Property with right of access

[Hemuset]

I am looking to buy a house and I have found one that meets all my requirements. There is just one thing that is giving me pause. The neighbouring two properties have right of access onthat foot that passes past the kitchen window. The properties all have rear access through their own gardens where the cars are kept and the access across the property would only take them to the street outside the houses, so it would be quicker to use their front door and to bring things into the rear of the property it would be easier to use their own rear access. The houses are quite old and I suspect there were fields behind them when they were built which would have made the rear access they enjoy now impossible, I can't see them using the right of access much if at all. I am wondering if any one has a property with a similar situation who might be able to advise me if it is worth buying the property with the right of access in place?

No I didn't, my cousin had problems with a shared access but in her case it was the neighbours only access point to the back of their property. I've looked at the adjoining gate and it doesn't look like it has been used in quite a while so I'm hopeful they may be willing to have the easement struck of the deeds and that I might be able to use this extra cost to bargain the price of the house down

You cannot just extinguish a right of way. Our first home had a row through the front garden although all the neighbours had their own gateways and paths, but at one time there was only one exit in a row of six. Over the years people had just gone ahead and adapted things.

Unfortunately our older neighbour was insistent on using our front garden despite her own path and gateway. She would walk across it and then climb a wall to get to her friend's house.

We had a dog and said we wanted to put a fence up, like all the other neighbours. She got us a solicitors letter sent pointing out (quite rightly) and right of way. We said fine, but everyone else would have to take theirs down so she could walk up and down the row.

Our solicitor told us to just put up the fence and our other neighbour offered to do it for us. Nothing else was heard.

However, this could cause your considerable problems. I think the seller is likely to play down the situation.

You can have the right of way removed if all neighbours with access agree to it. Obviously I would need to pay their legal fees as well as my own in addition to offering a sun of money to purchase the rights back. I think this might be a possibility as the access does not appear to have been used for quite some time judging from the state of the adjoining gate and the other properties have rear driveways so would still have access to the rear of their properties.

We are having the same issue with a house we are very far into the buying process with. In our case though the path is pretty far back from the property on lower level so we could but another fence up to keep the main part of garden private. We are still having wobbles though,
Is building a fence or planting bushes etc along a defined path an option?

There is nothing to stop you from putting up a fence or a hedhe as long as it doesn't restrict their access