to find this really fucking annoying even though it doesn't really affect me much

[walkway8]

I live in a detached house with a walkway between myself and the neighbours to access both our gardens at the back (diagram attached).

The neighbour has a front garden whereas I have a driveway. They have a gate that opens to the side of my house to allow them access to the walkway to get to their back garden. The walkway is shared land according to the deeds but stops at the top of my driveway (basically my driveway isn't shared but the walkway is).

Whenever my neighbour is doing anything in their garden, bringing this in / out of the garden/ taking things from the garden to their car on the road or whatever, they will go up and down my driveway instead of going through their gate and then down their garden.

It really annoys me. I don't really know why but AIBU to think this is just an odd thing to do?

My living room window looks onto my driveway and some days they will be working in the garden and making multiple trips up and down my drive and I feel awkward and like I need to close my blinds.

I don't even have a bad relationship with them, not friends or close but fine neighbours and we say hello how are you etc when we see them.

But I just find the whole thing really weird. I would never dream of strolling up and down their garden path repeatedly.

We also have cars on the drive so when they are bringing things in and out it worries me they will get scratched.

Aibu to find this annoying and tbh a bit rude?

Is part of your drive shared or does the boundary line have an L shape? Have you got your deeds?

@walkway8 Where is their front gate OP??

They probably have a right of way over your drive to access the shared walkway.

Is there a chance that your neighbours don't realise that they are going across your land. They may have assumed that the shared walkway goes all the way to the street. May be worth asking them whether they know where the boundary is as a first step?

i can i assume that there is a path that runs between your drive and their garden? there is very clearly access from the front of your houses to the back..

i think your arguement is petty and childish...

looking at the picture you ahve drawn, if there is no path, and there is no right of way from their garden at the back to the front then there is absolutely no reason for them to have a gate there in the first place so im guessing they do have. right of way

Why? They have access via their own front garden and if they did have a right of way over the drive it would be marked on the deeds, which it isn't...

Gordon Bennett, why are people refusing to understand the pictures and explanations?! THEY.DO.NOT.HAVE.ACCESS.ACROSS.OP'S.DRIVE!!!!!!Op i think this thread has enraged me more than your neighbours (thats a lie, they enrage me too!!!) 🤬

Why is it every time I edit it deletes letters I didn't ?!

Can you put a gate at the house end of your drive, at right angles to their drive. Can always say you want to "Improve security to the back garden and they'll need to use their garden to access the walkway not your drive". Then you won't lose too much of your drive.

Cancel the cheque, OP.

I think your plan is perfect.

To get to the shared walkway do they not need to cross part of your driveway anyway? Or does the shared walkway stretch all the way to the road?

or are they going back and forth vertically? Sorry I don’t understand what they are doing?

Look back at the OP's posts - her diagrams really couldn't make this any clearer.

This would really annoy me. Guess they did it before you moved in so think it is ok!

Not really there is not cut off to the walkway…

I think all three were pretty close before our lady put her house on the market.

We get along fairly well otherwise so I don't wanna rock the boat but sometimes I want to go out and tell them to do one.

Definitely get a gate or put something in the way like a heavy potted plant.

It's people who haven't read the full thread, an absolute must to understand the situation!

Before putting gates up, how about a friendly conversation where you show them the deeds and say something to the effect that you're sure they didn't realise that your driveway wasn't shared, but now that they know pretty please could they stop using it.

Our house is the exact same layout as yours. I think it would annoy me to be fair even though they’re not really doing any harm. We have only lived here 3 weeks but so far I’ve not even seen our neighbours in the shared walkway. I would just let it go though to keep the peace unless they were doing any work that left mess on your drive/

I actually looked at the diagram and thought eee god I hope this isn’t about me🤣🤣

Wait until they bring something big through your drive and tell them they've damaged your car .

Can you not just open your window next time they're doing it and shout "Hi neighbour, are you enjoying the nice weather? Would you mind not using my drive, I'm worried the cars will get scratched - thanks very much!" Maybe they think for some reason they have right of access over your drive? If you put a gate in there you'll be forever annoyed at having to park your car further over to avoid the sticking out bit.

YANBU (and for what it's worth it was completely clear from first post plus diagram!).

What I'd do is:

(1) Make sure that you are 100% right. I know you've checked your own deeds. If you haven't already pay the minimal cost and download your neighbours' deeds as well. Before you start anything (including planters/gates), make sure that there isn't a mess with a difference between your and their deeds. Unlikely but it's something like £3 to get a copy and check!
(2) If you haven't already speak to them. They may not know. If you have to, make some excuse (a dog you can claim keeps barking would be useful here) or just be open and say that you'd prefer they didn't.
(3) If that doesn't work (either they refuse to stop or they stop for a bit and start again), planters as an immediate end cheapish option (or wheelie bins!) and then a gate.

Good luck!

@Grammarnut I'm perfectly aware that my neighbours parking outside my house is legal. I'm also perfectly aware that I don't own the space outside my house.
I have a tight turn to get into my driveway so it's an additional inconvenience for me to pull right across the road to get in when they're outside my house.
Will I say anything to them? No
Does it piss me off? Yes
As I said in my post, I'm aware that I'm an outlier on MN for this view.
Lots of things that I'm not in the right about, also piss me off.

If I’ve understood correctly you walking through their garden would be completely different; you would be going out of your way to walk on their patch, through a gate! Whereas they are getting to their back garden the most logical way, without having to open and close two gates on the way! It reminds me of people who walk through other people’s ’patches’ on the beach to avoid going the long way round!
i guess they are probably doing it in an automatic and unthinking way using the path that becomes theirs when it reaches the side of their house.
You are within your rights to establish your boundaries in a clear way, however I think it will put their nose out of joint and I would guess you will notice them being more boundaried around other things - maybe even things that you haven’t noticed they are chilled about until now! So proceed with caution

Why not just politely tell them you're worried about your cars and would they mind using their own garden?