Changing access point terraced housing, i'e gate from one area to another further down. Is its a big deal?

[PaperTyger]

We are the house that needs access.
Our access was accidentally stopped when previous owner's put a structure up.
New owners of ten plus years have been easy going and happy to have it put back but we had also put up a structure.
Now I'm getting work done will it make any difference to put a gate back in but further down?
Would we need to change the deeds?
Is it a big deal.

Maybe a diagram would help

It's a long garden. Once the access gate was about two meters from the house, I'd like to move it further down into three garden.

Sorry but you are really not being clear!

Where was the access originally? I agree a diagram would help.

If you want to move a garden gate from one place in a fence/wall to another part of the same fence/wall, and both points join to the same public right of way e.g. pavement, then it shoudl be OK but check with the council first.

Are you just talking pedestrian access, rather than a dropped kerb onto the road?

How can access be accidentally stopped? Is your neighbour blind?

You need a diagram. How do terraced properties have access gates at all? The houses all abut each other. Do you mean in the back garden? There used to be gates, say, off a back alley?

So you're now able to access your back garden, since the new owners (of 10 years?) have moved the obstruction?

How will you moving the gate affect them? Will you be walking over their shrubs? Will it stop them being able to put a greenhouse where they want?

I had a house like this with same situation. I think (tho never asked a lawyer) that.

• is fine to block one access and create another if both neighbours agree to this


• if the blocked access isn’t used for a certain time period (maybr 14 years?) the right to use it is extinguished, which could potentially cause a problem when you sell. To help with this, try asking neighbour to sign a dated letter saying they acknowledge that you have the right to access their lands as per the deeds and that their structure on your access is by your permission (“not as of right”) which may be revoked at any time. That should hopefully stop the access right being extinguished.


• If you create a new access that the landowner says you have a right to then after a certain amount of years it becomes a legal right but this is v complicated and problematic.

Realistically, this may bother lawyers when you sell, but if you make the buyer aware of the situation when they view I doubt it will affect the purchase price.

If you want to do it properly and avoid confusion when you sell then get a lawyer involved to amend the deeds. Did I bother? I didn’t, and it caused zero problems on resale - but in our case the neighbour’s structure was only a fence and trees.

Some have a back alley. Others were built in terraces of 4-6 houses and the middle houses have a right of way over the neighbour’s garden (who is semi-detached) to reach the road. Sounds like that’s what happened here. It’s common today for the neighbours on the edge to not like people walking across their back garden and put up structures to try to block it. It was all less of a big deal when the gardens had no fences and were victorian families who were happy for kids to run around in a pack across all the gardens while one parent watched the whole area from one window. Now kids are at school all day and everyone puts up fences it gets more tricky.

Sorry

It's access Which would have gone across their patio at the back , through their back gate and into a side alley Which then goes to pavement/road.

@Neverreturntoathread wow that's really helpful thank you

When it originally happened it wasn't obvious that our gate access had been blocked and to be fair it's used a few times every couple of years.
It's not needed daily or regularly.
The people who did it said it was for their child then promptly sold a few months later.

I don't know how to upload a diagram but I Will try

Are the new neighbours aware and happy that you will be walking through their garden rather than across their patio?

Hat in a Field,I'm going too ask them.
I say new,they have been there a long time now and they know we hardly use the access.
I just thought before o got that Ball rolling I would see what's going on

Personally I think gardennis less intrusive than patio.

They might not agree though. I think I’d rather people walked on a hard patio than through my grass/flower beds.

Yes if course , I just thought before I asked if there's we're any major issues with it.

You need to think about what that access could be used for in the the future. If you sold, would new owners need access for wheelie bins, wheelbarrows, deliveries etc, heavy, awkward items that access via a patio, not lawn/flower beds, would be easier, practical and less damaging.
Also think about potential liabilities, muddy grass being more hazardous to cross than a flat, cared for patio - and better lit at night.

Alphabet that's very true.
I think because both sides have stairs etc I didn't myself see any detrimental effect of having it lower down. That's how people have been informally accessing our garden over low fences.
We now want to raise all the heights.

Ah ! If you are all thinking of altering fences etc- perhaps this is the time to have an I formal meeting and discuss access points that are in the various deeds, and perhaps make them all uniform, wether across the top, moddle or bottom of the gardens? On my deeds it places exactly where our access point is and where it crosses over the neighbours garden. If you are all changing this, it might well pay to get all the deeds changed at the same time and share the costs??? (and do the same with fencing?)