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.

[AliceMcK]

We did. Sounds just like your situation, we had the end terrace, originally the right of way was for 4-5 houses but over time it because access for just the house next door. It’s very common in areas I grew up. I was a little concerned at first mainly because I had small children at the time and obviously didn’t know the neighbours but it wasn’t a big issue at all.

[DogInATent]

Yes. It's not unusual.

My first house had a shared path outside the back door, then next doors garden, and our garden was beyond that. It was a terrace of six, but the gardens were each three houses wide and stacked three deep. Everyone had access across the front of the kitchen windows and a shared path down the middle.

With a bit of careful garden design you can keep the shared path semi-private from the main area of the garden.

[BecauseMyRingBurnsSheila]

We have this as a mid terrace but it's a side passage and then across the bottom of the garden as a separate passage. If it was that arrangement I would say fine but not as in your description.

[PandemicAtTheDisco]

My neighbours have access through my garden. It is absolute hell. Their garden is enclosed, a gate leads into my garden and they share my outside gate.

They would leave their bins full of dirty nappies in my bin area - despite having their own clearly marked bin area. I couldn't go in the bottom end of my garden because of the smell and flies. They wouldn't take their bins to be emptied so would use mine. I told them to pack it in as I had no room for my rubbish and I told them to keep their stinky bins in their own garden.

They never shut my gate - but always shut their own. So many times people have tried to break into my shed because they've left the gate open. When it's windy the gate bangs so I have to go outside and shut it. My washing has been stolen because they left the gate open.

They have parties in the back garden. Their guests have sex in my garden against the wall. They've damaged the wall and many plants. Their guests overflow into my garden.

They had their builders specifically leave their waste in my garden, they piled it on my plants near the outside gate. Their pets are forever in my garden so they just wander in and start messing around playing with them.

[JonBinary]

Definitely not. Been there, done that. It was a huge mistake.

[Starseeking]

That sounds horrific Pandemic.

[BronwenFrideswide]

No, I wouldn't, trust your instincts and run away (screaming is optional!).

[ChocolateDeficitDisorder]

I think when you look at a house with this arrangement, that you have get into a different mindset. While the area covered by the ROW is technically on your property, it really isn't yours to do with what you want, it's primarily the access path for your neighbours to use as they wish. This might be once a year or one an hour. Not your choice.

Value the house based on the understanding that it has a back garden which is detached from the house. Put a fence across the part on the far side of the path and Consider that to be your actual garden.

Any other expectation will just lead to disappointment.

[Ninkanink]

No I wouldn’t.

[Ninkanink]

Damn!

[Daphnise]

Don't buy it.

Too many real and potential problems.

[Lellochip]

Half the houses where I live are set up like this. And no one seems to use their front doors so it's daily traffic past the kitchen window. Luckily get on great with my neighbours but can see how you could end up with problems

[ElGuardiandenoche]

ZOMBIE THREAD ALERT!!

THIS THREAD IS FIVE AND HALF YEARS OLD SO I’M GUESSING THAT THE OP HAS BOUGHT A HOUSE BY NOW.

[ChocolateDeficitDisorder]

It's still an interesting topic which others may be interested in reading about.

[Janaih]

Nobody gives a fuck if it's a zombie thread. People can post on whatever they like.

[TheCrowening]

We had an access path between our back doors and gardens.

Our ndn’s children were in our actual garden all the time. We gave up trying to sort it in the end as the mother and her partner were so unreasonable (and a bit scary). They were nice kids but wouldn’t leave us alone!

[TheCrowening]

Ah crap didn’t see the dates!

[garlictwist]

We live in a situation like this but we are the neighbours that have accces rights through our next door neighbour's garden.

It's fine. We never use it ourselves as we access our house from the front. The only time we use it is if we are getting heavy things delivered that won't fit through the front door, or if we are getting the windows cleaned or the back garden done.

[AwkwardSquad]

I started reading this and was considering adding a comment, then realised it was an old thread, and I already had

[IDreamOfLogCabins]

All houses on my street and next few surrounding have this set-up. Houses built in blocks of 4 so only middle two have right of access across garden of house nearest them at the end.

I'm on an end house. I did find the thought of it off putting when I was viewing, but was all I could really afford in this area at the time.

Luckily it has been fine. Next door neighbour only uses the access once a week to take bins in and out. However I l don't view this as my forever home, so was a compromise I was willing to put up with.

[PigletJohn]

when I started reading this, I pictured the "gate at the end of the garden" into a passage or alley. Then I saw that the OP had neighbours walking past her house.

I would have a careful look at the deeds to see if they are allowed to do that. If not, I would put a gate to the alley at the end of my garden, and a gate to the neighbours on the other side, also at the end, so they only needed to cross the far end. If they were tempted to wander about my garden, I would add a fence, possibly a wire one, to enclose the passage I provided, and if necessary point out that although they were entitled to cross into the alley, they were not entitled to wander around.

[LeonieSims]

I don't get why houses are built like this? Why do they need right of access through the end terrace garden?

[EverythingDelegated]

Ours is like this, its fine, they do hardly ever use it and are very respectful WRT shutting gates.

[ChocolateDeficitDisorder]

I don't get why houses are built like this? Why do they need right of access through the end terrace garden? confused

Because people in terraced houses don't always want to take dirty/heavy/outdoor/large stuff through the front door of their homes.

Traditionally, it was also so that coal could be delivered to the coal sheds in the gardens.

It's a feature of the houses and it almost always written into the deeds. The value of the houses is priced accordingly.

I genuinely don't see why people complain about it. It's like buying a ground floor flat and complaining that you don't have panoramic views.

[UmteenthUser]

Most terrace houses are like this so a lot of people must buy houses where others have access through the gardens.