Shared path - rented property help!

janegresty

We moved in today. Our property has a big drive & next to a pathway which has the same gate as the driveway. The LL who lived here for 1 year worked away alot (hence why she is now renting it, & moved nearer to work).
Next door use the path & have told us they share it with our property. But at the other side of their garden they have a gate with their house number on the gate.
If they were to use their own gate it would mean walking past their own living room window, past their wheelie bin, up the path & to the gate. Which I feel is why they use our pathway which is clear of grass and rubble.
The only reason we want to see about putting a gate or fence between our door and theirs (which would mean they can't use the pathway) is because we have 2 dogs and want to let them be able to run around the front when the weathers bad so that they do not ruin the back garden & bring all the mud into the house.
We could offer to put in just a gate and let them still use the pathway, but if the dogs our out it won't be good as next door have young children & our dogs arn't too friendly with strangers.

Any advice appreciated, or if anyone knows how I can find house plans or property ownership to make sure the pathway is 100% this propertys. And also advice on how to deal with the situation. Thanks.

clutton_2

your solicitor will have copies of the map of your property's boundaries which he would have got from the land registry - you can ask him/her for a copy - o r download your own for £3 from the land registry website.

tomstickland

Have you spoken to your neighbours and explained your situation?

PasturesNew

Are other properties on the street identical? What does their arrangement look like?

I'd speak to the landlord, possibly get copies of the deeds from land registry and talk to the neighbour if they looked approachable.

lil_me

We could offer to put in just a gate and let them still use the pathway, but if the dogs our out it won't be good as next door have young children & our dogs arn't too friendly with strangers.

This really concerns me as a dog owner and a parent, if you have dogs which can not be trusted near small children then a short fence would not be adequate to allow them free reign of the garden, thinking 'what if one child pops it's hand/head over?' it's not worth the risk. Most planning offices dislike high fences between front gardens.

You would of course need to seek the landlords permission to put a fence up, the landlord may not want this if they feel it would cause bad feeling with the neighbours. At the end of the day when you move out they would still own the house.

Just hoping when you explain why you want a larger fence, that the dogs are bringing mud into the house, that they are agressive with strangers etc it doesn't put your landlord off renting to you, especially when you've just moved in.

bryanb

Does your rental agreement allow pets?

janegresty

Our LL has allowed pets as she had a dog herself. Our dogs are not dangerous, but 1 of our dogs is a big dog and gets excitable and jumps up at people which isn't ideal for small children walking in and out of the garden!

Plus I would not trust young children to shut the gate behind them, keeping the dogs in the garden! (We oly moved in yesterday and my husband has been out 5 times already to shut the gate, as they just leave it wide open).

We had a chat with the neighbours, but their view is they have shared the path for a year... so even though they have their own path they want to use this one as it is paved and clear.

We have spoken to the LL and she said yes we can put a fence up and yes it is our path, but that the neighbours use it. She isn't the best LL in the world for matters like this, and is very laid back. So not much help at the moment.

We do not want to ask the neighbours not to use the path if it will make the future relationship with them uncomfortable... but at the same time we are wasting all the front of the house which can be used for the dogs to run round and also once our baby is older it would be nice for them to play.

Another point is that anyone who is walking down the path is staring in through our window, which is very uncomfortable! I shouldnt have to put net curtains up, just so I do not get stared at everytime next door return to their house.

I would be willing to pay the £3 for the deeds lol. Can I do that on a website online? Or can only the LL do that?

irnbru_2

janegresty wrote: »

We had a chat with the neighbours, but their view is they have shared the path for a year... so even though they have their own path they want to use this one as it is paved and clear.

Establish if it's a communal path and if not, erect the fence.

kazwookie

Check with the LL, get their agreement in writing re putting a fence up, and then put a fence up.

lilac_lady

I'd leave the bit out about the dogs because if you have a secure back garden it would make more sense to let them out there so that they won't bark at everything. If the path in question passed by my livingroom window I would definitely close off your neighbours' access to it as you're entitled to privacy in your own home.

lonestar1

If you want to try and maintain good reltionships with your neighbours could you perhaps offer to help them clear out their own path ? (if they are elderly maybe even offer to clear it out for them)