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?? 🙈

Please make sure you use the gov.uk website, copies of the register are £7.

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds

So, if she would "rather die than use the front door" then I'd be encouraging that option! Seriously, though, what is her problem with using her own front door?

Apologies - you're entirely right - that'll teach me to google in a hurry!!

There is a lot of incorrect advice being given here which could cause legal problems. I agree that the garden law forum is excellent for this sort of thing. When you have an easement across your property it is for the benefit of the property which has the right of way and you have no say over how much they use it. They and their visitors can walk up and down it all day if they like, provided they stick to the terms, e.g. if it’s pedestrian and pushing a bike or wheelbarrow, they can’t bring a motorcycle along it and they can’t loiter or deviate from the route onto the rest of your garden. You have allow free access so gates are tricky. Our neighbours just used it for the bins, but when they built an extension they did assume they had more access than they actually had. Our side entrance was much wider than the nominal footpath width they had access over, so we did have to remind them that they weren’t free to bring digging machinery through even though it would technically fit. It wasn’t a happy time, but ultimately the outcome was excellent as they didn’t ascertain beforehand that they had no right whatsoever to extend the route so they actually extinguished their own right of way by blocking it off with their extension.

OP, am I right in thinking you're end of terrace?
First step to check the deeds, but it doesn't seem like she'll be reasonable.
Is the fence/gate to her garden hers? I'd be tempted to move your gate to the end of your garden and essentially cut that bit off so it's like an alleyway to her garden, with her gate also at the back of her garden.
Easier said than done, and also more of a long term plan if she's not reasonable.
If you can section it off in this way you'll probably find the house easier to sell if you ever do need to sell it.

it depends what is says in the deeds

@CotswoldIdyll , my NDN built an extension over the easement in their garden. That's how I know about easements. It came up in the conveyancing. They'd lost their right.

It's mad to me, not that this is a thing - totally get it, but that anyone actually uses it for anything other than an emergency or in a case of no other option.
I'd rather drag my bins through the house each week than drag them underneath someone else's kitchen window 😆
I've lived in houses where the only access to the garden is through the house, and it can sometimes be inconvenient, but you just live with it.

certainly not a legal expert so I’m happy to be corrected:

OP on your map, you said you were the red box - to the left side, is that a path? If so, does it go all the way to the top of your garden?

If yes, as another poster has said, can you (and I know this will cost money) rejiggle the gate and fence, so put the gate at the top and create an alleyway - I realise she will probably be stubborn about it but if you then paid for the gate at the top on her side, she wouldn’t loose access but you would get your privacy, you essentially create a path at the top of the garden.

The terraces down my road have done that - they all agreed to chop the top meter of their gardens, put up the fences with gates and then they’ve all got back access without losing any garden privacy. No one who has moved in has complained of the arrangement.

Whose responsibility is the fence on the right of your garden, ie the shared one? If it’s yours, this could work.

Horrendous. Poor you. Very stressful

We have similar easement here and our deeds do allow the occupants plus whoever they allow to cross into their garden. It is very strange to get used to people walking through. Your garden doesn't quite feel your own. We have just had to accept it as don't think we could fight it in court as deed is so vague.

I'd move if you don't like it as would be risk to start a neighbour dispute as you have to declare it when you sell.

I am tempted to just screen off the walkway with plants/trellis but am reluctant to have a fenced off walk way because it would mean losing some garden space. And as someone else (sorry lost your post now) suggested, I highly suspect she would take it as carte blanche to do whatever the fuck she wanted if I did.

A previous owner has apparently tried to move her access to the other end of the garden but she "wasn't keen on that idea" 😩

If the deeds aren't useful, I am tempted by some manner of PITA lock to deter...

Op can't move the route to make it less convenient without the agreement of everyone who has the right to use it (and this would almost certainly come at a cost)

I presume the NDN owns her house?
How old is she? People used to keep their front parlour, as they called it, nice by always using the back door.

Yeah YANBU. Plenty of these easements exist and are not taken advantage of in this way!

Without sounds horrid, how much longer do you think she has? Could you wait it out?

Do you know why she hates the front door? Very odd. Even if she still entered via the back, could everyone else not use the front? Could a lock on the gate that she has a single key to be helpful? Or even a keypad?

The text that @Deepblueokay posted mentions a shaded area in Green, do you have that map? If not you might be able to get it from the land registry for a few pounds. It’s probably worth getting the deeds anyway to see the exact wording.

This is a good idea. Don’t stop her access but make it as fucking difficult as possible. A padlock with a kay so she has to walk down and physically unlock it every single time. She sounds like a horrible rude entitled old bag. Sorry you’re having to put up with this 🙁

So do you have to leave the gate open all the time even when you’re at work? At night? When the older kids will be home alone ? Could you lock it , give her one non copiable key and tell her she has to lock it when she comes and goes for your house security. If she doesn’t lock it you go out and lock it.It will mean she has to be in and out letting people in. Which will be a pain and she might start opening he front door instead?

Yes, provide her with a key and she'll have to open her front door to hand it to delivery drivers 😆

Gosh who knew this was even possible. So putting a lock on the gate isn’t a good idea it seems!

Could OP put a lock on the gate and give her neighbour a key? That way she could use it but her visitors and delivery people couldn't.

First, write her a nice note, saying that the current traffic is unacceptable (use a nicer word) and she has to stop all these extraneous people.
Second, put a sign on wherever it is - and have a professional sign made, so it looks more formal - saying: Private property: Residents only.
That way you make it clear that you're fine with her, as a resident, but not all the other random people.

I hate those sites that get people to pay more for free or cheap government services. Often they don't add any actual value for the extra money.