this really fucking annoying even though it doesn't really affect me much

This would really annoy me. Guess they did it before you moved in so think it is ok!

Look back at the OP's posts - her diagrams really couldn't make this any clearer.

To get to the shared walkway do they not need to cross part of your driveway anyway? Or does the shared walkway stretch all the way to the road?

or are they going back and forth vertically? Sorry I don’t understand what they are doing?

Cancel the cheque, OP.

I think your plan is perfect.

Can you put a gate at the house end of your drive, at right angles to their drive. Can always say you want to "Improve security to the back garden and they'll need to use their garden to access the walkway not your drive". Then you won't lose too much of your drive.

Gordon Bennett, why are people refusing to understand the pictures and explanations?! THEY.DO.NOT.HAVE.ACCESS.ACROSS.OP'S.DRIVE!!!!!!Op i think this thread has enraged me more than your neighbours (thats a lie, they enrage me too!!!) 🤬

Why is it every time I edit it deletes letters I didn't ?!

Why? They have access via their own front garden and if they did have a right of way over the drive it would be marked on the deeds, which it isn't...

i can i assume that there is a path that runs between your drive and their garden? there is very clearly access from the front of your houses to the back..

i think your arguement is petty and childish...

looking at the picture you ahve drawn, if there is no path, and there is no right of way from their garden at the back to the front then there is absolutely no reason for them to have a gate there in the first place so im guessing they do have. right of way

Is there a chance that your neighbours don't realise that they are going across your land. They may have assumed that the shared walkway goes all the way to the street. May be worth asking them whether they know where the boundary is as a first step?

They probably have a right of way over your drive to access the shared walkway.

@walkway8 Where is their front gate OP??

Is part of your drive shared or does the boundary line have an L shape? Have you got your deeds?

Just a thought... Judging by the way your cars are parked, you may not need all of the space on your drive, so could you offer to sell them half of the width of a path from the end of the current shared walkway to the street? You could then put a fence up down the side and be completely private, as they are.

Our house, the neighbours either side have been here a similar amount of time and are a similar age and are really friendly. The lady we bought from a couple of years ago was also a similar age and had been here forever.

They walk across our drive to get to one another (one side more than the other) and sometimes sit on our wall to have a chat. They don't look in, but it does mean they walk past my bedroom window.

Materially, doesn't impact me at all. But drives me mad and makes me want to build walls and gates round the drive!

Anyone can park in front of your house, you have no right to the parking space in front of it unless there are designated parking spaces. I don't know why parking outside your house would bother you, really.

If they are generally reasonable people and you haven't mentioned it to them up to this point, they are presumably thinking/hoping that you don't mind. I can see the appeal of heading straight up or down the walkway when you're carrying gardening stuff etc, rather than negotiating one or even two garden gates. That's not to say they should be doing it and I would be parking my cars further to the left, as close to their fence as possible, or maybe even on the diagonal, to see if they get the message. If not, I'd consider getting a gate. But if questioned by the neighbour, I'd be totally spineless in my answer and pretend I was planning to look after a friend's dog or help someone with childcare or whatever and needed a more secure environment 😁.

I would put a row of planters with shrubs/plants in along your border if it bothers you. Saying that, as long as no kids whizzing about on bikes, I doubt your car will get scratches so maybe not worth it. I'm guessing they chose garden over a driveway (or their predecessors did so)

How often are the walking on your driveway?

@Mymanyellow
OP can install her own post on her land. It shouldn't be attached to their property anyway.

Be attached to their fence then though? Spread your cars out a bit? What’s the flooring / paving like? Is it different clearly different from the walkway?

I'd be annoyed too tbh. We have next door neighbours that have a home business which means their customers frequently block our driveway. Or more often they almost block it but just make it a nightmare to get out. The only reason I haven't kicked off is we're moving soon and I don't want to have to declare an issue with neighbours on the solicitors forms. A gate seems to be the only answer for you.

A padlock with a code would easily stop that... plus a good deterrent for anyone just wandering in.

I’d be annoyed at that constant intrusion of put a row of tall plant pots along just to mark out the boundary and they can use their gate .

We had this problem in our house, as we’re both spineless we added a gate in the same place you have planned OP, I blamed our two year old and said we’d put it in to keep her safe, so thats also our excuse for having a lock on the gate.

Not if it is one of those higher locked gates.