[Closed] Typically speaking who has resposbility for/owns the fences in your garden.

you own/have responsibility for the fence on the left of your garden if you're standing with you back to your property

certainly true for our current and previous houses, not sure if it's always the case though.

the fence on the left of your garden if you're standing with you back to your property.

that would be opposite front and back, and that doesn't sound right.

In reality, it's your garden and if you care about it then you are responsible.

Nope, the ownership myth differs depending on whereabouts in the country you are.

Your deeds/Register will show you if you have any specific responsibility.

Check your deeds, and have a conversation with your neighbours

We've always gone halves with the people on each side for any work that needs doing.

you own/have responsibility for the fence on the left of your garden

We've always gone halves with the people on each side for any work that needs doing

Housing association.

So we've replaced the fence on our left at 100% our cost. The result is extremely smart and now secure where before the neighbours dog used to be able to get through the holes in the very tatty mesh fencing that was there.

We've no problem with paying all the money but our neighbour is now very unhappy and was, earlier today, off to talk to his solicitor. Two things seems to have irked him. One is that we've attached part of the fence to one of his outbuildings (which is how the old fence was also attached) and two, we've removed what he claims to be 'his' fence. We're not sure whether he means his resposibility or whether he means his 'goods and chatels'.

All of this has probably come about because the 'project manager' acted unilaterally and totally failed to inform/consult with the neighbour or even check the deeds 😕 (but since I am married to the 'project manager' I am duty bound to be on their side). He is also saying something about having changed the boundary, which does seem to have happened (marginally) but it's actually given him more room not less.

It's just another headache. We're checking the deeds now but I'm anxious and wondered if there was something that you lot could tell me that would ease that anxiety a little (IANAL et al).

Jeez, is it that difficult to open ones mouth & actually talk to the neighbours, can't believe people don't have the common courtesy to do so irrespective of rights & legalities, mind you it does open the door to unilateral decisions about bike riding / pub attendance etc & see how your other half likes it 😉

Your boundary will likely only be indicative.

There is no hard rules, even if the deeds say you are responsible for a fence doesn't mean that the fence on the ground is actually yours!

Theres a long post at gardenlaw covering some of the madness : [url= http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2247 ]HERE[/url]

is it that difficult to open ones mouth & actually talk to the neighbours

If you're hugely 'passive/aggressive' and terrified of conflict or the potential for conflict, then yes.

I'm the diplomat in the house. I'm pretty good at managing these kinds of things so the learning is that where it needs to happen, ask me to do it, don't just ignore it and hope it will be OK.

In the absence of definitive markings on the title plan ('T' lines facing in from the boundary), or a covenant or somesuch recorded on the register of title, it's difficult to provide any 'hard and fast' rule as to who owns a fence.

The commonly accepted wisdom about the arris rails being on the owner's side are unfortunately just myths.

A fence cannot be a party wall, so it's either jointly owned or one or t'other of you are responsible.

To complicate matters further, the boundaries recorded on the title plan are just 'general boundaries' - they are not actually definitive. If you can make out from the title plan where the fence is, and where the boundary is, if you can discern the boundary from landmarks then you might be able to have an educated guess as to where it is, but if not it's just 'in the vicinity':

https://www.gov.uk/your-property-boundaries

So why on earth would our neighbour be so upset about us having replaced at entirely our own cost a very tatty, unsightly and unsecure bit of 'fence' with a very smart and entirely secure fence (apart from the fact we didn't tell him that's what we were doing)?

There is no "typically" anything, the left / right thing is a myth. Check the deeds if you can, that will tell you authoritatively.

Greg - Surely you have a set of Bombers in your spares bin to help 'resolve' matters?

Fence matters get folk very hot under the collar.

Our responsibility is the the right per your description as outlined in the deeds. We fell out with our neighbors during the replacement (haven't spoken since, appx 3 years) of the fence which we were paying for as they claimed that in parts it was 1-2 inches in the wrong place - which the old rickety fence it replaced may well have been but it was all over the place & we were not going to put a new straight fence up along a wonky line. Said neighbor had been pestering me to replace the fence since the day we moved in so really he should have been pleased but him and his psycho witch wife were anything but. It got to the point were we referred him to communicate to us only via our solicitor in writing. Btw, an inch here or here re the boundary will get laughed out of court.

There were a few tipping ponts. When the old fence was down and new fence about to go up, he came across from his garden and opened our back door, angrily demanding to speak to me - it was 8am on a Saturday and I was feeding my then 1yr old. Told him I'd be out as soon as I was done and properly dressed but really should have told him where to go and stick it.

Then got home from work one night and found 3 coppers on my doorstep - one being the community officer. Bearing in mind that I commute by bike, my wife initially thought they were there to tell her I'd been in an accident. Also having to explain to my then 3y old daughter why the cops where there to speak to me. The police really wanted nothing to do with it but were obliged to follow up with the inquiry from the Adams family next door.

We had informed them prior to the work going ahead what we planned to do etc so they were fully aware that the fence was being replaced and they were consenting so hardly a surprise etc.

Good luck fella

[i]apart from the fact we didn't tell him that's what we were doing[/i]

This + "Change = Bad"

People don't react well to surprises either in their work or home lives.

Hopefully they'll calm down you can have a sensible conversation, address any concerns they've got and it'll all be forgotten about.

So why on earth would our neighbour be so upset about us having replaced at entirely our own cost a very tatty, unsightly and unsecure bit of 'fence' with a very smart and entirely secure fence

Obviously I don't know your situation but different people have different ideas for example a neighbour did this at a friends parents house, old fence had brambles and other natural habitats with plenty of holes for the wildlife to get through (I've seen foxes, deer, redkites etc in their garden) neighbour took it all down & replaced with unsightly 6ft tall garish fence panels - not particularly pleasant or nature friendly.

I do, because I put them up just inside my boundary line.

On the left side it appears that the rules are its my hedge and my responsibility, but on account of having been living there since Victorian times Ian is allowed to 'trim' it how and when it takes his fancy.

On the right that too is apparently my hedge because my predecessor planted it, but she doesn't give two hoots what I do with it, and is insisting on paying for half the cost of its removal, digging up and replacement, even though that's taken me 8 months and counting.

We just middle along round here, no one really cares much for official stuff.

someone commented that fences can't be party walls but that is how ours are identified on the deeds. The neighbours to our left I went 50 50 with, the one on the right would be happy to do the same if asked.

riddoch - Member

someone commented that fences can't be party walls but that is how ours are identified on the deeds. The neighbours to our left I went 50 50 with, the one on the right would be happy to do the same if asked.

T'was me.

It's not a Party Wall in the sense that it falls within the definition of the Party Wall Act - rather, what you're describing is an agreement (eminently sensible!) to maintain.

Sometimes people can be reasonable...

I rarely see my neighbour on the right, even though it's the other half of my semi and I work from home a lot. The fence between us was disintegrating, it's fence panels with concrete posts/gravel boards that was in before either of us moved in. I'm having quite a bit of work done on the garden and got the panels replaced.

Next time I saw the neighbour, he thanked me (I did apologise for not letting him know in advance) and offered to pay for half (wasn't expecting that). Although I said it didn't seem fair as I'd gone ahead and wasn't expecting anything, couple of weeks later got a cheque posted through the door.

fences and parking.

Cause of major problems with neighbours.

It's all about your territory.

My fence blew down during the storm, well technically it may be the neighbours fence as it is on the other side of the dividing line which is a low wall made of flagstones about two ft high.
Just rung the owner (its a rented house) and he told me he'd already been round to look at it. Sounded rather surprised when I offered to go 50/50 on the cost of replacing it, don't think he was expecting me to offer to be honest.
Its only fair as there were some climbing plants that 'may' have contributed to its downfall and he's agreed to go like for like. He's going to get it sorted once he gets a quote etc.

Nice and easy, no need to fall out.

Our garden is bounded by ten different other properties, i try not to think about it. 😕

I have a fence between me and the next door house going down the road that's falling to bits. My dad, who lives with me, has been arguing over who needs to do something about it. There are small concrete posts with wire still existing from when the houses were built in the 30's, and also next door still has their entire garden, (half of ours was taken to build flats when it was still a council house, next door is still housing association), and all of the existing wooden panels are on the neighbour's side of the old concrete posts, which is to the left standing looking down the garden with the house behind, and he even said next door put up some of the fencing panels, but insists I'm responsible for fixing the broken fence between the houses!
Bugger that, is my feeling, as the wooden fencing is quite clearly on the far side of the original fences that marked the house boundaries.
The bottom of the garden is what I'm having to fork out for, damned if I'm paying for something a housing association ought to be sorting out.
Bloody nightmare.