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

I wish it was ok, I can't see a problem with it but people who have the right to use on foot with or without workmen at all times and for all purposes are not likely to accept this. The op could try this but it might depend on how deep everypnes pockets are in my experience!

My friends house was like this , long row of terraced houses, jennel through middle, front door opening onto living room so no-one used it.
I always thought it was off walking past someone's kitchen window to get to the back door, but I suppose when they were built life was more structured,everyone went to work at the same time, came home at the same time and generally only really had visitors at weekends, because no one had cars,
FF to 2026, life is very different,WFH, shift work,easy mobility,and of course online shopping,makes a set up like yours bloody annoying.

If I have anything else other than bins, I try to warn / ask, for example the window cleaner once every 6 weeks, because I know they have dogs.

the neighbours do - very kindly bring my bin back round after the bin collection.

Agree. Mine is just for bins….

The easement probably applies to other properties in the block. It will be in the wording on the deeds.
You can't just move it, you'd need agreement from all affected parties.

The NDN will almost certainly have an easement across her property, and it will be a continuation of the one across OP's.

(If OP can prove that NDN is not using the actual easement, she might have a stronger case. )

There is no such thing as your right to a secure home and garden I wouldn’t have thought OP. You have a legal obligation to comply with the easement for the property you bought.

Unless you’re going to take proper legal advice you’re not going to know what can be done in this situation because it’s really specific to the property you purchased. The neighbour sounds like an irritating old bat quite frankly, but it could be dangerous to start telling her not to do something without having fully checked your legal position first. I do really feel for you - I can’t help but think your solicitors should have pointed out that you needed to be satisfied with the fact that people could come and go through your property. It IS intrusive - it’s why so many of us have said on this thread we didn’t proceed with purchasing such a property. You’re not unreasonable, it’s just unfortunate this wasn’t made clear to you before so that you could make an informed decision about whether you did want to buy the house.

We bought our house some time ago OP but the deeds were held by the mortgage company until we'd paid it off and then they sent them to us recorded delivery. It was a huge file all about the land as it was previously an orchard attached to a sawmill before it was sold and built on. We then thought shit we need to keep these safe so took them to a solicitor to store for us.

Exactly

And it's not just about what the deeds say

If this lady has been using it more extensively than the deeds allowed for 20 years then she has acquired a prescriptive easement for the more extensive use.

People can be annoyed and think it rotten for op this has been settled law for a very long time

Landowners can run a fence alonside where a footpath runs as marked on the map, but have to get permission to relocate the footpath eg from diagonally across the field to along 2 sides. Again it depends what the easement says. If there is a marked route, as my FIL had across his pub garden and carpark, then the user of the easement has to stick to the path. To be clear it was marked on the deeds and not on the land and it was a bit of a joke between himself and the next door home owner/easement user. It all depends on the terms of the easement.

Again, op can't do this without the other persons agreement.

Could you re route the path to the back of the garden? If it just says access, then I's be moving the path to the rear of garden for safety reasons.
She cannot complain about the distance, because if it was an issue she would use her FRONT FOOKING DOOR.

I’m in the south, it’s quite common where I am, especially in Victorian terraces. When looking for my first home, I saw two Victorian terraces I liked but didn’t proceed as they had this access issue. I was told it was just for bins, bikes etc but I didn’t want to take that risk. These weren’t even back to back terraces, so it was a little odd. And the access was right by the back of the house, rather than at the end of the garden which wouldn’t be quite so bad. I imagine over 100 years ago people weren’t such crappy and entitled neighbours and this wasn’t such an issue.

Easy to say, but 3 out of 4 houses i viewed in the village i live had rights of way easements.

Oh well we'll have to agree to disagree then, but I still think we must be misunderstanding each other. What I'm suggesting is akin to farmers running a fence along the side(s) of footpaths that run through fields - that happens all the time without any legal shenanigans. The OP would just be putting a fence up on her land that wasn't the subject of any easement, which must be OK.

There is a real difference between someone using the right of way to take their bins out and someone sending literally the whole world through your garden.

But this is the problem - depending on the terms of the easement there may well not be a difference. If the easement grants a general right of access for the neighbouring property over the OP's land then it can be used by anybody that needs access to the neighbouring property. The fact that there are other means of accessing the property is irrelevant, as is the fact that other people with similar set ups may only use it on bin day.

Hopefully the easement does say that only the current occupiers can use it, and only for certain purposes, but a) that would be quite unusual, and b) it still wouldn't the OP could just stick a lock on it as so many are suggesting.

I appreciate that this is not what you want to hear OP but you are not well served by people telling you what you want to hear if it is wrong.

There would be a problem with that legally. It would be called a deed of variation to amend the existing easement. Even if you believe that they can use it as they were using it is not acceptable in law unless agreed with a solicitor by both parties. I made all of these arguments myself when I was in the ops exact position with my end terrace house. It's an f ing minefield

But if the neighbour has been doing this for decades (as implied by earlier posts) then, whether op likes it or not, the neighbour almost certainly has acquired the right it to continue using it in this way

Well I didn't know any of that

But it would be unkind for people to mislead you about your legal position - you could waste a lot of money that way. And /or end up with a neighbour dispute that makes it harder to sell the property

Just ignore the unhelpful comments. There is a real difference between someone using the right of way to take their bins out and someone sending literally the whole world through your garden.

I’m sorry you had to put up with such vile behaviour from your ex. If you ever want to, you could report him and he would hopefully be convicted for his abuse.

I have been in your situation and it ended very very badly so I do feel your pain. It's incredibly frustrating for you, but unfortunately she has a right. Would it be worth coming to an amicable agreement? Have you tried talking to her about the usage? Does she seem like the type of person who has plenty of cash to throw at the problem?

Someone in our family was able to get a right kf way moved so they could fence it off. It wasn't easy and not cheap either!

Not sure I follow. I'm presuming that the bit of the OP's land that the easement affects is a relatively thin strip immediately adjacent to her house. What I meant was put a fence (or whatever), running right on the edge of the strip, i.e. just on OP's unburdened part of the garden, parallel to her back wall. Fence off the bit that isn't affected by the easement basically. There can't be a problem with that (legally at least).

Can you put a fence / hedge across your garden so their “walkway” doesn’t go through that area? That way you gain some privacy and can fence the kids / dog in. And come to view the walkway as just that?

I never said you were, I was responding to the people saying you'd obviously be OK putting a lock on the gate because security. Unfortunately your neighbours do have a right to access their property via yours and that means you can't just do whatever you want. Like it or not that's the legal situation irrespective of it turning out that your house isn't really suitable for you. If you want a house that doesn't have this problem you really will have to move, or wait for them to move and hope the next lot use their front door.