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

Agree with this. I’ve lived in terraces in different cities. Some this sort of arrangement is common, other cities nearly all have alley ways in the back,

another city I can think of the terraced houses have a passageway way down the middle between the terraces on the ground floor to the yards and then a flying freehold on the first floor. Front doors being mid passage on the side.

OP where is the path and the gates? At the end of your garden or right next to the houses?
We used to have one along the very end, which was no problem but i've seen lots in the middle too.

@Deepblueokay , there will be a plan (picture) showing the area marked in green.

Sounds like she should have contributed towards the gate and now has lsot her access!

I thought exactly the same! I don’t understand why it wasn’t just a case of there is no back or side access!
Maybe it’s an area dependent type thing.

This has made me realise how I always need to get the deeds to neighbours houses too!

Why would anyone make this their main entrance? It makes no sense. Isn't it far easier just to step out onto the street??!!

Yes you can, as long as you provide the neighbours with a key. They would soon get bored of having to unlock it and relock it so many times a day. Apart from that, why shouldnt the OP secure her garden. The neighbour has a right of way, but they don't own her property. She has a right to secure it for her pets and children.

We are mid terrace and have a right of way through our (left hand) neighbour's garden, as does our right hand neighbour through both gardens. DH is currently clearing the shed and would rather bring a wheelbarrow through the fucking house than go through next door's garden.

I have to say a lot of the country's terraced streets look quite shit with wheelie bins in view. Our house included.

What you've posted shows there are no restrictions on usage of the easement.

Please don't listen to people telling you to lock the gate, put a notice up restricting access etc. Post on the Garden Law forum where people know what they're talking about.

My final rental property had this, and my neighbour used it as her primary entrance with all the issues you mentioned OP. And it's precisely why when I loved out and bought my own place it was one of my non-negotiables.

This i have no advice other than to move.

Yes exactly this, plenty of people just need to access the garden through the house.

They may well no longer have a front entrance. My friend extended her living room into the front hallway and used her garden entrance as her main entrance.

It may well depend on age of house, if Victorian it is probably to access back door and most people would have used back door 99%of the time as straight into kitchen not front parlour, as often dirty from work. The coal would have been brought round the back etc and maybe a bike. The front door would have not been used often, just formal occasions good friends and family would have come round the back so it is likely in this case that the neighbour can go back and forth several times a day. However if built after 1960 it is more likely to be accessible for bins, gardening & building materials that can't realistically be taken through front door. The only way to know is to check deeds and title for exact easement clause. If someone has used it for 20 years without interference they will probably have now got prescriptive rights

I felt annoyed on your behalf reading this!
I'm in an end terrace too with the same easement. Luckily my neighbours are lovely. We have a young child and we put a padlock on the gate for safety reasons and gave our neighbours a key. We checked it all out, and it's entirely legal for us to do this. Our neighbours have no problem with it, it sounds like yours might though. However, you do have the right to do it.

Eek I would really not like this either. For bins once a week it’s reasonable but any more, it’s so intrusive especially over summer!! Why on earth can’t they use their front door instead of intruding on your space. So rude.

Same as above for someone I know, it’s specific to taking the bins out only you need to check this could make a massive difference

It sounds like they should have contributed to the mending of the broken gate

Then you need to ask a solicitor about your rights. But do check your neighbour's deeds, their access might be marked on there. We have a right of access which is marked on our deeds but not on the deeds of the land we can cross

In Terry Pratchett front doors are only used three times in a womans life and she is carried each time. Quite common in my Grandmothers day, but @Deepblueokay 's neighbour is going to be much younger than her, probably closer to my age (53) than my Grandmothers (106 if she was alive)!

Can you not put a sign in the gate saying access only for bins and not for deliveries etc?

I’ve rented places with a small courtyard at the back where you can only access the back door through the house, it’s hardly unusual. And thinking about all my friends in London terraced houses with small gardens, not one of them has a garden gate.
Is your point that you have to bring the bins through the house if you don’t have space to store them out the front? Because lots of people don’t have an external way of getting to the back door.

This is very common near me, and it's nearly always limited access such as for bins etc. Your solicitor should have discussed what was allowed with you.

Get a self closing spring on the gate.

Chase, you put that so much more politely than I was going to. 😊