Buying a House with a Footpath - Advice/Thoughts

Gavin83

housebuyer143 said:

There is a place near me valued at £2m and it has a public footpath right of way running directly down the driveway and past the front of the house.
You can't block them so they have put a sign on the front gate (next to the gap in the wall for the path) asking walkers to use the next entrance 100 yards up the road. As far as I know most people do, but if the option wasn't there I imagine most people would walk on though.

Is it a popular walking route? Personally I wouldn't buy it because people are entitled to use it and I wouldn't like that.

There’s probably nothing legally wrong with such a sign (as it’s not misleading) but it is entirely unenforceable. If I had £2m to spend on a property I’d certainly be looking elsewhere.

user1977

housebuyer143 said:

Is it a popular walking route?

Surely that's one of the most relevant points, otherwise why would the OP ever experience "hordes" trying to tramp through their garden?

Section62

Gavin83 said:

housebuyer143 said:

There is a place near me valued at £2m and it has a public footpath right of way running directly down the driveway and past the front of the house.
You can't block them so they have put a sign on the front gate (next to the gap in the wall for the path) asking walkers to use the next entrance 100 yards up the road. As far as I know most people do, but if the option wasn't there I imagine most people would walk on though.

Is it a popular walking route? Personally I wouldn't buy it because people are entitled to use it and I wouldn't like that.

There’s probably nothing legally wrong with such a sign (as it’s not misleading) but it is entirely unenforceable.

It depends on the exact phrasing of the 'request'.  If the aim is to discourage people walking along the driveway it has to be worded very carefully to avoid misleading the public about their right to use the footpath.

Asking people to use a different route suggests there is a reason why they shouldn't use this one.  In some cases (e.g. livestock disease precautions) there's good reasons to encourage use of an alternative route, but in most cases it would be safer to work with the rights of way officer to agree 'official' signage.

stuhse

user1977 said:

housebuyer143 said:

Is it a popular walking route?

Surely that's one of the most relevant points, otherwise why would the OP ever experience "hordes" trying to tramp through their garden?

The question has to be "could it ever be a popular walking route ?" The answer is almost always going to be yes.

A footpath that has not been used for years can suddenly find itself being used regularly here are a few ways that might happen :

1. A new guide book gets publish incorporating it.
2. The "weekly walk" article in the local news paper incorporates it.
3. The local running club starts using it.
4. A new family move into the village and look for routes to walk their dog, morning , lunch and evening.  They decide to use it as part of a loop. All the other dog owners in the village follow suit.
5. The owner applies to the parish council (or whoever it is you apply to) to divert the footpath (or have the route as they see it "corrected". )This highlights the path to the local rambling club who make it their business to make sure its regularly used.(one of them probably writes the "weekly walk" article in the local newspaper.)

Fredw56

This footpath clearly worries you so I would suggest you do not buy the house. 

We have owned a house with a footpath running across the front. The most irritating thing was the dog !!!!!!. It is never the ramblers, it’s the neighbours.

theoretica

Where does the path go on the ground?  Have you gone for a walk and looked for the other end?  Would a walker following the map get diverted onto another route just as good or better or have reason to search for the path through your garden?

But would a rare walker taking that route be more intrusive than people coming to the front door to try get you to sign up to charity, deliver a takeaway menu or whatever?

Also - if people did start using the route is there a possible alternative which would be entirely on your property which you could create?  Either as a 'would you be so kind' or a formal application.  If no alternative would be within your power you would be more vulnerable to people who decided to use all ROWs as a point of principle than if you had potential actions to take if needed.

GDB2222

As a member of the Ramblers Association, I can confirm that we are becoming rather militant about protecting footpaths. 

Also, some walking groups will attract dozens of members to their walks. So, you could have dozens of people walking through your garden. Ever so politely, of course. 

There’s a minimum width for a footpath of around 2 metres. If you don’t maintain that, the local council will clear it for you, or issue proceedings to get you to do the work. 

I was on a walk recently where the walk leader asked us all to take pictures and complain to the council about a very narrow path. 

mjm3346

Living in a very small village, a couple of miles away from here is a cottage, semi, that's side on to a country lane and that has a smallish narrow back garden and a footpath that runs across the end of it (just into the country not a short cut to anywhere) the owner acquired a bit more land same width but maybe 3 or 4 times longer than the original and made a picnic/play area for their kids (swings, climbing frame etc) the footpath still goes across where it did before, so in between the 2 bits of garden - the footpath sign now has rather large additional warnings on it about the penalties for damaging the sign/style/obstructing the path - there are no other properties near this apart from the other part of the semi so there is no one else really for the warnings to be aimed at. (Path was quite decrepit and pretty much unused before the extra garden) 

jimbo6977

Maybe the 1989 owner of the neighbouring property got him/herself coopted to the Parish Council at around that time? 

robatwork

I am a fully qualified rambling hoiker