Neighbours with access through our garden....

[Ishacoco]

We've only just moved and they're ghastly. Moaning about everything from where we park our cars, to what time our gates get closed, to when we draw our curtains - you get the idea.

Now, they have pedestrian access through our garden from the back door of theirs through ours, to the street. They use this to take their bins through, wheelbarrows, etc.

My question is - does having pedestrian access mean they're allowed to do this? Or is it literally supposed to be them walking through the garden? I'm only curious because they seem to be using it as a chance to be nosy and scowl at us if we're in the garden. It's a real pain!

I would be keeping a record of each and every complaint. Sorry op.

Sympathies! I believe they can take bins etc through. Perhaps you could ask them to knock or something on your gate when they need to come through? Did you buy the house or is it a rental? Where you aware of this right of way before you moved in?

If its the path to get from their house to the street then yes as pedestrian access is for all normal purposes so would include bins, wheelbarrow etc.

I had an end of terrace and I thought the main reason for the access is to get bins in and out. My neighbours rarely used it for anything else.

Is there anyway you could put a fence up (a bloody high one) so they have access but don't interfere with you too much?

My uncle's previous house had shared access, his neighbour was allowed to go down the drive and round the back to access the garden

It was always an annoyance for my uncle and after many years he sold the house. He now lives opposite!

You can fence the path off from your garden if that gives you more privacy, or plant shrubs as a hedge. That way they still have their access, but you can limit the interaction with them.

Perhaps you could ask them to knock or something on your gate when they need to come through?

The whole point of having a right of way is that you don’t need to ask permission to cross somebody else’s land.

It would be very unusual if they can’t do this op. Did you not know when you bought or rented the house? The only way round it is to fence off a path for them to use that gives you screening.

Damn. It's actually a property that we're renting with a view to buying. It was for sale and we love it, but not sure about the location so the owner agreed to a six month rental period (it wasn't selling at the price it was on for). Such a shame that the neighbours are being like this.

No, nothing was mentioned to us about the right of way and there's nothing in the tenancy agreement.

Definitely don’t buy it then!! I must admit if possible I would always veto properties that have a right of way as you never know what current or future neighbours will be like. At least now you’re not stuck in the property

Tell your landlord about the harassment and continue your search for a property. Obviously tell the neighbours to stop harassing you and staring through your windows.

Ask to see the right of way agreement now then!

This is what I’d suggest. Some bamboo in pots would be an effective fairly instant screen.

We live in a new build. They aren't necessarily terraces but are all stuck together. We have to pass several houses and there are so many small passage ways / gennels. But they are at the very bottom of the gardens. I know some terraces have you walk straight through the middle. Which is it?

Why are you tolerating this? Just tell the neighbours to fuck off (not necessarily in those precise words) as you'll do as you like in your own property. And that if they continue harassing you, you'll be contacting the police.

I'm sure my mother looked into this years ago as we had similar issues with neighbours.

She moved where the gate access was, away from our kitchen to the bottom of the garden.

Think the deeds stipulated that we needed to grant access for bins etc, but didn't specify where in the garden the access needed to be given iyswim.

Yes they are allowed barrows and bins. You can download the deeds of the house even if you don't own it to read about the right of way. Get both yours and theirs.

Our neighbour had a right of way over our garden and never used it. Luckily we bought it from him ( cost over a grand in solicitors fees!) and thank God we did. The neighbours who replaced him were absolutely awful to us. If they had right of way as well as everything else they did it would have finished me off. We ended up moving because of them.

Gov.uk is a good place to look for the rules on this type of thing, but do look on your deeds and theirs. When we bought it wasn't on our deeds but it was on the neighbours.

Woah! I'd be going right back to the letting agency/landlord and asking them about it. It absolutely SHOULD be mentioned. It's major, and would put a lot of people off a house.
M it should also be mentioned when selling the house. Wonder why it didn't sell?!

DON'T BUY IT!
That's probably one of the reasons it wasn't selling.
I had unpleasant neighbours who had a RoW through our garden to theirs.
Just don't do it. Your home is your sanctuary. Including your garden. Don't. It's not worth it. Just NO.

Ask to see the deeds, you can even purchase them from land registry.

First off, if you've been told nothing about it by owner/ agents then I'd be contacting them asking for clarification. Presumably this isn't just the neighbours trying to claim something that doesn't exist?

I'd want to see where it says about right of way in the deeds before doing anything else.

But the right of way is one thing - buying next to people like these us another. It's none of their business when you close your curtains or gates, or where you park, as long as you're not in their (marked) space or impeding access. They sound awful.

You can look up the deeds online to see what easements are on there. Right of access does normally allow for moving bins etc. The access is normally down the end of the plot so you could put some form of fencing across if it bothers you. Are they the only ones in the row with this right?

Download a copy of the deeds for your house and the neighbours house to see what the right if way is. Bear in mind that even if not in the deeds, they may have a right of way through prescription. They don't have the right to jangle about on the right of way to harass you though!