My first Neighbour Dispute thread!

Morning all, can I tap the hive mind on this one?
Next door is a rented property, the fence between our gardens has for the last 2 years spent most of the time lying flat in their garden, it is their fence, I’ve checked. They have bodged it a couple of times in that period and every time it’s been blown down again in a month. Now with summer approaching I would quite like it to be fixed so the kids can run around the garden without escaping. Having made contact with the rental agents (the tenants are a bit useless – think it’s their first time renting) I’m not holding out much hope.

Put up a fence yourself. Life’s too short.

It’s not their problem, it’s the landlord. You need to get hold of them.

If they are that unreliable, and it’s that important to you can you not just put up a fence for yourself?

do it yourself, life is too short.
I have just had my ridge tiles pointed, and my chimney pointed and flaunched. the damage was being caused by the neighbours half of the chimney being unflaunched. water was sitting on the top and leaking down causing the problem.
I got it sorted, because they are young with a new baby, because I did not want it to get worse, because I am a nice bloke and could afford it.

Just erect it yourself OP. Maybe get the tenants to give you a hand/beer.

Rental agents think that informing the owner of repairs will reduce the amount of cash they can get on commision so they dont tell the landlord.

Get on the land registry website and find who the owner is and send them a recorded letter,that shoulsd spark some action.

In general there’s no legal requirement to erect or maitain a boundry fence. Probably much better to put one up yourself.

Become a nudist, they’ll soon fix it. Unless you’re buff.

You definitely need to get the police involved! And social services! And possibly the planning department of the local council

Alternatively: just put a fence up. Get some Israeli contractors in for a proper job…….

http://www.fencestore.co.uk/traditional-fence-panels/palisade-panels/fence-plus/3ft-rounded-pale-palisade-panel-3×6

There you go.
No dispute.

Rental agents think that informing the owner of repairs will reduce the amount of cash they can get on commision so they dont tell the landlord.

Really? Most make more by charging the same commission and then using one of their contractors to do the repairs for a % before passing the full bill onwards to the landlord.

I’d air on the side of do it yourself too. The fence at the end of our garden blew down twice over Christmas. The first time it was late at night and I needed to let the dogs out for a slash so I did a quick bodge job on it. The second time I couldn’t even be bothered to go through the process of finding out who’s it was, talking to the guy the other side, agreeing who’d do and pay for what etc I just got on and did it. I’d hoped he would come round and maybe say thanks, but he never did. But hey I learnt how to put up a fence that day, my dogs were contained and no local cats lost their lives so it was worth doing 🙂

You definitely need to get the police involved! And social services! And possibly the planning department of the local council

Alternatively: just put a fence up. Get some Israeli contractors in for a proper job…….

?_?

Are your neighbours out of work, immigrants or fat? If so, get on to the Daily Mail, they love this sort of stuff.

Or plant some of these

Put one up yourself.

I gather you’re patio needs doing at the same time!

Customers will come in when i’m mid post …….
I am leaning towards putting a new one up myself – but hesitating as it’s a rented property. I may be a bit petty but i’m not sure I should be paying for the upkeep of a property he’s making money off …

I may be a bit petty but i’m not sure I should be paying for the upkeep of a property he’s making money off …

Oh yawn FFS not every rental is somebody making money (especially if HMRC are reading) there are a lot of people just renting houses out so they can move and find work.

It’s not the responsibility of the tenant to fix the fence, you have spoken to the agent who is yet to get back to you, has it been months or just a few days. Ask for the landlords contact and speak to them directly if thats how you feel.

we were in the same position a few years ago. the landlord wont care as he does not live there and its not inconveniencing him. just put one up yourself and enjoy your garden, screw the neighbours 🙂

You want a fence. He isnt bothered.

His house doesnt need a fence.

You want a fence – you put up a fence.

forget about the other property, just put one up so your kids can enjoy running around your garden.

Then get the landlords details, send him a letter saying what you have done and why. Depending on the response (if any) you can then go straight to them in the future.

There are some landlords who do actually care about the people living next to their properties, and they could easily fit into this category and have a genuine reason.

Either way, fix it yourself and move on, as has been said life if really too short to worry about this type of thing.

Landlords problem, I’ve just had to pay for a fence repair on our rental. If I was a tenant I’d be complaining about it as well though, just in case the neighbour was a nudist!

Well looks like i shall bite the bullet, maybe a quick e-mail offering a 50/50 split would be worth a try?

well you are generous!! Try saying hello first and see what their plans are. Though looking after a house in the UK i’d love a neighbour who picks up the tab for all the issues!

Landlords problem, I’ve just had to pay for a fence repair on our rental. If I was a tenant I’d be complaining about it as well

Agreed.
Was in a rental last year.

Realworld
Neighbour comes over “Hi, the bushes in your back garden are overgrown and are intruding on my garage.”

Me: “OK, thanks, I’ll tell the landlord”.
Couple of emails and a week later a gardener comes around and trims the bushes.

STWorldWorld
Neighbour comes over “Hi, the bushes in your back garden are overgrown and are intruding on my garage.”
STW: “Here’s some sheers and a ladder, get pruning.”

Make sure to steal a bit of their garden if you put up a new fence.

Once of these and the requisite jewellery for the kids will sort it and no obstruction of the view!

Is there not an opportunity here for the OP to be a little creative with the fence position? Sounds like the owner isn’t going to be around anytime soon.

If I was the tenant, I’d be looking for a discount on my rent.
If I was you, I’d look at the cost of a fence, (repair or replace) and base your decision on what to do on that. If reinstating the existing fence was gonna cost you a few bags of post crete and a couple of new posts then just take the hit and be done with it. New fence, few hundred quid……. I’d be looking for financial assistance from the LL.

where is the ‘dispute’ here? there is a problem, and you’ve made a slight tentative at making contact.. so far so good no?

am i missing the point where because there was a fence in place on the neighbours side its then their legal responsibility to reinstate it.

theres nothing to stop land lord removing whole fence and hanging a bit of string down the dividing line surely ….

If you’re in rented too you could always put a fence up then take it with you when you move. That way you get the benefit of a fence now and, when you move, your landlord doesn’t get the benefit of a new fence..and you may need a new one in your new place

Are you in Scotland? In which case the landlord is registered and their name and address is publicly searchable on the landlord register site.

theres nothing to stop land lord removing whole fence and hanging a bit of string down the dividing line surely ….

I believe this to be the case.

I would seriously recommend avoiding dispute with neighbours particularly over parking or fences. Even if the “neighbour” is actually the landlord. They never end well.

If I was the landlord and was struggling to make enough rent to pay my mortgage and costs, (I’ve been there), I would probably just take the fence down if it was knackered.

Dispute? Where’s the dispute?