Tenants Rights of access

[joyce34]

I live in a houseing association house,about six months ago,i came home and found they had put metal bar gates at the end of alleyways,at back of houses,on average each entrance is used by four houses,the gate then has a padlock with a number to use it,we were told by the houseing association that these gates must be kept locked with the padlock at all times,the alleyway is not even two feet wide and my neighbour in her seventies is recovering from a cancer op,she finds the padlock hard to use,especially as its on the outside and you have to put your hands through the railings to undo it,a nightmare when its wet,also difficult to squeeze by with a push chair or bike to do it,the people at the back complain everytime its left open,and once called the police because of the noise,when my neighbour panicked and could,nt get in one night,yet the houseing association manager keeps telling her off for the gate not being locked as the other two neighbour keeps complaining,i never lock it and so far nothing has been said to me,she and i both agree that it is fair enough to lock it late at night but a pain to keep it up every time you go in or out,as we use our back door the most,the two complaining both also have six foot gates and fences and hardly use the back entrance,we just have low wire fences and small gates,can the houseing association make us keep it locked,we were not consulted and had nothing in writeing only a letter to say it had to be kept locked when the others complained,if we forget the number for the padlock it is an absolute pain.

joyce

[MrShed]

Can you clarify that the back lane has had these gates placed on? What is the issue with using the front doors?