Access rights to houses

MJMum

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milkydrink

Gosh what a horrible/silly way of doing it. Is this a "northern" thing, these types of access? I am not familar with them.

I would go mad about the dog, no way should you have to fence YOUR garden at YOUR expense to control THEIR dog.

A gate with a fiddly catch sounds good too.

& stuff in their way, garden furniture, pots, anything.

I'm having trouble understanding the layout, are you saying your next door neighbours instead of going in their front door choose to walk along the side of your house, into your garden presumably across your patio & past your windows/back doors/patio doors ect & then through a gap in the back garden fence left as a gap especially for access?????? Why in Gods name would they do that, are they mad or just arkward??? Why don't they just use their own bl00dy door?

I know you say the deeds allow them access, but surely there is a difference between access for bins & building & garden works and using it as a main entrance???

You must wish you hadn't bought it, did you know about the access rules then, not just about it being a right of way, but being used as a main entrance, BECAUSE I THINK THEIR IS A BIG DIFFERENCE?

Poor you, perhaps seek legal advice & make it arkward as hell for them.

I really can't understand why they would want to do this

pboae

It's not just a northern thing, it's fairly common in terraces to allow people access to the back garden. The other way it is done is to have an alley that runs all the way along the back of the houses and people get access that way. It just depends on the layout. They were built in a time when back yards were used to hang laundry out and little else.



In many houses of this age the front door will open straight into the living room, and sometimes they open straight onto the street so many people choose not to use it. For example, if you have small kids or pets opening your door straight onto a road can be dangerous. But there are other reasons too (i.e. to be able to fit two sofas into the room).

Putting obstacles, etc in the way may be tempting, but it would put the OP in a very vulnerable position as they have no right to restrict the neighbours' access. In this case there is no difference in being able to use the path as a main entrance and for access to the garden. That may seem harsh, but it's the way it is.

The dog is a seperate issue altogether, and whilst the neighbour *ought* to be the one to deal with it, sometimes it's easier just to do it yourself, however unfair that might be.

poe.tuesday

the first thing you need to do if find out if they have a right of way, now this should have been found when the search was done on your property, check your deeds but the right of way may not be on them as it may be an established right of way (means is has been used for more thatn 20 years unchallenged by anyone who lives in the house next door), the other thing you need to check is if there are perscriptive rights, I doubt there is the latter but you must check

do not put up a fence, do not take any action against them until you have found this all out, do not enter into any communication with them about anything at the mo, if you complain about the dog poo (and you have every right to) they may start getting arsy, just weight until you have all the legal info you have and hit them in one go, you have to remember that if you are planning to sell your house then you have to declare any issues you have had with your neighbours, so just hold on tackling them until you are ready to pounce.

I think that you should go to forums that specialise in these types of issues such as

http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=5c9984e534d08025d6bacda7cc447f60

and

http://www.nfh.org.uk/

good luck and keep your cool

dmg24

Gosh what a horrible/silly way of doing it. Is this a "northern" thing, these types of access? I am not familar with them.

What complete nonsense. I have friends in Kent with the same problem - "southern" enough for you?!

With regard to the dog, if they are unwilling to be amicable and stop the dog doing it, then I would contact environmental health at your local council.

Good luck with getting it all sorted x

milkydrink

dmg24 wrote: »

What complete nonsense. I have friends in Kent with the same problem - "southern" enough for you?!

I meant no offence by it, I'm not familar with that type of layout.

But I have seen on home decorating & buying/selling TV programmes terraced houses with side access type doors & I think they were mainly in the North.

I just wondered thats all?

I've NEVER lived in a house with that problem/layout, nor have I ever known anyone live in a house with that type of problem/layout.

suffolkb

I have an end terrace (of 4) house. The only way that the middle two houses can get to their back door is to use the alley next to my house. Sim for the semi on the other side of mine. It would never occur to me to expect these people to not use their back doors if they want to. And no one is going to tell me which door to use either.
If you own that land, then fine. Otherwise you`ll just have to get used to it.

milkydrink

suffolkb wrote: »

I have an end terrace (of 4) house. The only way that the middle two houses can get to their back door is to use the alley next to my house. Sim for the semi on the other side of mine. It would never occur to me to expect these people to not use their back doors if they want to. And no one is going to tell me which door to use either.
If you own that land, then fine. Otherwise you`ll just have to get used to it.

Ah, so are you saying that they do not own the land at the side of the house of the part of their garden that these people walk over? I'm not trying to be funny just trying to understand.

So if this lady doesn't own it, who does?
I took it that she did own it, but they had right of way?
I read it that the side gully was hers (like the side bit on a semi)& they were allowed to use it.

suffolkb

I don`t know who owns the alleyway of the OP. I don`t know who owns the alley next to my house. I suppose it`s mentioned on the deeds, but it doesn`t bother me enough to go and check. My neighbours need to use it to get to their back doors and I see no reason why they shouldn`t be allowed to.
In the past, the owner of the semi on my left wanted to put up a gate that we would all have a key to, but that was only because some of the kids from the local school used to skive and go for a smoke/drink round the back.

milkydrink

suffolkb wrote: »

My neighbours need to use it to get to their back doors and I see no reason why they shouldn`t be allowed to.

But that's the OP point isn't it.

Who comes & goes via the back door every time, when you have a front door?

From the way I'm reading this they are walking past the front door to go around the side of the OP house & through their garden?

I just can't understand why these people would take the long way round?

I can certainly understand if they were turfing their garden or something & didn't want to drag it through the house, or similar work. But I can't understand why they do it day, day out. Unless they have the hump with the OP for buying in the first place as it stops them using her garden as a dog loo (mind you it hasn't stopped them doing that has it).