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.

This would annoy me as well. My estate is open plan and I get annoyed when leaflet posters and the postman walk across my garden straight past my window. There is a lot to be said for old fashioned garden walls and gates 😊

Petty as it is, it's still one of those things that gets on your wick a bit. Me and my neighbour share a path so I don't have the right to be annoyed. But every time the ring goes off it gets on my tits and they're in and out constantly during the day.

That looks like a crap design for paths though.

Ok so in the picture you’ve posted, you’re the middle house and they are the house on the right, by the brick wall/fence? Is that right?

If so then yes I see what you mean. Is their path quite overgrown with bushes maybe so they are using yours rather than bother to cut theirs back? Or is their path blocked for some other reason (they leave their bins there or have an enormous car??) not that this makes it ok, just trying to fathom why they’d do this.

Is your path shared with the house on the left of the picture?

I think I agree with PP suggestion to get a massive plant pot and put it between your front door & theirs so they have to use their own path…

Do you get upset when the postman or a delivery driver walks past that bit?

I live in a similar style house and the bit between the car park in big spaces (in your picture the paved bit) is public land.

my electric car home charger just couldn’t be installed because of this.

double check your deeds and then talk to them.

I can't believe some posters are calling this petty!!!

If they have their own path, the same as yours, I would be proper pissed off about them using mine!

Put large plant troughs in the way. If they say anything, which they shouldn't, you just say you always bring the planters out at Spring every year.

I don't think it's obviously a footpath as others have said. It's a path for the owner of the house to get round the front to access the side and back of their own house. Let's face it, if house builders weren't so stingy and had used tarmac to cheaply fill in, there wouldn't be a noticeable path at all.
Its impolite at the least , of them to use that to get past your house. Yes I could put a note through their door or a conversation. If you don't want to be direct you could say that you keep getting alerts from your doorbell but you don't want to turn them off in case a delivery man comes etc, so please can they not walk so close to your house.
If I had a note like that through my door, or if my neighbour said that to me I'd find another route.

Letter feels very formal. I wouldn't do that. Either casually mention next time you see them, like hey just to let you know this part is not a public path. Or pop a planter so it's less convenient

I know! Thank you. Yes they have a path which is wide enough to fit their bins so I'm assuming the same width as ours.

Don't bake cookies or write a letter, those options are either fake friendly or passive aggressive.

Next time you see your neighbour (and it must be ALL the time seeing as you are annoyed by this) just say to them "can you walk down your path instead, you set off my motion capture recording doorbell everytime you walk past my front door. Thanks"

I am on the "life is too short" bench. It is really no a big deal. Especially if the design on the ground looks the same as the image which shows footpaths in front of the houses joining to a central one.

And having the path on your deeds does not prevent other people using it, in new build estates often it just means you are responsible for upkeep/deicing in winter/keeping clear.

Oh, what a time to be alive to be this het up about something so trivial. Your neighbours are going to hate you over this.

They should not be walking past your lounge window. I would possibly speak to them but be aware that if they are unreasonable people they will do it even more to annoy you. I think I would try to explain how disturbing I find it to see them so close to my window when I'm sat in my lounge. Then buy a path wide planter trough. There are identical houses on my estate, it's just a given "rule" that you don't walk directly in front of someone windows if you can avoid it.

From your tone, I think it highly unlikely you will address this non-issue diplomatically and are likely to fall out big time with your new neighbours. Surprised you haven't issued legal proceedings yet.

Where are they going to? Are they walking past your window , down your path and then round to get into their car? Either way it would annoy me and would drive my dog mad!

I think the design of the properties is at fault here. I think that if I viewed this house I’d consider that this would happen realistically. If this is the sort of thing that bothers you then you probably shouldn’t be living in a house like that. You should have bought something with more clearly defined boundaries and an actual pavement further away from your window.

The sound thick or ignorant

Just start walking down there path. Smile 😃

Absolutely it's an incredibly petty thing to get worked up about,this happens to me I live beside a corner house that has a path out of it but there is also a little patch of grass outside my house which is technically mine,the boys next door always walk across it and sure it can be annoying if really early & my doorbell notifications go but id never say anything as it's not a big deal

I'd speak to them and also plonk a massive planter there to make sure the message had got across.
Failing that, return the favour and walk down their path every time you leave the house.

I reckon those posters on the "life's too short, it's petty, get a life, live with it" side of things, have gardens, drives and fences between them and their neighbours.

FWIW it would wreck my head. Just the presumption by the neighbours that it's ok would set me off. But I'd say it to them, and have a thumping great planter ready if they are belligerent. The nerve of them. Do have a word and let them know they are trespassing or nicer words if you want to.

The voice of common sense

Wonder why is such a big deal.ghese days to speak to your neighbours.

Use plants as a barrier next to the door / you could ask them not to walk by your window as it disturbs you.

I don’t think it is petty at all - it feels really intrusive. We had something similar on a new build estate. The walkway wasn’t as close and it was still awful (affected next door too). We had to retrain people to use a slightly less convenient (for them) path. Lots of plant pots.

So yes - check your deeds to be 100% sure of your position. Get a huge planter to train up your wall. Knock on neighbours door to let them know what you’re doing so it won’t be a through-route for them, but you have checked it and it wasn’t anyway so really no change.

What will you do if it turns out that they actually can use the path?

Pop something (old boxes, bike) in front of your window and block yourself off. Start using their path and walk past their front door and window and wait for them to ask you to stop.

Is that what constitutes a front garden these days? Put a planter between you if it’s that much of an irritation.