Would you buy a house where the neighbour had right of access through your garden?

[Anticyclone]

So, we are looking at an end of terrace house where the adjoining neighbour has a gate in the fence - which is right next to the house. The end of terrace house has side access and the neighbour has the right to access their garden through this side gate and the gate in the dividing garden fence.

My instinct is to run away screaming as I hate the thought of someone being able to intrude on my garden. But current owner says it's not a issue and neighbour very rarely uses it - just to occasionally move big items into their garden.

What do others think, any experience of this? The house is otherwise good, so would be a shame to discount it unnecessarily.

[Snoopadoop]

Definite no for me. I am quite a private and generally unsociable person, I couldn't tolerate it. Listen to Horton, I think she/he sums it up perfectly.

[Allalonenow]

My parents had a rented house like this.

The NDN used it quite frequently, for everyday coming and going, my mother especially hated it. The NDN would wave and tap on the glass as they came and went, and many a mealtime was disturbed.
Mum took to keeping the curtains in that room pulled closed, but that created friction between her and Dad, as he liked the open aspect of the room.
When NDN's many grandchildren came to visit, Mum used to say she would have made a fortune selling icecreams and pop from the window!

[KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes]

Hell, no.

Neighbour using your garden as a footpath? Nightmare.

[CottonFrock]

As some posters have said, it can work perfectly amiably with mutual consideration, especially in areas with a stable, long-standing population, all of whom share a general knowledge of what constitutes 'reasonable usage' by local standards. However, all it needs is for current, unproblematic neighbours to sell up for a completely different pattern of usage to start, which could involve multiple daily passages through your garden, gates left open, endangering animals or children, rubbish from bins etc etc. by new neighbours who don't think they're being unreasonable, because it's their right of access.

And yes, re-sale would potentially pose huge problems, as it really does expose you to the unknown, potentially.

[Palomb]

Not in a million years. Imagine having someone stroll by when you were haging out your washing in your nighty!

[WhereYouLeftIt]

My first thought was 'well the current neighbour might not use it much, but whoever they sell to might use it continuously.'

[TweedAddict]

We had a similar arrangement st our old house, the only problem we had was we have dogs. Ndn died and a new family moved in, also with dogs but there's would rip to bits if you let them. They had to cross our garden. The problem was they wouldn't let us when they were going to use the gate, so if our dogs were in the garden they would just walk though with there dogs off a lead. Such a pain and had a few trips to the vets. Never again

[OhforGodsake]

No not ever. Never. My son had just such a house and 5 other neighbours had right of access across his back yard and garden. On the night before bin emptying & collection, he had 4 lots of wheelie bins being hauled past his back door, sometimes quite late at night (and that woke the children up). Then the next day, the wheelie bins were hauled back in, with the same result. Bits of food, glass & cat food tins and rubbish would often fall out of the bins and my daughter in law had to go and clean it all up before the children could go out. Then there was the problem of having the single chap 3 houses along who liked to bring his mates back for a few bevvies on Saturday & Sunday afternoons. 10 tanked up rugby players, trudging past your backdoor, really interfered with any family activities in their small garden. They couldn't wait to sell that house!

[bumpertobumper]

Depending on the location of the gates, it can also impact on ability to extend your house.
Not a deal breaker for me, but a proceed with caution.

[Squashybanana]

I think it probably depends on what you are used to. We turned down one house where there were 5 neighbours with access but it is absolutely standard in our area and our house now has access for one neighbour. However they genuinely do use it extremely rarely, as they keep their bins out the front. Generally it is for the teenage boys if they forget their keys and come round the back to be let in, it happens about once a month. I imagine it's very awkward for them. Though I was a bit miffed when I got home from work and next door neighbour (originally from India) was showing her visiting cousin round our garden to see British plants!! (their garden is fully paved). Luckily that has only happened once :)

I have thought about fencing off a passageway at the very bottom of our garden which would remove the privacy issue, but to be honest it isn't enough of an issue that we have felt the need to do this.

[WonderingAspie]

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

We looked at a house where everyone had garages out the back and this house was in the corner, so if the houses either side parked outside their garage (no one parked in them), our car would have been blocked in. I asked the EA about it and she spoke to the vendor who said next door let them park outside their garage as they don't have a car but that can easily change! Definitely put me off, I'd never go with a house where someone had an agreement or understanding with the neighbour.

[ididyeah]

Have had a similar experience twice - once where the neighbours were great and only used it for their son to take his bike through the garden (rather than through their house) when it was raining or for furniture deliveries. That was fine.

Then I lived in another terrace a few years ago which had had a historical permissive right of way through the front garden, a short cut as part of a lane between two roads. The previous owner had chosen to lock it off before I moved in, which stopped it being used, and by the time I moved it it was really quiet and felt secluded as it wasn't actually on the roads. I loved it. I didn't bother locking the gate as generally nobody used it but me; the odd person went through late at night but usually quietly so I left it.

Then eventually new people moved in around us who assumed it was still open and started using every day again. Mostly it was okay but used to make me think 'what's that?' every time it happened, and it stopped it feeling like it was just my space. Then the odd person used to slam the gate late at night etc. and twice there were Sunday walkers and passing families actually arguing with each other (while in the garden, near my windows) about whether it was or wasn't a path though. Once I looked out of the window to see the front garden unexpectedly chock full of policemen heading to a domestic further up the road! I ended up locking it off again which led to huffing and puffing from people, but it had really made it totally different to when I moved in and I felt like people thought I'd spoiled it for them, when I felt they'd spoiled it for me.

Anyway, long story short I know some people would be fine with it but I really really value having somewhere quiet and restful, and I wouldn't live somewhere with access on any terms again; you just never know how it will go in the future.

[Titsywoo]

No no no. I like my garden to be really private. I insist on a garden that is not overlooked so to have people able to wander through would drive me potty!

[MidnightDexy]

Unless I had no other option, I wouldn't, for all of the reasons given above. On our house hunt we've restricted ourselves to semis and I even went as far as ruling out a few semis on the basis that they had no fence dividing the side passage, or a shared drive. I need boundaries and certainty.

[HollyJollyDillydolly]

No from me
Our first house was set up like this. We were told the ndn only used it once a week to put the bin out. Not true. Every day they went out and would access their house via their back door as they had a sofa across the front door (small terraced house with door from street directly into lounge) Plus the post man would post their post through their back door as they didn't use their front door for post either. Hated being in the kitchen and having people walk past all the time.

[SellFridges]

We have this. But so does everyone else on the street. How do terraces work otherwise? Ours is "special" because we share a driveway with four others but that is protected by a covenant.

[Bearbehind]

It's interesting that on this thread, as often happens, the only people in favour are those who actually did it/ have it.

By definition, they're going to think it's a good idea, but the number of people who wouldn't even entertain it is an indication of how much you'd limit your potential resale market, aside from the day to day hassle this could cause.

[bimandbam]

No. Just no.

My mum had a house like this when I was growing up. It was awful. And a friend has a house like it too. They ended up rehoming their much loved family dog as they neighbours kids used to leave the gate open and they were worried he would get run over.

It probably works for a childless couple who have no interest in gardening and no pets and not bothered about privacy!

[lamiashiro]

I've lived in a mid-terrace with the same setup, except the ROW was along the backs of the houses rather than the back of the garden. It was fine as it was only the guy the other side taking his bin out every week and the layout of the gardens meant there was no privacy anyway. I've also lived in an end terrace where the ROW was along the backs of the gardens. There were mostly fences and hedges so it wasn't a massive issue.

That said, I can understand how it could become a problem with the wrong neighbours and if there was an active ROW through my back garden I might hesitate.

[SwedishEdith]

How long is the garden? Is it possible to move the gates to the end of the garden and fence a passageway off? I'd only consider that if there were no other options but it might work better?

[CarbonFibrePrincess]

Absolutely no. I rented a house like this, the landlord said he barely used it but it later transpired he used it several times a day because the entrance to his shed was in our garden and he was a keen gardener he walked past the kitchen window, looking in, constantly knocking to moan about the lawn/leaves/dog etc and I had to leave because it was making me uncomfortable.

[CarbonFibrePrincess]

He as in the neighbour

[IShouldBeSoLurky]

A friend had a flat where the neighbour's only access was through her garden (which was also her only access). AFAIK she had no problems, and sold the flat with no difficulty at all for £££. This was in a highly desirable part of London when the market was pretty bonkers, but still, it doesn't have to be a disaster.

[PrincessHairyMclary]

You can just put up a fence around your part of the garden. If it's the perfect house for you then it would be a silly reason to lose out on it.