Buying a House with a Footpath - Advice/Thoughts

GDB2222

nicetomeetyou123 said:

Hi, 

I really really hope you didn't buy this property in the end. We are living through a similar experience having bought the property with a footpath running through, its been HELL.
We put a gate at our boundary on the property to secure it as we have two young children and a dog and the locals have been an absolute nightmare. One of them had a go at me whilst I was holding my baby... on my OWN doorstep. 

Wish you all the best, not much advice really but looking back we would've steered well clear of this house had we have known. I had a random man wondering our tree line of our garden yesterday, imagine if my children or dog was in the garden? Honestly, it is not worth the stress. 

Have you actually tried to block a public right of way?!   Surely, if the gate is unlocked, there is no real issue? 

Dustyevsky

nicetomeetyou123 said:

Hi, 

I really really hope you didn't buy this property in the end. We are living through a similar experience having bought the property with a footpath running through, its been HELL.
We put a gate at our boundary on the property to secure it as we have two young children and a dog and the locals have been an absolute nightmare. One of them had a go at me whilst I was holding my baby... on my OWN doorstep. 

Wish you all the best, not much advice really but looking back we would've steered well clear of this house had we have known. I had a random man wondering our tree line of our garden yesterday, imagine if my children or dog was in the garden? Honestly, it is not worth the stress.

Why do you 'really hope' the OP didn't buy? Perhaps they did and they're very happy with their choice.

Sadly, you've focused so hard on your own problems with a public RoW there isn't much clarity in your post. I'm not denying a public RoW may present some challenges, but here there are more questions than answers. For example:

• We don't know what 'running through' means. A footpath along a boundary is a different beast from one in the middle of a garden.
• Adding a gate to 'secure' your property sounds like you made it hard for anyone to gain access. No wonder people are angry if you have blocked public RoW.
• If you didn't block the RoW, why was the 'local' having a go at you?
• You say, "we'd have steered clear of this house had we have known." Had you known what, exactly? I'd say it's difficult to buy a property with a public footpath running through it without discovering that. Do you mean you didn't understand the consequences?
  
• Again, you say, "I had a random man wondering our tree line of our garden yesterday, imagine if my children or dog was in the garden?"  We have not seen your 'tree line,' so we have no idea what that means. If this tree line is where the footpath runs, he was entitled to be there, so long as he was using it as a path.

As sheramber suggests, in most footpath through garden situations, it's possible to fence off the path if there are concerns. If privacy is really important, then hedging is a good long term solution and less opressive than a tall fence..

user1977

nicetomeetyou123 said:

I had a random man wondering our tree line of our garden yesterday, imagine if my children or dog was in the garden?

Ok, I'm now imagining your children and/or dog in the garden at the same time as a man.

And?