Neighbours walking past our front door to leave the house

[Bluesea14]

our new neighbours keep walking past our front door and squeezing past our cars when they go out. We have checked our deeds and title and this is part of our property, not a public footpath. We would never dream of walking past their house when we go out so we can't understand why they think it's acceptable to do it. They recently had furniture delivered and this was also carried down the path past our front door instead of going in between their cars.
I have attached a image which is similar to the layout of our house and the blue line is where they keep walking. Any advice on how to deal with this please? We haven't properly met them yet so we don't want to come across confrontational but we also want to make it clear that we don't want people regularly walking on our property and setting our ring doorbell off.

you do if your a postie etc

unless theres a sign saying homeowner only then in theory you can walk across any of the paths thats there

OP, have you spoken to the neighbours?

What did they say? 👀

Nope. Permission for access is implied. They’re posties.

This. 100%

In the OP. We have checked our deeds and title and this is part of our property, not a public footpath. She also updated as to the details shown in the deeds to say just to clarify the deeds show the space is ours and not our neighbours. They have a path to the left the same as we do.

But says nothing about right of ways

My right of way through neighbours garden is just for my property. It's not a public fpotpath

No you can’t. It’s trespass. According to UK law what the neighbour is doing, is trespass. Usually it’s a civil matter, but if it becomes harassment it can be reported to the police as a criminal matter. I’d say constantly walking past your neighbours’ window because you insist on using a path on their property instead of your own, could be considered harassment, but first OP needs to put on her big girl pants and ask them to stop. If they don’t, then she may have a case.

fair points, but then strictly speaking they could just cut across the car park bit on their side and still have similar effect

If there was any easement or right of way across OP’s property it would have been flagged up during conveyancing and would be on the documentation. An easement of this type can affect the resale value and she would have been made aware of it.

Presumably they wouldn’t pass so close to the window if they did that. For me that would be the main issue - having people flit right past my living room window whenever they felt like it would irritate the hell out of me.

I will have to ask my neighbours what it says on their deeds ( I'm not afraid or unsociable enough not to talk to mine lol)

Re: trespass. Not relevant if OP is in Scotland.

Why would they have a right of way when THEY’VE GOT THEIR OWN PATH

Looking straight at your picture do your neighbours to the left also share your path?

I do find it a bit odd though, do they always approach their property from the left hand side, is it a cul-de-sac meaning they never come in from the right thus using their own path?

Is this a true likeness if so their side gate should be some kind of give away to them that their path is to the right of their property looking from the road and goes straight down.

I can only think the neighbours feel it's a shared access to a few properties in the block/row and don't realise they don't have a right of way to use it.

This. Your solicitor should check this. If they have no separate path to their front door, they may well have tight of access.

Where's the pavement? I can only see the path in front of your house, and the parking spaces. If thats all thats been built and there's no other pavement I think most people would assume its the pavement. If you wanted more privacy you'd have been better off buying a house set back from the pavement or with a front garden.

New build estates sometimes do this (put a section of the pavement on the deeds to each property) because the local council has refuse to adopt the roads and the developer doesn't want to be left responsible for maintaining the pavements. Does your neighbour have right of way over it?

I can access my own flat from my drive/ pathway and garden through my back door and still have bloody right of way so no need to shout at me

Op before you go starting a grumble with your neighbours:

• is their path, circled in green, the same width as the central one (between yours and the neighbours to the other side)
• even if you own the land, check if they've got right of way/right of access over that path. Perfectly possible and if so, literally nothing you can do to stop them.
• are there any other communal amenities accessed via that central path between you & your other neighbours parking space?

They will scratch your car!!! If they have a belt or a bag then squeezing past your car then it easily happens

Because it's someone else's path on someone else's property. Do you let everybody walk all over your garden?

Do you let everybody walk all over your garden?

Yes.
But I live in Stately Home.

im talking about a concrete path thats designed for people to walk on, and theres no signs to say who can or cannot use the path

This an amazing thread. Why can’t people see that each house has it’s own path so there is no need for the neighbour’s to use OP’s path? 🤷‍♂️

The 'sign' is in the OP's deeds- do you understand what they are?