Are we fools? Buying a house with a ROW over back patio

[Biscuitlover456]

FTB here - me and my partner are in the process of buying a house which has a ROW on the title register for the house next door, allowing neighbours access through a side gate along the side of the house we are buying, across the patio and in through another gate to their garden.

We are both now a bit spooked given the back and forth between ours and the buyers solicitors over this. Buyer’s solicitors haven’t answered some questions about the use of this ROW and I’ve been reading some horror stories online about disputes. Are we mad? All advice welcome!

this is very common with terraced houses, I would not focus on how much it’s used, that can change tomorrow but focus on can you move it to someplace further down so it’s still workable but less infringing?

It doesn't matter if they say they hardly use it though. There's no point in asking.

They could sell it tomorrow to people who only want to use their back door because they have three huskies or a pram.

They could leave the gate open and other people chips get in. You could never get a dog or leave your garden with a toddler in it, even for twenty seconds.

And if you ever fell out with them or they took against you, they would be able to use it as a weapon.

I wouldn't because how it has been managed up till now tells you nothing about how it will be handled by future neighbours.

And if it descends into problems you will find it very hard to get out because you will be liable to report any issues you are having to your buyers.

We had this in our first house. An endterraced cottage. It was a middle aged couple and she worked so only used it twice a day but he was an unemployed waste of space and back and forth multiple times a day. It was awful he was really creepy and used to stare in. When their horrible daughter split with her husband and moved in with her horrible children that was the final straw. We sold up.

Remember it is not just the neighbours that can use the route but their guests too

No way. Just don't do it. There is a row along one edge of our property (not near to the house) and that's bad enough. Steer well clear.

This. You may be personally fine with it, and the current neighbours may never use it/ become your dearest friends, but I wouldn’t saddle myself with a house a lot of potential buyers wouldn’t even consider, even if I planned to spend 30 years there.

I owned an end of terrace property with a ROW over my patio - to be exercised by the middle terraced house. There was a gate built into the fence.

I had two sets of neighbours in the 7 years I lived there; the original neighbours never once used it. I don’t even think the gate even opened it was that rusted.

When my new neighbours moved in, they asked to use the gate around 3 times (and path going down the side of my house) to bring some garden equipment, a fridge and to get rid of a broken bench. Other than that, it was never used.

I sold with no issues; completely upfront about the usage and frequency. It maybe helped that the middle terrace also had ROW over the other end of terrace house, so they had options of which way to go, although that house was rented out and tenants would routinely put a lock on the gate so the ROW couldn’t be exercised, which I thought was cheeky but ultimately none of my business.

I wouldn’t be put off if I found another property with the same set up, but I would be asking questions around frequency, usage, security, noise etc. It does appear to be off putting when you first find out, but as PP have said, it’s common in terraces and for most neighbours, it’s rarely used or used with common understanding. There will always be some that take the mic, so do as much due diligence as possible

Aside from people walking past it’s restricting your security, if you want a dog or children to play while you are indoors.

I wouldn’t go near it. You could end up with one of those neighbours that absolutely HAS to be your best friend and you’d never get away from them.

It's not ideal is it.

I'd only go ahead if the house was my absolute dream house, everything I ever wanted, totally utterly in love, and planning to stay forever. And if I could legally remove ROW if dodgy neighbors ever moved in.

No way, unless the price was significantly reduced (>25% off other houses similar size in the area without the ROW) and even then only if I was desperate.

Much.too.risky

It may be ok, but what will you do if it isn't?

We have ROW through two adjoining gardens to get round to our back garden. We are considerate and normal people who use it only when it's desperate (eg fitting a sofa in that won't go through the weird small Victorian cottage front passageway. And where possible we ask first. And shut gates and never stare in windows!! In no malmreal life, it shouldn't be a problem, especially if you are friendly and discuss it amiably with whoever is allowed to walk through.

Is your heart set on this property OP? Sounds like a nightmare and an invasion of privacy. I suspect this is one of the reasons the house is up for sale. If you could hold your horses I'm sure you'll find another place that you'd like.

It sounds as if the ROW runs diagonally from the corner of your house to the furthest corner of your garden. I wouldn't like this.
I might feel different if it was a 3ft wide strip across the bottom of the garden, it could be effectively screened off, but right across the garden past my table, my bbq, my hot tub (sex pond), nah.
You would hope people would be respectful but these days....

For me, it would depend how it is set up. My first house had a ROW across the garden for one house. In effect I had a small back yard, a fenced path with a gate through which the ROW ran and then my back garden was the other side of the fence. I was clearly lucky, as I never saw anyone use it, and because the fence was fairly high, I didn't feel watched. Not sure how I would feel about it now.

Seems common in rows of Victorian terraces. My DP rents a property with a right of way across his back patio. Never been a problem and rarely used.

You need to know though!

I viewed a house with exactly this arrangement and was totally put off.

the neighbour actually passed a foot away from the kitchen window while we were in the kitchen. Apparently they used it several times a day as they didn’t use the front door. I knew I could never trust that kids or dogs would be safe. It will put a lot of people off. Even without considering the possibility of disputes and arsehole neighbours.

Good to hear that there are one or two who have experience of a similar set up that wasn’t a complete nightmare! Worries are slightly eased but fully accept what many are saying about the pitfalls and the uncertainty.

I do like this house (a lot!) but not enough to put us into a rubbish position re: saleability/privacy etc. We are FTBs but older and (hopefully) a bit wiser - we can take the hit money-wise if we had to pull out now due to any ROW issues which came to light. If it helps us avoid making a huge mistake I can stomach it.

In terms of us finding out about how things are working at the moment, what is acceptable? As mentioned, through our solicitors we are asking how things are working in practice but what else can we do - can we ask to visit the property and talk to the seller? Could we tap on the neighbours door and talk to them? Not sure what the etiquette is here or what due diligence looks like from our side so again, any advice gratefully received

How does this work with pets? If you have a dog?

No way would I buy any property with a ROW over any part of it. It's asking for trouble. The only way I'd consider it is if it was at a substantial discount to the normal market price.

But even if the current neighbour says they rarely use it they could sell at anytime to someone who uses it 10x a day. You have no control. Will they shut your gate. You can’t secure your back garden against burglars, etc so would always be vulnerable.

It’s along the side of the house (fine, no windows there, just an alley), and incorporates the whole patio space a meter or two wide (which is directly in front of the living room and kitchen windows - not so fine if the neighbours are creeps!). It can’t be fenced in such a way to create privacy, unless we had a massive fence blocking our windows; the ROW would have to be moved elsewhere.

I expect it would affect the saleability of the neighbour’s house too - if there are lots of people who wouldn’t buy a house with a ROW there are also probably lots who wouldn’t want to have to use a ROW. I don’t understand why previous owners haven’t agreed to move it but maybe the neighbour is a pain in the neck!

They have a front door; they appear to store their bins out in their front garden which is a good sign I guess? No bin-trundling in the early hours (for now anyway…)

No, we had this. The people who were there when we bought were lovely and respectful. Then they moved out and the new people were a nightmare. Didn’t use their front door at all, always the back, going through our garden. Came home late at night crashing the gate, when we asked them to stop demanded we remove it. Told us we couldn’t have our dog in the garden as they didn’t like them, had their kids running in and out with their mates, we didn’t have a scrap of privacy, made our garden unusable. Would run a mile from another set up like that.