AIBU to object to neighbour using my garden as their main access?

I presume the NDN owns her house?
How old is she? People used to keep their front parlour, as they called it, nice by always using the back door.

Op can't move the route to make it less convenient without the agreement of everyone who has the right to use it (and this would almost certainly come at a cost)

We have similar easement here and our deeds do allow the occupants plus whoever they allow to cross into their garden. It is very strange to get used to people walking through. Your garden doesn't quite feel your own. We have just had to accept it as don't think we could fight it in court as deed is so vague.

I'd move if you don't like it as would be risk to start a neighbour dispute as you have to declare it when you sell.

Horrendous. Poor you. Very stressful

certainly not a legal expert so I’m happy to be corrected:

OP on your map, you said you were the red box - to the left side, is that a path? If so, does it go all the way to the top of your garden?

If yes, as another poster has said, can you (and I know this will cost money) rejiggle the gate and fence, so put the gate at the top and create an alleyway - I realise she will probably be stubborn about it but if you then paid for the gate at the top on her side, she wouldn’t loose access but you would get your privacy, you essentially create a path at the top of the garden.

The terraces down my road have done that - they all agreed to chop the top meter of their gardens, put up the fences with gates and then they’ve all got back access without losing any garden privacy. No one who has moved in has complained of the arrangement.

Whose responsibility is the fence on the right of your garden, ie the shared one? If it’s yours, this could work.

It's mad to me, not that this is a thing - totally get it, but that anyone actually uses it for anything other than an emergency or in a case of no other option.
I'd rather drag my bins through the house each week than drag them underneath someone else's kitchen window 😆
I've lived in houses where the only access to the garden is through the house, and it can sometimes be inconvenient, but you just live with it.

@CotswoldIdyll , my NDN built an extension over the easement in their garden. That's how I know about easements. It came up in the conveyancing. They'd lost their right.

it depends what is says in the deeds

OP, am I right in thinking you're end of terrace?
First step to check the deeds, but it doesn't seem like she'll be reasonable.
Is the fence/gate to her garden hers? I'd be tempted to move your gate to the end of your garden and essentially cut that bit off so it's like an alleyway to her garden, with her gate also at the back of her garden.
Easier said than done, and also more of a long term plan if she's not reasonable.
If you can section it off in this way you'll probably find the house easier to sell if you ever do need to sell it.

There is a lot of incorrect advice being given here which could cause legal problems. I agree that the garden law forum is excellent for this sort of thing. When you have an easement across your property it is for the benefit of the property which has the right of way and you have no say over how much they use it. They and their visitors can walk up and down it all day if they like, provided they stick to the terms, e.g. if it’s pedestrian and pushing a bike or wheelbarrow, they can’t bring a motorcycle along it and they can’t loiter or deviate from the route onto the rest of your garden. You have allow free access so gates are tricky. Our neighbours just used it for the bins, but when they built an extension they did assume they had more access than they actually had. Our side entrance was much wider than the nominal footpath width they had access over, so we did have to remind them that they weren’t free to bring digging machinery through even though it would technically fit. It wasn’t a happy time, but ultimately the outcome was excellent as they didn’t ascertain beforehand that they had no right whatsoever to extend the route so they actually extinguished their own right of way by blocking it off with their extension.

Apologies - you're entirely right - that'll teach me to google in a hurry!!

So, if she would "rather die than use the front door" then I'd be encouraging that option! Seriously, though, what is her problem with using her own front door?

Please make sure you use the gov.uk website, copies of the register are £7.

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds

If you can't lay your hands on your own paperwork, do look at the Land Registry, where you can pay to get a copy of the title deeds information for your property and also for your neighbour's (you don't have to own the property to get a copy of the deeds). It will cost you about £25.00 per property plus more to buy the plans for each property, but it would be very useful.

The trouble is the OP has already given us a pretty clear picture that the neighbour is an unreasonable pain in the arse ('I'd rather die than use my front door' - WTF?!). Thus it may well be that the OP's only way of resolving the problem quickly and easily is to be able to legitimately say that the neighbour doesn't have the right to do what she is doing, which is why what the deeds say is important. If the deeds do place restrictions on the right of access such that the neighbour is currently breaching them then the OP does at least have the threat of legal action if the neighbour doesn't do the decent thing. Of course, the neighbour may not care and carry on regardless in which case the OP would be faced with actually bringing legal action, and tbh I probably would rather move than go down that road. Unfortunately the neighbour's likely argument that 'I've been doing this for 40 years' does carry some weight.

Obviously the softly-softly approach is worth a go, but if it fails I think that the OP's best options are either the fence alongside the right of way plus spring-loaded gates, or (drastic as it may seem), move. There is the possibility of moving the right of way to the top of the garden but that's likely to be very costly as the neighbours would essentially be able to name their price. Lastly, and for completeness' sake, legally speaking over-using an easement is a thing but if we are talking about a general access easement here then it's very unlikely that the OP would be successful in such an action - it would be very costly and fraught with risk.

It depends entirely on what the deeds say, but from what you’ve described, your neighbour is massively over‑using the easement.

A right of way normally means a right to pass and repass when reasonably necessary, often for things like taking bins out or occasional access to the rear. It does NOT give someone the right to use your garden as their main entrance, send all their visitors and deliveries through it, or treat it like a public footpath.
Even if the easement is general, it still has to be used reasonably. Constant foot traffic, couriers, cleaners, dog walkers, and people leaving your gate open is not reasonable use and interferes with your quiet enjoyment of your own garden.
It’s definitely not a ‘public right of way’, and she doesn’t get to redefine it as one. She also has a legal obligation to contribute to maintenance of the gate, not just demand you fix it.

Check your deeds and then have a calm conversation explaining that you’re happy for them to use the access as intended, but the current level of traffic is intrusive and unsafe. You’re entitled to peaceful use of your garden, and they’re obliged to use the easement properly.

An easement is quite literally a right of way for the dominant property (neighbour) to use the servient property (OPs).

The deeds OP provided don’t qualify its use so it can be used for any access at all to the dominant property.

The rights are for the property, not the resident. Your deeds don’t restrict the access to a particular action such as access to bins.

She would have a prescriptive easement after twenty years of utilising the access in such a manner anyway.

I don’t think you’re allowed to block a private easement. But hopefully the deeds are useful….

It seems I don't own the path. We do have a fence at the top of the garden with a gate. Our neighbour rarely uses it, we do weekly for the bin.

We have the same situation with our neighbour and we are end terrace. He’s used it once in 8 years to whell his lawnmower through. He is the middle of 3 and has the same access the other way. He uses the other side as our youngest is autistic with zero safety awareness and he appreciates if he forgets to shut the gate and lock it, it could be catastrophic. As far as we were aware the access is for occasional access like putting bins out and large parcel deliveries etc. not just to use constantly on a Daily basis. If that was the reason for it, why would they fit a front door. Just sounds like she wants to be awkward tbh. If she has been forced to use the front door before, then clearly it’s possible. This would drive me mad!

I had to dig my own deeds out to check the wording now it's beem brought up!
Realise yours may be different but its...
"Adjoining neighbours may pass and repass on foot or with bicycles and handcarts over and across the footpath shown yellow on the plan"
Hope that helps.

I live in a mid-terrace and when I bought my house, the solicitor made a point of clarifying that I have right of way through the neighbours at any time for access. Been here 7 years, used it once because the front door handle broke!
Delivery drivers use it so they can leave parcels round the back but as the end terrace neighbours are a retired couple they quite often take them in. They are a lovely couple and I wouldn't dream of being in and out their garden like this!

Please stop advising on things you dont understand