Neighbour Dispute re Right of Access

[Neenpeensupreme]

First time poster at my wits end!
Hi, I was hoping someone could advise me. We live in an end terraced house. Our elderly neighbour next door has a right of access to the path round the side of our house. She never uses her front door. Her family never use the front door either and all traipse round the back. We hate it as we have no privacy as they are literally walking past our back door. It wouldn't be the first time I've had to duck in my own kitchen as I've only got a towel wrapped round me and her son has walked passed. Also in the winter, they walk round in the dark giving me a real fright when I see a face at the window! In the summer when we're eating dinner outside the pass within 3 feet of our table! We have never said anything but things have gotten worse in the last year as sadly her husband passed away so her family visit more regularly. This is completely understandable but they still use the back door so on average they pass half a dozen times each day and more at the weekends.

We are in the middle of putting a six foot fence up which I had permission for (even though I didn't need to) but we know how difficult she can be. (It also has slip bolt lock). There are numerous reasons why we're putting it up. I.e. First and foremost, privacy, as where the neighbours sit in the garden they can look straight into the house. We have had people use our garden as a shortcut to get to the canal, we are planning on getting a dog in the near future. I inherited a lot of expensive garden ornaments when my dad passed away a few months ago.
Anyway, we thought this was the ideal time to ask her if the family could start using the front door. She has point blank refused. Now as far as I'm aware she should only be using the path for taking bins out and for workman etc. The issue I have I can't find any literature stating this.
Things have gotten out of hand a few days ago when we locked the gate and her son tried to get round. He banged our front door and started shouting abuse at us, he then threatened my husband to the extent we had to call the police.

Since then I have been to Citizens Advice Bureau who agreed with me it was unacceptable and they wrote a letter on our behalf to ask them to stop them using the path. I have phoned the council who again agreed this shouldn't be happening and suggested a mediation meeting. Over the last few days they have continued to ignore our pleas and defiantly walk past out back door. I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and my husband had a TIA a few months ago and this is completely stressing us out. We just don't know where to go from here, short of seeing a lawyer

An ex bf's parents had a terraced house. The front door was never used. They would park, walk down the street past the front door, down the alley at the end of the terrace and along the path through several back gardens to the back door. It wasn't just them, no one used their front doors. It used to drive me nuts - i never understood it. The only time i ever saw the front door open was when they had some furniture delivered.

But all the neighbours were the same! It must be a 'thing'.

It is in a lot of places where the front door opens straight into the living room.

I think there's always someone who abuses ROA and your neighbour is one of them.

I cannot see why you'd want to walk around your neighbours house and past their back door to enter your own property via the back door when there's a front door right there.

I moved to a property once that had ROA through garden to our bins out. They hated walking through garden as felt intrusive and so they had a prior arrangement with previous owners they'd put bins through gate and we'd take them around the side with ours.

Worked well and involved no point scoring about entitlement.

They have right of access. There is nothing you can do to make them stop using it. YABVVVU trying to block it off!

What you can do is put up blinds in your kitchen and bathroom etc.

If you don't want to move you can build a fence to block off your back door from their access path. If it is the same layout as we have then you could easily just divide your yard into two halves with fencing, with their access running between the two halves.

Diagram might help

Mediation sounds a good way forward.

Presumably 'right of access' is supposed to mean 'able to put bins out and get bags of compost into the garden' not 'never use your front door'.

If they have a right of access and you put a fence up blocking it they will likely take you to court. Unless it's unlocked and they can get access any time you'd probably lose in court too bitter experience

wow I can see why (kinda) in that case, but ex bf's house had a proper hallway with a telephone table and everything

Also, it wasn't on a busy main road or anything (again, can kinda see the reasoning if that was the case)

I have this op, but everyone on our row of terraces has sliding bolt locks on the inside of their gate. So you can get out of the back by going through gardens (to take bins out etc) but you can't get into your garden without first knocking on the front door and asking them to open the gate.

It works pretty well for us, and it's like that in every terrace I've ever known, so if you do put a sliding bolt on you gate, you're not preventing access as such, because really they should only need to go out of their garden, and occasionally in to bring stuff round.

I'm with you on how annoying it is, that would drive me to insanity!

In my last house I had right of access through my neighbour's property to my back garden but only ever used it when absolutely necessary, day to day we used the front door. I think they are being very rude, it shouldn't be used to the point it becomes an invasion of your privacy. The next row along did the same thing MeanAger suggests, ran a fenced off path at the back of their garden. It took a small amount of their garden away but stopped the need for right of access.

I guess it depends on the definition of access.

Is the fenced off path an option OP? Seems the best solution to me too if so, not only will it give you your privacy back but your neighbours may be less inclined to use that route in if they have to go the long way round.

Maybe use this warmer weather to try out naturism.

I bet they won't want to invade your space quite so much then

In this part of the UK, West Country, plenty of older terraced houses were built with this arrangement. Back then, everyone was in and out of each others' houses anyway so not really a problem.

I notice that now lots of people have put up gates, but with latches so they can be opened.

If that's what the deeds say, not a lot can be done.

I'd say you have no right to block her access, however annoying it is. However I would pop next door, and say it's made you jump a few times when you've been stood in a towel and just wondered if her family could use the front door instead? It's worth a try, and failing that, I'd get some blinds or thick net to ensure your privacy.

We had exactly this in our old Victorian terrace, except we were the ones who had a right of access across the neighbour's garden.

BUT it said very clearly in the deeds that this was for weekly/occasional use, for example for emptying bins or similar. I think it even specified a day of the week.

In fact, we kept our bins in the front, so only ever used it every now and then, when we needed to remove garden rubbish, or for bringing in large items of furniture, or to let the window cleaner into the garden. Each time it would be agreed beforehand with our neighbour - we wouldn't have dreamt of just marching through. He also had a lockable gate, which we were pleased he kept locked because it helped secure our garden.

So it's worth checking your deeds to see if it mentions "occasional" access.

I suspect it has just become habit, and your neighbour's front door is no longer useable. It's a shame your relationship has broken down and it has become litigious.

If it says something in the deeds such as they have a 'right to pass and re-pass' you have not got a leg to stand on ,sorry.
I once lived in a row of terraced houses and every 8th one had a side access, so the one on each end had three other sets of neighbours trooping through their back garden if they wished to !

There are a lot of terraces with similar access arrangements round my way. In fact I met dp when he lived in one; it was a shared house and the front door opened directly into what would be the sitting room, but was in fact being used as a bedroom. As were many of the front rooms of terraces around the university, such as his.

So everyone used the shared access paths round the back. It's weird walking between people's kitchens and gardens at first, walking past multiple households in their gardens on sunny days and you're traipsing back with your shopping and a hangover. But it's normal - VERY NORMAL - for these types of properties, and you just have to be cool with it to live there I'm afraid. We actually found it a really sociable way to live at the time, although I can understand why you wouldn't like it.

But if it's shared access or indeed a right of access, you can't change it. Perhaps they'll compromise for you out of kindness in mediation... but I'm afraid they won't have to, unless your deeds put restrictions on their use of that access.

I'm afraid this might be one of those cases where someone is doing something perfectly legally, even if it is thoughtless/annoying/pisstaking.

FWIW it sounds bizarre to me. I've lived in terraces most of my life and never had this, that's what the alleyway behind the gardens is for.

(Having just moved to a street of semi & detached houses, it feels really weird to have another garden directly on the other side of the fence at the end of the garden as well as both sides!)

I have a friend who had exactly the same problem as you.

Diagram 1 is how their houses were.

The neighbours their children and family/friends exclusively used the path and back door. It drove my friend mad as it was many times a day that people would be going through her garden and leaving the gate open

In the end she decided to move the path.

She sacrificed a portion of the end of her garden and had a lovely new 7ft fence put all around her garden and moved her old gate to the end of her new fence so that the neighbours had to take a section out of their fence to access the gate.
See diagram 2.

The neighbours were very unhappy about it, it made the walk a lot longer for them all and they tried the council and solicitors but as my friend was still providing them with the access they were entitled to they couldn't do anything about it.

She now has the security and privacy of her garden and her neighbours still exclusively use the back door for some bizarre reason.

weareeternal how did your friend manage to do this leagally?
We tried to do this but had to do it officially / legally and pay for the land registry to be changed (half way through though the neighbours husband died, sold her house to her son in law without telling us (he's a builder) who then refused to complete the moving of the right of access to rear of garden. (Our garden is large enough he wanted to build on neighbours rear garden but so far planning has been refused thankfully)

Anyway.. the deeds of our right of access pathway allows my neighbour unrestricted access. We have a locked gate but they also have a key (only one neighbour has access through our garden). The only thing they can't do it ride bikes or motor vehicles on the path as stated in the deeds!

My grandparents used to live like this. Front was for 'best'; family always walked round the house and used the back. This was the traditional way of living in a lot of communities. (I suspect because there was a lot of emphasis on keeping the front of the house looking pristine.)

Probably your neighbours (and once upon a time everyone in the row) have always lived like this, and they will see you as the ignorant newcomer trying to disrupt how things have always been done. Most likely you will need to employ a lot of tact to get them to reconsider.

TeaStory "I've lived in terraces most of my life and never had this, that's what the alleyway behind the gardens is for."

Not all terraces have an alleyway though. I've lived in two where the only access to the back was through the house.

Wow, Eternal! You win the "MN Best Diagram Ever" award hands down.

I think it's better for you to stop thinking about them crossing 'your' land to get to their house, because it isn't the same as having a private garden. You are the owner of the 'servient' property and your neighbours the 'dominant' property.

'A dominant estate is the parcel of real property that has an easement over another piece of property (the servient estate)' (from Wiki)

Your home is burdened with the legal right to allow unrestricted access to your neighbours and your neighbours will always be advised to continue to use the ROW as much as the choose. It's definitely something that owners of terraced properties should be made aware of when they buy their homes as it seems to cause all sorts of problems.

The Gardenlaw forum has a section on 'Rights of Way' with some very knowledgable posters who will help you to understand your deeds.