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Original poster

New neighbours think they have access rights across my garden - help!

79 replies

withextradinosaurs · 16/04/2014 15:30

I have new neighbours.

They have been told by the ex-neighbours that they have access rights through my side gate to bring large items e.g. sofas into their house if they won't fit through their door.

I allowed the ex-neighbours to do this when they moved back in (they were living elsewhere for a while) but it was as a neighbourly gesture.

I have also checked with the previous owner of my house, who says the same - when the ex-neighbours moved in for the first time, he kindly allowed them to use the side passage but out of goodwill not obligation.

The new neighbours did not accept my word that they had been misadvised.

I am very upset now as my privacy is important to me and I deliberately bought a house with no shared access.

What is my next move? Should I get a solicitor to write and set out that they have been misinformed? I fear they might have bought the house with the belief that they can come across my garden when they need to. (I am the end of a terrace built in the 1980s).

Can I be that certain just from seeing my own deeds?

Please help!

OP posts:
littleredsquirrel · 17/04/2014 08:02

Yes get office copy entries of both sets of deeds. If there is no mention then its unlikely there is any right.

How did the conversation with the neighbours go? How was it left?

littleredsquirrel · 17/04/2014 08:04

How long ago did you move in? Your solicitor will have been obliged to keep the documents and will have run off insurance so you can still contact the firm (I'm a solicitor).

TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 17/04/2014 08:05

Is it your fence or theirs?

mercibucket · 17/04/2014 08:12

it is unusual for new neighbours to be so forthright with no legal docs to back them up. after all, they just bought/saw their deeds

so

mark their cards as unreasonable grabby types who will need a firm hand

be very firm from the beginning or they will get worse. when they see you are not a pushover, they will back off

there is no right of access. you do not give permission for fences to be removed. if they ask nicely, you might agree just this once but only if they accept it is done as a favour

Beastofburden · 17/04/2014 08:18

I think it's very unlikely that any sensible person really thinks they can keep a motorbike in their back garden and trample your garden every day. Probably the seller used the term casually and they aren't thinking about it properly.

I would give them a deadline to get big things moved in, then do up your garden. I'd also get your ex neighbour to write t them apologising for the mix up and saying what he meant was, you were kind enough to let him move things in that way, not that it was a legal right. He may be unwilling, but frankly if they are going to sue him, they can do it or without that letter. In fact, it looks more reasonable on his part with that letter.

Bithurt · 17/04/2014 08:22

I live in a end terraced and my neighbour has access round the side of my house. My parents are mid terrace and have access round the side of their neighbours. I thought people had to have access?

Original poster
withextradinosaurs · 17/04/2014 08:25

Bithurt, is that noted in your deeds?

OP posts:
Original poster
withextradinosaurs · 17/04/2014 08:25

Also, is that a Victorian terrace?

OP posts:
Pannacotta · 17/04/2014 08:27

They sound pushy.
You mention a gate in your first post, was there ever one there?
I agree I would ask them to prove access but no way should they be trampling over your garden and removing your fence to store a motorbike!

mercibucket · 17/04/2014 08:28

some older houses /victorian terraces are like that but it is in the deeds

are they threatening to sue ex-neighbour??? loon alert

IsItMeOr · 17/04/2014 08:28

Access rights should be in the deeds. The onus is on them to provide you with a document to show you that they have this right (and, in case it needs saying, a letter from the ex-neighbours would not be sufficient!).

If they do have a right, you will get yourself into trouble if you refuse access to them.

ProfYaffle · 17/04/2014 08:31

We live in a Victorian terrace (sounds posher than it is!) and have right of access along our neighbour's garden. Unfortunately for the neighbours they have 2 rights of way going through their property, one along the back of their property and one along the side of the garden.

As others have said, it's all in our deeds.

clam · 17/04/2014 08:32

Unless the original fence was put up illegally, and blocked access that was the neighbour's right, I don't see that they have a leg to stand on. If there IS a legal right of way, then it should surely be mentioned clearly on the paperwork you have already seen. You shouldn't have to hunt it down.

Damnautocorrect · 17/04/2014 08:33

Personally I'd not be offering up access 'just this once' they sound like they'll take the piss. I'd also be inclined to get it legally checked and a letter fired off to them. Or a copy of the deeds with a covering note stating there's no mention of access.
I'd be proving it and nipping it straight in the bud

Original poster
withextradinosaurs · 17/04/2014 08:33

Squirrel, I moved three years ago. My solicitor was a sole trader and closed his practice after being found guilty of misconduct (helpful!) Is the 'office copy' different to the one I have downloaded?

After I said 'I believe you have been misinformed,' he muttered a bit and said he would check where he stood.

Beast, I asked the ex-neighbours if they had said anything that might lead to a misunderstanding, they said "I think our deeds say we can bring things round your side if we can't get them through our door" so it's not an accidental misunderstanding. I asked them to give me a copy of these deeds, she said she didn't know where they were.

I'm going to get quotes for some of the garden work, I thouht maybe that would be a good opportunity to write and say something like, 'before I commit to the work, could I check whether you have found any documentation supporting the (incorrect) advice you were given' and say that in the absence of any such proof, requests would be considered only out of goodwill.

OP posts:
mercibucket · 17/04/2014 08:34

100 percent agree, damnautocorrect

op- pushy people need dealing with straight away in an assertive manner

Chumhum · 17/04/2014 08:35

How do you get detailed deeds rather than a summary? I moved recently but wasn't sent a copy by the solicitor and would like to know which fence is ours etc.

Original poster
withextradinosaurs · 17/04/2014 08:35

The new neighbours seem very nice apart from this, it is the old ones who were grabby and I was so glad when they went, only to find they have created this shitty situation :(

OP posts:
AllDirections · 17/04/2014 08:36

I think it's very unlikely that any sensible person really thinks they can keep a motorbike in their back garden and trample your garden every day.

Some people have very entitled attitudes. My XH fell out with his neighbours (after we got divorced) because he kept going through their garden with the lawnmower to cut his grass. The neighbours tried to keep it nice but ended up involving solicitors. My XH thought he had right of way because otherwise he would have to carry the lawnmower through the house Hmm

Original poster
withextradinosaurs · 17/04/2014 08:38

They haven't mentioned a motorbike, that was my hypothetical example in reply to coconutty asking how big a problem it could become.

OP posts:
WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 17/04/2014 08:39

Our neighbours have shared access but all they ever use it for is getting the lawnmower round to the front which is absolutely no bother at all.

Original poster
withextradinosaurs · 17/04/2014 08:54

Presumably they don't have to take a fence down to do that, though?

OP posts:
Serafinaaa · 17/04/2014 09:04

I live in a 1990s town house/terrace and my neighbours have access across my garden (it's in the deeds). However, in reality, we have a full fence between us with a tiny hinged section at the end (not even a gate, just enough to squeeze through sideways!). They never come through our garden without good reason (large furniture) and asking in advance. They have to lift furniture over the fence!

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 17/04/2014 09:04

No, there's a small gate in the fence between us and they just walk across the patio. All gates are locked and they have keys to our side gates, we don't have one to the gate between us. I did worry about the prospect of a family with children with bikes going back and forth all day long moving in, but none of it has materialised (been here 13 years). I also worried that they wouldn't want locks on the side gates, but it turned out they had been asking our predecessors to put them on for years to give more security to all the houses.

IsItMeOr · 17/04/2014 09:45

Either they have access in the deeds, or they don't.

If they do, then it's your problem that you have a fence which makes it difficult when they choose to use their access rights.

If they don't, then you don't have to let them have access. And if you do, then it's their problem how to navigate fence, garden, etc without causing/making good any damage.