Our house is going on the market this week. My neighbour has seen the for sale board and has put a note through the door asking to buy our easement access from us and the cost of a deeds change, prior to any sale, as she is nervous of 'strangers' walking across her garden.
We have always been on good terms - she is a lovely woman in her mid 70s - all her adult children live close by and support/help her lots.
We are a mid terrace, she is the end of the row semi - we have a gate to her garden which gives us access across her garden and out her side gate into the street.
To note - we have been in the property 10 years and have used the easement maybe 3 times - once to fit new furniture into our patio doors and crucially one time, when i locked myself out and my 18 month old was alone and i was able to run round and through her side gate and then into my open patio doors.
For what it is worth - what has irritated me over the years is that the side gate is locked (we don't have a key) and so we haven't had full access (a breach of the easement, if one was to get petty) which could have been very stressful in an emergency (it was a total fluke it was open the day i needed emergency access - v unusual) and she has blocked her side of the gate with a heavy bench, which did stress me out with 2 young children - again, thinking of fire or the like. For an easy life, we didn't query/push any of these issues.
Even if we wanted to sell her the easement - a deed change is likely to take months and therefore may disrupt any potential house sale.
What other implications should i be aware of - is it common for terraces to have zero side/back access? I think it is useful for both of the reasons we used it above. The estate agent says you can offer it to buyers as an option to sell it once the sale completes, I think it may just complicate things and if i was a buyer, i would worry about annoying a new neighbour by saying no.
Any help or advice on this would be really useful, thanks.