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

Well op should have thought of that before buying a property with a path running through it.

Unfortunately you bought a house where someone else has a right of access running through the garden. They are free to use that unless you are able to negotiate (probably at considerable cost) removing their rights

That's the term used when a right is removed. If she has a right to walk where she is walking then you would actually want to extinguish that right and potentially regrant another allowing a different route. You can only do this with her agreement though.

Fudgefudy - agree with you on this, apart from the separating the piece of land part, seemingly you cannot do that without complicated plans that have to be agreed with the neighbour(s) that have the right, and agreement with someone who wishes to stubbornly exercise their right (rightly or wrongly) seems unlikely. What I did was to install a very annoying DIY shop style "bing bong! " Onto the gate so that it sounded everytiem the neighbour used it. That way it acted as a warning to keep dogs indoors so they weren't freely roaming around on the easement.

OP can you please post more of the deeds? It doesn’t tell us much. If it’s non specific and it’s just access then rather than having the gate by your kitchen can you put a gate at the back of the garden and through that wall/boundary and fence off the end? I would put that in legally as a safeguarding mitigation. You can’t have all and sundry walking through a garden with DC in. I reckon the planning office would take that seriously.

Indeed. If the neighbour's property has an easement that allows them access over the OP's property, then they have an easement that allows them access over the OP's property. The neighbour's rights do not get extinguished because the OP buys a dog, or an expensive bike, or has kids, or is just a bit fed up. Those rights were there before the OP bought the place and it is down to the OP to work round them.

If the OP could quote from the actual Land Registry entry for her property so we can see what the neighbour's rights actually are then we might be able to get somewhere, but it seems highly likely that the most OP can do is 1. separate the bit of land that the neighbour has access over from the rest of her garden with some sort of barrier, and 2. install spring-loaded gates.

@Deepblueokay you are getting a lot of opinions on here from people who clearly don't understand the law at all, so please be very wary of following their advice

Nonsense. There should t be a lock there as it's a shared access

yes, just a couple of years ago I helped (at work) deal with a property owner who thought they could put a lock on a shared access.

Thankfully they backed down (having paid for legal advice) before we took them to court

If she has been living there for decades and using it that way then in addition to any rights in the deeds she will also have acquired prescriptive rights to continue to use it in that way

They can use it for any purpose. The easement is for the property so deliveries etc can use it. As long as noone loiters on it they could use it all day every day if they wanted.

They certainly didn't contribute when the lock was broken. So this is a direct breaking of that part of the agreement.

You need to post the actual wording from your title documents OP, not just the summary from the report.

I know people are saying it's a safety issue for your dogs and children, unfortunately the burden of responsibility is on you to keep yours (and others') dogs and children safe and allow full and unfettered access at all time and for all purposes across the easement at any time. It's abitter pill to swallow but it needs swallowing or you put the for sale board up ..

please don't have happen to you what happened to me and end up in 100k of debt over it!

What is (a)?

Which bit is marked green?

Has your neighbour been contributing to maintenance and repair?

What does your solicitor say?

@Laurmolonlabe , so I would get the council involved -go to environmental health and explain the problem, they may refer you to building control as well.
The council won't deal with it, it's not in their remit.

@Kalanthe , the conveyancer will have flagged it up.

Lots of sensible advice here re deeds and legal advice. I just wanted to add the extra layer of safeguarding concerns if the neighbours allowing others to use that entrance so frequently in a garden which your four children should be able to use safely. Also as a dog owner, it's my responsibility to keep my dog under control and that's really hard if you're having to rely on all these strangers properly shutting a gate behind them.

So it looks like you need to check her deeds to see where the green access route is.

This would drive me insane too OP.

Don't sacrifice any land!!!

Oh gosh I hope you can sort it! What a joke.

Let's stop asking the OP why she bought - she has explained her situation.

OP - See a solicitor asap and find out the legal position.

If they DO have right of way, accept it and find out how you can accommodate it at minimum inconvenience to you and minimum opportunity to take the piss for them.

From your diagram, you might be able to sacrifice a slice right at the end of your garden, fence it off as a path and let it lead direct to her fence. She could put a gate in.

If they don't, get your solicitor to let them know and get your fences, gates and locks sorted.

Either way, they need to be told they can't have deliveries coming through your garden, that's what their front door is for.

You need informed legal advice now you're settled in because you don't want any more hassle.

I personally would have avoided any easements such as this.

You need legal advice.