Garden Access Rights

10dawson

We recently moved into an end of terrace house, in which the neighbour has a side gated access to our garden and then onto the main road.

9/10 they would only use this to take their bins out and bring them back in the evening, in which I have no arguments with.

The other day I noticed that their was 2 x random men in my garden, which caught me by surprise and then noticed that it was their gardeners stepping through our garden consistently with lawn mowers, jet washers and so forth.

My question is, should the neighbours be telling us about random people which are going to travel through my property? I appreciate that the neighbours have right of way but do their gardeners?

I just find it a bit weird as in all fairness I could have gone out there shouting at them, accusing them of breaking into my garden...

mr_stripey

we used to have a terrace (not the end) and so had to "go through" the neighbours garden to get to our own. Occasionally of course we would have workers etc. Key her I suppose is to try and establish good relations with your neighbours. I wouldn't expect to have be compelled to knock on my neighbours door to tell them if I was having work done. If it was going to be messy, loud etc then I would let them know as a common courtesy.

I have no idea about the legal position but I suspect if access is required for someone to work in the garden or rear of the house then I doubt they would have to ask you first.

ic

I have an end terrace, and asked the question of my solicitor when I bought.  My neighbours have free access to go back and forth as they please.  They can't store anything, and have no right to stop and hang around.  As a consequence, I installed fencing that gave them an alleyway running around my garden, so that I have a private and secure space.  The alleyway is gated, and the neighbours have keys.

Andy_L

10dawson said:

We recently moved into an end of terrace house, in which the neighbour has a side gated access to our garden and then onto the main road.

9/10 they would only use this to take their bins out and bring them back in the evening, in which I have no arguments with.

The other day I noticed that their was 2 x random men in my garden, which caught me by surprise and then noticed that it was their gardeners stepping through our garden consistently with lawn mowers, jet washers and so forth.

My question is, should the neighbours be telling us about random people which are going to travel through my property? I appreciate that the neighbours have right of way but do their gardeners?

I just find it a bit weird as in all fairness I could have gone out there shouting at them, accusing them of breaking into my garden...

What do your deeds say?

Ectophile

It really comes down to what it says in the deeds, possibly in the form of a covenant.

mwarby

I would imagine they need a right for tradespersons to use the garden for access, wether or not a gardener coming say every week is reasonable is perhaps another issue. 

In my case I needed to get the rear gutters cleaned, and I like to believe my deeds give me the right of access for such thing. I think it’s common courtesy to let your neighbour know before hand though

i think I’m trying to say they probably have the right for essential maintenance, they might not have the right to access every week just because they don’t want to mow own lawn

TELLIT01

It may have been considered polite for your neighbour to let you know about tradesmen, I doubt there is any legal requirement.  They seem to have right of way across your property to access theirs and that will apply to anybody visiting as well.

Davesnave

Without a direct quote of what it says about access rights on your title document, you'll not get a definitive answer to your question. However, as others have said, unless there is a specific mention of who may use the access, it's unlikely you can choose to exclude trades-persons, friends etc. or require advance warnings about them.

If it's only 2 properties involved, you might ask the neighbour if they'd mind if you made it a shared lock & key access for increased security, but if they disliked the idea there's likely no way you could impose it

Mutton_Geoff

I'd look on the positive side that your neighbour cares enough to have their garden professionally tended to. Much better than living next door to a dumping ground. It shows they have funds to invest in their property and the long term view would be this can only be better for you.

ElephantBoy57

If there is a gate which allows access, anyone needing access to next doors property is liable to use it.

Nothing stopping you locking it and giving all neighbours a key. But knocking on your door to ask permission would be overkill.

Davesnave

ElephantBoy57 said:

Nothing stopping you locking it and giving all neighbours a key.

I think that would require prior agreement, otherwise the OP would be interfering with the free right of access for persons the neighbour wishes to use that entrance.

There's a good chance a key arrangement might be agreed upon though, especially if there's only one neighbour with a right of way.