House dilemma (with diagram)

In the part of the country I live in, this is completely normal. I was a bit unsure at first, but actually I think it helps with the community better. We are on the end so we don't have people walking through but we do have to walk through our neighbours (tend to only do this when cycling or on bin day). It's really common for there to also not be huge fences dividing the gardens, everything is just a bit more shared (our neighbour and the one two doors down even share bins (by choice) so that there's not so many cluttering the gardens). We're also in a part of the world where the back door is the main door for so many people so deliveries, guests, etc all come to the back too. We have a lock on the gate in our alleyway, but lots don't. When we move ideally I'd prefer to be on the end, but it won't be a deal breaker if the rest of the house is perfect, so in your position I would snap up this opportunity

My parents have similar but gardens are private and then there is a little path that runs along the bottom of the gardens for access.

We have this and it doesn't bother me, but I have a quiet neighbour and hardly see her. The access is also at the back of the garden, furthest away from the window. Is yours right under the window?

Avoid like the plague imo. I had a house that had a right of access through it and it was a fucking nightmare. The neighbours were complete knobheads, I could never let my dogs out in case the neighbours came through the garden, they left the gate open all the time, they left their bins outside the window, they smoked all the time and the smell would come through the windows, I had no privacy in the garden whatsoever, all their shitty mates would traipse through when visiting and stare through the window so it was either not be able to see through the windows or be alright with someone being able to see in all the time. I could go on, it was shit

I would accept it, if it’s not suitable in the future go for a swap.

Ooohh I’d hate that too. You never know who the neighbours might be or how they’d behave. They can change any time.

The idea of putting a fence at the back and along the side, is good - if you’re allowed to do that. Then you and they get privacy.

Do they have direct access to their garden from their house and would really just need to cross your garden to put out bins?

Or every time they want to access the garden, they have to go thru "your" garden?

Thats key I think,

I'd take it, in the circumstances. Put up a fence or some hedging that will screen off the rest of your garden from the bit they need to walk through. Then it will be just the equivalent of having a front door that opens directly onto the pavement, only at the back, and you should still be able to enjoy the use of your garden.

Would you be able to move right of access to bottom of garden and then up the side and out. You could put a fence around to maintain your garden privacy. That's the way it was in a house I lived in at one time. You do lose part of your garden (footpath width) but to me it's worth it for the privacy.

Not if you are cooking chips especially!

I would take it - we had this set up and it was fine. Neighbours used it quite a lot as they had bikes but it didn't bother me really.

I would advise not being topless in your kitchen OP 😂

This - ask the council if they can arrange for the neighbour’s access point to be moved to the end of the garden. Appreciate it involves two new fences and gates, but you could cite it’s for safety issues for your child/household. That way they’re not going right past your house and the risk of leaving your back gate open and access to the rear of the houses unsecured.

Probwbly need to speak to the owner of next door and possibly require change to deeds/title plans depending on what they say I.e. if neighbours point of access is marked on the title deeds etc. But that’s something for the council to worry about.

I think it depends on who your neighbours are. Growing up our neighbour was an older woman who rarely used the back path but when she died it was a younger family and all their friends and it did get quite annoying with them constantly using the back garden to get to their garden, so much so when my mum was offered a swap for a smaller house she jumped at the chance to have her back garden to herself.

however if you’re desperate for a house then needs must.

I guess it comes down to if you can afford to turn it down and how long you may have to wait to be offered another? As previous posters have pointed out once you’re in the system you can do a swap if you find it’s not for you, there are always people looking to do that to be closer to family/ friends etc. My partner did that himself a couple of years ago to be closer to me and it was pretty straightforward. If the house is suitable in every other way and will benefit you financially to not wait it out then grab it 🙌🏼

It’s really common in older terraces. It’s unlikely they’ll even use the access much beyond bin day. If it is more frequent e.g. teen taking their bike round to go to school every day you can get some frosted film for your window for around £10. If you’ve met next door and she seemed nice and you’ve been waiting since 2023 to be offered a house then I’d take it!

I would probably take it in the circumstances, but it's worth noting that although many houses with this type of access only use it for bins once a week, some people may use the back door as their main entrance/exit. This is more likely if the layout of the house is 2 up 2 down with the front door opening straight into the front room, and the tenants are using the front room as a bedroom. If there's a hallway at the front it's less likely.

Usually with new builds they put in a path at the back of the end houses to allow external access to the middle gardens like this (yes I'm bored at work):

Same in our Victorian house - lived here 10+ years with no problems - neighbours only use the access for bins/bikes etc.

Only issue would be if they or you are awful neighbours ;)

Think of the house itself. That's 99% of what matters -especially when you might never be offered a better house.