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

The change would already exist. you just apply if you want it added to your land registry title.

They're CFS. Wtf.

The rear is not their main entrance, access via yours is not meant to be used as the main entrance. I'd ask them why they don't use the front. Suss out of there's an issue. Try to talk it through with them - dogs and children, gate being left open etc. Then hit them with the fact it's an easement not a right to use as tgeur main way in and out.

It could get nasty quickly, so try to get to know them and get them on side.

Good luck

I had this exact scenario and I ended up moving. We were both in council houses and I had to give mine up because the council said they could use the back door and any visitors could also use it. My garden became like a drug den with people turning up at all hours, including the middle of the night. It made me ill from misery and anxiety. They were a horrendous bunch of antisocial layabouts. Drugs, arguing, violence.

Please post your query on the Garden Law forum. You are getting some terrible advice here, people are just egging you in which is what you want to hear but it's incorrect. A lot of the comments you've had are just mad and if you actioned them you'd find yourself in court if your neighbour is litigious.

You can't restrict access or say how much the access can be used
The easement is for the property not an individual who lives there
You need your neighbours deeds as well because if it's on one set of deeds it applies to both house. Get the deeds from Land Registry website.
You must maintain the access and not block it
You CAN fence off the route as long as the route as defined in the deeds is clear for the neighbour and anyone they choose to use.

Yes, it makes no sense, yes your neighbour is ridiculous but it's the law. Mostly it was for access to shared toilets originally.

I like the access code lock on the gate and changing the code regularly but sending her a new code each time. That way she isn’t blocked from using the easement but security is improved.

I’d also put a weight/spring close on it too so it can’t be left open (also for security and for the safety of your children and dog). It’s reasonable for security and doesn’t block her right of way if she is given the code. Maybe check with some legal advice from citizens advice first but seems a good solution?

Yes this is the same where we live. We all use the back door as the front doors go straight into the living room. If this is the case then I don't really think they're being unreasonable. But yes it's annoying if there's a lot of coming and going or if couriers don't shut the gate. Not sure what the answer is sorry.

I’d sit down and have a chat with her, explain that whilst you have no issue with her or her son using this access, and she has every right to do so, but the constant traffic of cleaners, dog walkers (and presumably the dog), amazon etc is causing you problems/stress and would she mind if she could direct others to her front door

Is there another photo ? There doesn't appear to be anything on that to show an access path from her house across your garden to the side of your house. On plans it would show the path as a different colour.
There might not be any such access across your land particularly since no-one else has went into your garden.
You can download the deeds from land registry. If those show a different plan or mention owners of 'neighbour numbered' house can use it for bins then I would move the path from her garden to yours to the top of your garden. Or I would lock both ends and open them for bin day.

These access paths are for bins and maintenance not for every tom dick and carry to wander through.

Your neighbour is taking the proverbial.

Terraced houses dont always have an access path across gardens. We've lived in 2 terraced houses. One had NO access across the garden to houses at the end.
All bins were kept at the front.
The other there was a path across our garden to the side pavement which was only for coal deliveries and maintenance ! (Was built in the 1920's. It was used for moving wheelie bin and both gates locked.

If be concerned that she might feel you were giving her that land and claim your garden only extends to your fence in future if you divide it off that thoroughly.

As far as I know apart from rights of land like fishing, or mineral mining I think most easements are for access. Any deviation to the route that the ndn has previously enjoyed cannot be altered except by agreement. It's a deviation to the norm. I hate rights of way, easements whatever you want to call them, but unfortunately what is morally right and what is legally right are two very different things... 😞

that depends on what the deeds say.

You have to apply to have the easement change. This is taken from Gemini so doesn’t take into account the specific details of the OP’s deeds or the neighbour’s use.

but do you all have to use easements?

It's an easement for neighbour not a right of way for everyone who visits. It's just for moving bins or occasional use. I'd definitely get the style of lock that only you and neighbours can use and not everyone else and also the type of door that closes automatically. She has a perfectly useable front door that I would assume is easier to get in and out of. She sounds really annoying and probably why the seller moved.

Will you be scared to deal with her if you get the deed and prove she is taking the piss? There is no sense in going through work to get the information if you won't confront her and try to come to a compromise. I agree it would be very intrusive.

OP, it sounds like your house is great, and you made a good decision. This situation with the path is a teething problem that you will figure out. People on here are expressing themselves harshly and it's not helpful. You and your kids need to feel settled.
The ideal result would be for no 45 to use their front door for everything except stuff that really can only go round the back.

You need to talk this through with someone there in your kitchen/garden, not grumpy people on the internet who don't know the reality.

These things are usually sorted out softly - invoking laws makes people think in an inhumane way, for some reason.
There are loads of those easements that have quietly been stopped up or moved back without aggro or legals. That said,
It might be possible and helpful to have a chat with your conveyancing solicitor, as it's literally their job to spot stuff like this and draw your attention to the full implications.
What is the reciprocal thing with no 45?

Right OK, but here we are dealing with an easement for access. And yes usually the area burdened is going to be marked on a plan as opposed to being specified as the first six feet or whatever, but there is still a defined area that has an identifiable border to it. If the easement was for the people that had the benefit of it to do anything they wanted on that land - have a barbecue, put up a deckchair and admire the view etc - then I can see why sticking a fence up might interfere with that right. But if the right is purely to pass over the land to get to another property, I can't see how putting a fence alongside the burdened land is going to interfere with that right.

I’m another one in a northern city and all our terraces are like this. Nobody uses the front door as they often open into the living room. Everyone knows you knock on the back- even the boxes are on the back door.

I thought usually it’s allowed to be used for bins but nothing else

def not sending people round that way.

use her front door

but a reason why I would never buy a terraced house unless possible in the middle so go through a neighbours garden but they can’t go in mine

@Shesellsseashellsx , the easement will be on the deeds and the deeds will almost certainly say that NDN can only use the marked path.

It probably affects NDN+1 and NDN+2 ... as well so you can't just move the path. All parties would need to agree to use the new one instead of the existing one, and it would affect the deeds of OP, NDN, NDN+1 etc.

as you have identified, it depends what the easement details are on the deeds. Some will be like my Father in Law's where the actual line of the easement is marked on the documents. Some will be less prescriptive and just state that access to x is allowed over neighbours land.

The wording of an easement is rarely as restrictive for the user as you are suggesting. Of course if such wording exists then by all means erecting a fence one inch over that prescribed area would be allowable. More often it'll be something alon the lines of "the area marked brown on the plan is for the use of the dominant tenement and their guests at all times for all purposes without let or hindrance" basically meaning for whatever they want, whenever they want and you cannot stop them. I was hoping for something definitive written down in the deeds there wasn't, but after the court case it is now worded much more clearly for the all future custodians of that property. A very expensive lesson was learnt!

It would be good to know the exact wording on the deeds and does it also apply to the other houses in the road? You could offer to build a dedicated path at the bottom of your garden and even fence it off but would she be amenable. Citizens Advice may be able to help or you coukd try mediation but she would have to be willing to take part.

Ok, so she has to have access because of the easement but that doesn’t have to be right at the front of the garden.
It may cost a bit, but how about moving the gates to the end of your garden and sectioning off a strip for them to walk through.
That way they still have access, but it’s a bit more inconvenient for them so they may decide the front door is easier.

Just seen the map, I assumed the neighbour was the other end of the terrace next to the alley.
I assume you’re in the north, I know a lot of houses were built and had access for coal deliveries, now in recent years for bins. They’re taking the piss 😡