Can my neighbour come through my back garden to get to his?? Ok

[dg8484]

I've moved into a rented property before (never rented before, recently divorced so moved out of mortgaged home)
I was in my kitchen today cleaning and getting ready for Fridays removal van. When out the corner of my eye, I saw a man directly walking past the kitchen window. It is a row of town houses, I am the first one, so instead of using his front door, this man is opening the side garden gate to the house I'm in, and going through to his garden. I will be phoning the rental company in the morning, but surely this isn't right!? I am going to tell the rental company I want to put a lock on the gate. Also, I have a heavy garden table which I've put directly next to the gate. If I see him climb over it then I won't be happy. It's not a communal garden, it's individual gardens. Any advice??

Also Really surprised a nEw build would have this

Op i had this when I moved into my current rental last year but I'm a ground floor maisonette.
I get to my garden by opening my patio doors but there is also a side gate accèss
The people above me's garden is behind my garden and the only way they can get to it is via the side gate, into my garden then through a second gate into their garden .

When I came to view the property last year I knew that wouldn't work for me and DD so asked the landlord to have a fence put in to make mygarden private. And he did.

If it's option A then I think he's just being cheeky nipping through rather than around. Does he realise someone's living there now ?

If it's option B then yes it's the design, but very unlikely on new builds. More likely on old Victorian builds to have to go across someone's garden.

We live in a new build and there are paths around everywhere to access weirdly positioned gates. We have an access path next to our driveway which goes to next doors gate, but it's outside our garden, a very narrow fenced path.

If it turns out he has a right of way, you can get a self-closing mechanism for your garden gate which will help with the safety issue until you move.

I’ve spent almost 30 years living in Victorian terraces and I didn’t know this was a thing until I heard about it on Mumsnet. The places I’ve lived have always had public alleyways running behind the gardens.

Good lick op. Go back through your paperwork - was a right of way or easement through your garden notifies to you at any time prior to you signing your tenancy agreement ? If not, it’s a material omission and you shouldn’t stand for any notice period limitation etc if you choose to move. Frankly you'd have a case for claiming costs of initial and second move due to Negligence if letting agent. However this would be extremely unlikely scenario and I think it will be lurking somewhere in terms and conditions ???

I’ve a friend with this arrangement at the back of row of terraced cottages. The nightmare of it has put it towards the top of my deal breaker list when looking at any property. Obvs it can work out and sometimes there’s no choice but it can be very problematic !

If he is allowed access and agent didn't tell you that is utterly shit, it's hardly a minor point.

I'd be surprised if new builds were built this way but it's hardly an expert area!

If he is allowed then gate being left open is a real issue. I'd also feel weird doing eg bbq and some bloke wandering through the garden! We don't have that set up round here that I've ever heard of though so is quite alien.

Good luck op.

Either he has legal right of access, and you just need to politely ask him to shut the gate when done, the gate into his property would indicate he may well have right of access, or he was just taking a short cut.

I hope it's the latter for you.

This is very common in terraced houses.
I lived in a house with a back garden that had shared access to the neighbours back garden.
My MIL's house has shared access across the front of the properties to the neighbours, through the front gardens. And my cousins cottage had the same. All of these were bought houses and none in the rows were rented. We are South Wales. Very common.

“I'd also feel weird doing eg bbq and some bloke wandering through the garden!”

This absolutely never happened. It was so rare and we barely noticed. And I do value my privacy and enjoy being in the garden. I obviously prefer my current house which doesn’t have this setup, but it is not as horrific as people are imagining, unless you have really inconsiderate neighbours, who are probably inconsiderate in many other ways too

.

It is quite a normal thing here so people can bring wheelbarrows/bins etc in about the garden without needing to go through the house.

I've seen the ones with a long alley down the back but not heard of the access through gardens thing before.

You learn something every day!

I had this when I lived in my flat as I was the 2nd house on a row of 12 however it was only during building works - not a daily thing. There were no gates -it meant removing a fence panel. Everything had to be returned to normal afterwards - thank heavens for phone cameras!

When I had landscaping in the garden, I asked no 1 for access through their garden which was fine. When no 3 had work done, they had access via no 1 & no 2 (my house).

This was pointed out to me on the deeds by my solicitor when I bought the flat.

Poor number 1 who would have to allow access for all building/harden works. I’d definitely want to buy no 12 in that scenario although I guess organising 11 panel removals and returns may be a pain !

My DDs house is like this and interestingly she lives in a much friendlier area than I do. She has to walk through 2 gardens to get to her back door everyone in her area uses their back doors because the front doors lead directly to the living rooms

Someone else posted this upthread too. Why would it be an issue to walk directly in to your living room?

Someone else posted this upthread too. Why would it be an issue to walk directly in to your living room?
I posted similar (and if PPs DD is a student I suspect the same) where the “living room” is actually used as a bedroom.

Is there a path running down the back if all the gardens with separate gates? If not your neighbours need to use their front doors. Having people randomly walking through each other's gardens is just odd.

@HeronLanyon
There was access at either end of the terrace so no 1 gave access to 2-6 and no 12 gave access to 7-11 so not as bad as it could've been!
In 6 years, we accessed via no 1 twice and gave access to no's 3 & 4 once so nobody took the proverbial.

Having people randomly walking through each other's gardens is just odd.

Having such a set up might be unusual to some who have never experienced it like the OP but its certainly not odd. In many areas its pretty common in many terrace houses to have a right of way through neighbouring gardens.

@RavenLG Ok thanks.

No news from LL yet?

I lived in a village with little old terraced cottages with this set up. Got used to it and didn’t really mind it - the thin walls were more of a problem - but would not want to go back to it. I value peace and privacy very highly now.

Still no joy as yet, up to last night I've seen nothing seen not seen the man again, so I'm wondering what it was. But, until I find out properly I HAVE put a lock on the gate just incase. Hoping letting company hurry up with some information soon