AIBU to object to neighbour using my garden as their main access?

[Deepblueokay]

Fully expecting to be told this is my own fault for not looking into it properly but need a vent all the same!

A year ago I moved into an end of terrace house. There is the usual easement arrangement with the adjoining neighbour that they can get access to their back garden via my back garden. I know that is pretty standard and I was obviously aware of it when I purchased. Since moving in however it's become clear that they use it as their primary entrance. They never use their front door. They have a sign on the front door telling post man/ couriers etc to go round the back. Again, wouldn't necessarily be a big issue except that there seems to CONSTANTLY be someone walking through! It's an older lady living there with her grandson. He is late teens/ early 20s maybe and in and out like a yo-yo, no exaggeration. Ditto her boyfriend, her dog walker, her cleaner, her food shop, couriers (she gets at least two packages a day!) .... The latter particularly pisses me off because they often don't close my gate behind them. I have an OAP dog and 4 children, the youngest of whom is 4. It'd take literal seconds to slip out of the garden without anyone noticing 😠 And frankly, now that its summer time it just feels quite intrusive. Strangers walking in and out while my children are playing. I stupidly feel awkward sitting outside to read a book even though it's my fucking garden!

Is it even a legal thing to say that they are over using their access?!

Should also add that I would probably mind all this less except that at the end of last year the handle of my gate broke. It was the week before Christmas and I didn't have time or money to fix it and it wasn't particularly a priority for me, but I told the neighbour I would sort it after Christmas, quite reasonably I thought. (I have a side door so actually rarely use the gate). Neighbour told me I had to fix it because it is "YOUR gate" and "a public right of way" (it isn't 🤣).Then proceeded to tell all the other neighbours that I was "refusing" to fix it because I didn't use it and that she "couldn't even get her food delivered" and would "rather die than use the front door"... After a week of hassle and harassment I ended up getting a friend's husband to fix it for free and neighbour has since apologised but... I don't know, it just left a sour taste.

Is there anything I can do? Do I just have to wait for her to move/die?? 🙈

It's an easement for neighbour not a right of way for everyone who visits. It's just for moving bins or occasional use. I'd definitely get the style of lock that only you and neighbours can use and not everyone else and also the type of door that closes automatically. She has a perfectly useable front door that I would assume is easier to get in and out of. She sounds really annoying and probably why the seller moved.

but do you all have to use easements?

You have to apply to have the easement change. This is taken from Gemini so doesn’t take into account the specific details of the OP’s deeds or the neighbour’s use.

that depends on what the deeds say.

As far as I know apart from rights of land like fishing, or mineral mining I think most easements are for access. Any deviation to the route that the ndn has previously enjoyed cannot be altered except by agreement. It's a deviation to the norm. I hate rights of way, easements whatever you want to call them, but unfortunately what is morally right and what is legally right are two very different things... 😞

If be concerned that she might feel you were giving her that land and claim your garden only extends to your fence in future if you divide it off that thoroughly.

Is there another photo ? There doesn't appear to be anything on that to show an access path from her house across your garden to the side of your house. On plans it would show the path as a different colour.
There might not be any such access across your land particularly since no-one else has went into your garden.
You can download the deeds from land registry. If those show a different plan or mention owners of 'neighbour numbered' house can use it for bins then I would move the path from her garden to yours to the top of your garden. Or I would lock both ends and open them for bin day.

These access paths are for bins and maintenance not for every tom dick and carry to wander through.

Your neighbour is taking the proverbial.

Terraced houses dont always have an access path across gardens. We've lived in 2 terraced houses. One had NO access across the garden to houses at the end.
All bins were kept at the front.
The other there was a path across our garden to the side pavement which was only for coal deliveries and maintenance ! (Was built in the 1920's. It was used for moving wheelie bin and both gates locked.

I’d sit down and have a chat with her, explain that whilst you have no issue with her or her son using this access, and she has every right to do so, but the constant traffic of cleaners, dog walkers (and presumably the dog), amazon etc is causing you problems/stress and would she mind if she could direct others to her front door

Yes this is the same where we live. We all use the back door as the front doors go straight into the living room. If this is the case then I don't really think they're being unreasonable. But yes it's annoying if there's a lot of coming and going or if couriers don't shut the gate. Not sure what the answer is sorry.

I like the access code lock on the gate and changing the code regularly but sending her a new code each time. That way she isn’t blocked from using the easement but security is improved.

I’d also put a weight/spring close on it too so it can’t be left open (also for security and for the safety of your children and dog). It’s reasonable for security and doesn’t block her right of way if she is given the code. Maybe check with some legal advice from citizens advice first but seems a good solution?

Please post your query on the Garden Law forum. You are getting some terrible advice here, people are just egging you in which is what you want to hear but it's incorrect. A lot of the comments you've had are just mad and if you actioned them you'd find yourself in court if your neighbour is litigious.

You can't restrict access or say how much the access can be used
The easement is for the property not an individual who lives there
You need your neighbours deeds as well because if it's on one set of deeds it applies to both house. Get the deeds from Land Registry website.
You must maintain the access and not block it
You CAN fence off the route as long as the route as defined in the deeds is clear for the neighbour and anyone they choose to use.

Yes, it makes no sense, yes your neighbour is ridiculous but it's the law. Mostly it was for access to shared toilets originally.

I had this exact scenario and I ended up moving. We were both in council houses and I had to give mine up because the council said they could use the back door and any visitors could also use it. My garden became like a drug den with people turning up at all hours, including the middle of the night. It made me ill from misery and anxiety. They were a horrendous bunch of antisocial layabouts. Drugs, arguing, violence.

They're CFS. Wtf.

The rear is not their main entrance, access via yours is not meant to be used as the main entrance. I'd ask them why they don't use the front. Suss out of there's an issue. Try to talk it through with them - dogs and children, gate being left open etc. Then hit them with the fact it's an easement not a right to use as tgeur main way in and out.

It could get nasty quickly, so try to get to know them and get them on side.

Good luck

The change would already exist. you just apply if you want it added to your land registry title.

Please stop advising on things you dont understand

I live in a mid-terrace and when I bought my house, the solicitor made a point of clarifying that I have right of way through the neighbours at any time for access. Been here 7 years, used it once because the front door handle broke!
Delivery drivers use it so they can leave parcels round the back but as the end terrace neighbours are a retired couple they quite often take them in. They are a lovely couple and I wouldn't dream of being in and out their garden like this!

I had to dig my own deeds out to check the wording now it's beem brought up!
Realise yours may be different but its...
"Adjoining neighbours may pass and repass on foot or with bicycles and handcarts over and across the footpath shown yellow on the plan"
Hope that helps.

We have the same situation with our neighbour and we are end terrace. He’s used it once in 8 years to whell his lawnmower through. He is the middle of 3 and has the same access the other way. He uses the other side as our youngest is autistic with zero safety awareness and he appreciates if he forgets to shut the gate and lock it, it could be catastrophic. As far as we were aware the access is for occasional access like putting bins out and large parcel deliveries etc. not just to use constantly on a Daily basis. If that was the reason for it, why would they fit a front door. Just sounds like she wants to be awkward tbh. If she has been forced to use the front door before, then clearly it’s possible. This would drive me mad!

It seems I don't own the path. We do have a fence at the top of the garden with a gate. Our neighbour rarely uses it, we do weekly for the bin.

I don’t think you’re allowed to block a private easement. But hopefully the deeds are useful….

The rights are for the property, not the resident. Your deeds don’t restrict the access to a particular action such as access to bins.

She would have a prescriptive easement after twenty years of utilising the access in such a manner anyway.

An easement is quite literally a right of way for the dominant property (neighbour) to use the servient property (OPs).

The deeds OP provided don’t qualify its use so it can be used for any access at all to the dominant property.

It depends entirely on what the deeds say, but from what you’ve described, your neighbour is massively over‑using the easement.

A right of way normally means a right to pass and repass when reasonably necessary, often for things like taking bins out or occasional access to the rear. It does NOT give someone the right to use your garden as their main entrance, send all their visitors and deliveries through it, or treat it like a public footpath.
Even if the easement is general, it still has to be used reasonably. Constant foot traffic, couriers, cleaners, dog walkers, and people leaving your gate open is not reasonable use and interferes with your quiet enjoyment of your own garden.
It’s definitely not a ‘public right of way’, and she doesn’t get to redefine it as one. She also has a legal obligation to contribute to maintenance of the gate, not just demand you fix it.

Check your deeds and then have a calm conversation explaining that you’re happy for them to use the access as intended, but the current level of traffic is intrusive and unsafe. You’re entitled to peaceful use of your garden, and they’re obliged to use the easement properly.

The trouble is the OP has already given us a pretty clear picture that the neighbour is an unreasonable pain in the arse ('I'd rather die than use my front door' - WTF?!). Thus it may well be that the OP's only way of resolving the problem quickly and easily is to be able to legitimately say that the neighbour doesn't have the right to do what she is doing, which is why what the deeds say is important. If the deeds do place restrictions on the right of access such that the neighbour is currently breaching them then the OP does at least have the threat of legal action if the neighbour doesn't do the decent thing. Of course, the neighbour may not care and carry on regardless in which case the OP would be faced with actually bringing legal action, and tbh I probably would rather move than go down that road. Unfortunately the neighbour's likely argument that 'I've been doing this for 40 years' does carry some weight.

Obviously the softly-softly approach is worth a go, but if it fails I think that the OP's best options are either the fence alongside the right of way plus spring-loaded gates, or (drastic as it may seem), move. There is the possibility of moving the right of way to the top of the garden but that's likely to be very costly as the neighbours would essentially be able to name their price. Lastly, and for completeness' sake, legally speaking over-using an easement is a thing but if we are talking about a general access easement here then it's very unlikely that the OP would be successful in such an action - it would be very costly and fraught with risk.

If you can't lay your hands on your own paperwork, do look at the Land Registry, where you can pay to get a copy of the title deeds information for your property and also for your neighbour's (you don't have to own the property to get a copy of the deeds). It will cost you about £25.00 per property plus more to buy the plans for each property, but it would be very useful.