I need some advice.
I have recently moved into a council house which I have side access to the garden. This access is shared with the neighbour. Supposedly she owns the alley way, but I have right of access. I only want easy access from front the back so this is fine by me anyway.
During conversation with this lady when I first moved in she said she put a bolt on the gate as the previous tenants grandson moved in after he died. I guess to clear out the place. Supposedly he was dealing drugs or some story that justifies her reasoning to put this bolt on the gate. This bolt can only be unlocked from the inside. This is ok for her as she has a door that enters into the side alley. However, for me to access that side alley I have to keep walking around to unlock/lock it. It is highly inconvenient for me as when I want to bring the buggy/bike with trailer through this side alley I have to leave my son on the front garden to unlock the side gate. I approached the neighbour about me paying to change the lock to one that's more convenient (one that can be unlocked from the outside using a key) and she started telling me to go through the house with items instead. She was immediately on the attack and insulting me about being a council tenant. I have only just become a council tenant in this last year so was surprised at the small mindedness of the remarks. I have also noticed that there seems to be a bolt missing from my back gate which would have been used to lock it. This lock has been removed and put on the side access by this neighbour in the interim between the last tenant moving out and me moving in. I can tell its from the back gate as there are paint marks on the lock that are blue like that colour of my back gate. It also looks to fit perfectly in the missing gap. I did mention this to her and then the whole story changed as to when the bolt was put on there and supposedly the last tenant put it there. I called her out and she just shut up as she knew she was caught out in her lies.
As a side note, she also stores a lot of stuff down there from bowls overflowing with cigarette butt's, ladders, tiles. She even has a clothes hanging line which obviously stops access when in use.
I have approached the council and so far they haven't been helpful. The council have proved to be useless since being a council tenant.
I need some advice or what others would do in my situation.