Neighbours right of way through our property (easement)

[Tucks]

Hi, not sure anyone can help but its a question on someones rights. My neighbour has right of way (easement I believe) from her back garden via our back garden to access the road (terraced houses). I have no issue at all with this even though she uses the rear as her primarily access and the daily footfall can be excessive. The problem I now have is she's refusing to close her gate between the two properties and has it constantly "wedged" open. This means the dog can't be "just let out" so I'm really asking am I within my rights to insist it only be opened when she's using it or can I just close it without reprisal?

I know it sounds petty but this particular neighbour is a pain of the highest order who has even had us visited but Chartered Surveyors to move things within our garden (the Surveyor agreed with us she was being unreasonable when he visited), but it shows the type of person we are dealing with..... Any advice massively appreciated as I know this is a strange one! Thanks

[Kati]

One for you possibly des8 or Crazy council ??

[Crazy council]

Hi

The wording and interpritation of what she can do or is responcable for is usualy on the origional deads or on the area plan ( check council )

On all easment and acesses i have dealt with, there is usualy some terms to protect the person whos land it is, including security ( fenaces and gates ) , maintanice, ) ( privacy and acsess ) depends on how old they are

Do you have a copy of that ( redacted ), dont worry about any terms in there, there not always inforcable in mondern times, depends on when they were imposed.

One of the things you have to look out for in general, , is them trying to use grandparenting rules ( thats what we used to call them anyhow ) , them suggesting they have usedthe acess in a particual way for over 7 years. As the neigbour has already had a survayer in, she will know that ist costly on her part, and complex to chalange these through the landreg .

If you can post the deeds ( redacted) and if needed, a copy of the area plan that shows it, i will give you an opinion on whats allowed and whats not.

[Tucks]

Thank you, that’s great. Will look out the deeds and come back to you, likely tomorrow. I seem to remember as these are old houses it’s basically just a right if way and didn’t mention specific requirements (1910 built I think) but will confirm. If there’s no mention of a gate (pretty sure there isn’t) I’m just wanting to know it’s legally ok for me to close her gate? She often leaves mine open which I then have to close when I notice it! Thanks again and will revert tomorrow, sorry if there’s typos I’m on the iPhone at the moment rather than pc! Thanks again for the help.

[des8]

It is unlikely that the easement will forbid the gating of the path.
You say she leaves "her" gate open.
A possible solution if not forbidden by the easement might be for you to erect separate self closing gates on either end of the path where it passes over your land.

[Crazy council]

Hi

Older ones are more open to interpritation,

Does she have frontage to a highway, from any other acsess apart from over your land
Did there used to be diches near the back of your plot ( seen these types of acess were there are problems behind the final property lines, like ditches ) or is there any know reason why the exit from her back way is not acsessable

Also, for consideration

Has she paid any maintainace or insurances costs,or has she maintained the acsess in any way
does it affect your privacy ( windows hight or noise ect )

I will have more to say when you find the wording on the deeds, Its best to fully understand your position before you try negoteate with teh other person, you may be in a strong position

Dont worry about my spelling, to hard to explain, i suffer something that makes it hard to see them, have software, but it doesnt work properly at the mo.

[Tucks]

Thanks Both, I've not managed to seek out the deeds as yet but my wife did say it has no restrictions as purely to allow the other house access to their rear garden, no specific measurements etc or criteria. I will check in with the council to be sure. Its really difficult to explain without writing "war and peace" but we've basically had 3 years of grief with her telling us to move things in our garden, change our gate, provide her exterior lighting so this just seems to be the next thing designed to annoy. She does have a front door on to the street but never uses it, no idea why. I've no problem her coming through (even though its directly past both our kitchen and dinner room windows) but its frustrating if we can't even let the dog out without checking her gates shut first! Thanks for all your help but I guess I need to follow up with the council as if deeds show nothing (as my wife seems to believe) I just need to know legally whether I can close her gate. Seems sooooo petty with all the rubbish going on in the world at the moment! Thanks again.

[Crazy council]

Hi

I know it can be a mare to deal with these, there not that uncommon in my area and have dealt with a few.

By the answers you have given i could probebly guess that what your deeds will say and its in your favour compleatly

Odd question

Do you have a drian/sewwer running across the garden, or any other servicesd to her property, like water, leccy

A copy of the deads redacted any indetifyable details, same with any plan that comes with them. I guess she only has acess over land rights ( unless theres something specific in the deads ), but shes acfting like its a shared acsess ( not unusual ) , andif it is, she has to pay towarsd insurance and maintanece ( like ground rent ), butmore than likey, if she has highway acsess from her front door and theres no odditys in the deeds, she donst have the rights she think she does.

,

[Tucks]

Thanks again Crazy Council. Her underground drains pass under our land before going to the street but nothing else that I know of. Theres over 100 houses in this street and every other has the ability to access gardens via their neighbours back garden (basically one passageway every 4 houses). According to my wife its meant to be that ALL residents should allow access to the rear but she's blocked the other side of hers ironically! It's more that our back gardens back on to another set of terrace house back gardens so when they were built this right of movement was needed. When the Surveyor she instructed visited he felt the 5 foot of space we have was sufficient as he said at the time the deeds just specified "right of passage" with no ownership or claim on the land. She wanted us to widen this area to 7 foot for some reason saying she had mobility issues. Ironically the path at the rear of her own property is only 3.5 feet wide, haha! She's just an old lady who seems intent of causing grief and she seems pretty good at it! Least its not as bad as her neighbours the other side have, she's had the police out on them several times! Will try and get hold of the plans. Would have been over 100 years ago so pretty sure the information on them is fairly sparse. Thanks again.

[Crazy council]

understood, i guess from what you say, it will just simply be right of acsess

You only need to not block her way, she has no right to make any demands in relationto lighting or anything else, Also, usualy, the right of acsess over the land may be for eth owner, not visitors, they should not be using your garden.
Its your choice ( unless specified on the plans ) were the right of acsess is, and usualy would be at the end of your garden, not near any windows
.On therse types,, it usualy also compells the person that cross's in the land, to not disturb the owners ( usualy worded oddly )

The problem with sorting thses is the people not the regualtions, sounds like shes decided what it meens and will just faff about expecting to get it.
Also, be carfull when/if dealing with the planning/council depts over this, they tend to struggle when they actual have to think If there one end up being an argument that gpoes further. Its a survayor that sorts it out, if iether claim agian each other, the instrucvtion will be to employy an agreed survayer, and what he says, goes on the landreg/plans if its not disputed propertly,

hope that helps,

[Tucks]

Thanks again CC! I've spoken to the council and they "know her well" so I'm reading between the lines based on the tone of their voice :-) I've been told by them I can close the gate whenever she leaves it open as ultimately she's no more rights than I do (ie stepping 2 feet into her property to close the gate isn't trespass). Just a pain but hopefully she'll get bored with targeting us and move on to another target soon. This world is messed up if people really think this kind of grief is worth it :-( Thanks again!

[ostell]

So have you got rights pass through her garden to get to the other houses further in? If youhave then might be an idea to go walk about, or persuade 2 doors away to insist on their rights and then see what she does.

[Tucks]

I gather we do have those rights but to be honest although tempting that would only escalate things. She's one of these people who's obviously been some kind of matriarch and not used to people pushing back on her.

[Phaeton]

On a practical note, I know it would be extra expense but how about considering putting another gate (self closing) 6 inches into your own garden opening into your garden so she cannot leave it open. Also what do you have at the other side of your garden going onto the highway, another gate? Does she leave that one open as well?

[Tucks]

Yes I know that's an option and could be done but really would be pretty sad to have to do that. To access the road she has to go through our gate as well and around a month ago she was in the habit of leaving that open. It stopped after we had to write to her after a day of high winds when having returned from work we found the gate had been "smashing" back and forth into a window sill which was damaged. We changed our gate around 12 months ago to make it easier for her to open (lowered the handle and made it easier to open) but these things seem quickly forgotten unfortunately. Having done things in the past 3-4 years like replace our patio with her needs in mind (ie slightly lowered and wider) we must been seen as "soft touches" by her and just keeps pushing unfortunately. Kind of reached a tipping point now! I've never had issues with any neighbour in the past but this lady is unique......