Property Boundry issue

Fantom · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:35

Hi,

In my back garden I have a very dilapidated fence which is about 4ft high and was put up by a seemingly blind person...

The boundary of which the fence sits closest to is, according to our deeds our neighbours responsibility to maintain, and currently the fence sits about 8" on my side of the boundary...

The house next door is council owned, I want to errect a new 6ft fence but Im going to ask the council to at least pay for materials of said fence (would probably cost ~£600.

I just wondered if anyone knows where I will stand with this? ie could I take the fence down as its on my property, therefore forcing them to replace it on the correct boundary line? they have animals so the fence is essential to keep them off my land.

Cheers

bloodiedathame · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:41

What sort of animals do they have?

SB118 · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:41

The council will tell you they have there own fencing contractors for the job, then expect some of their finest chainlink to appear at the bottom of your garden.

Fantom · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:44

bloodiedathame said:
What sort of animals do they have?

3 dogs, 4 chickens, 2 rabbits, 1 parrot and countless cats.

Fantom · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:45

SB118 said:
The council will tell you they have there own fencing contractors for the job, then expect some of their finest chainlink to appear at the bottom of your garden.

This worries me...

arknor · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:48

isn't there some general rule with shared fences that the left side is your responsibility ? or did i just imagine that

memyselfandi · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:50

arknor said:
isn't there some general rule with shared fences that the left side is your responsibility ? or did i just imagine that

It should be on the property's deeds who is responsible for the boundary fences as the OP says. I know it is indicated in mine as well.

Fantom · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:50

arknor said:
isn't there some general rule with shared fences that the left side is your responsibility ? or did i just imagine that

Im not sure but our deeds outline that the boundary in question (left when looking from house) is their responsibility, the other side is mine.

AJK · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:51

arknor said:
isn't there some general rule with shared fences that the left side is your responsibility ? or did i just imagine that

No general rule, no. It's not safe to assume.

Rotty · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:53

SB118 said:
The council will tell you they have there own fencing contractors for the job, then expect some of their finest chainlink to appear at the bottom of your garden.

correct, they won't pay towards you doing it yourself, if it needs doing they will do it to a standard they see fit, if it's horrible put another fence your side, you won't lose space if the one they put up is 8 inches further back than currently

Rotty · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:54

arknor said:
isn't there some general rule with shared fences that the left side is your responsibility ? or did i just imagine that

it's on the right ay my house, look at deeds, there will be a sidewards letter T next to fence, this will be on the side of who it belongs to

Fantom · 20 Jun 2013 at 14:00

Rotty said:
correct, they won't pay towards you doing it yourself, if it needs doing they will do it to a standard they see fit, if it's horrible put another fence your side, you won't lose space if the one they put up is 8 inches further back than currently

Thanks, that makes sense. The boundary can be seen when looking over to their side of the fence (short concrete posts). Their garden is quite badly overgrown and for them to build a fence their side of the boundary would require lots of work and potentially landscaping. a chap from the council is due to come over any minute for a chat, any points worth mentioning/ammunition for justifying them to build a quality fence? Im guessing privacy wont rank too highly on their list...

Phosgene1974 · 20 Jun 2013 at 14:08

In my experience, the council property next to ours erected a 6ft overlapping vertical wooden slat fence on the boundary. I think there are some rules regarding 'overlooking' so a chainlink fence wouldnt do,

Give the council a buzz and get them to clarify.

Atleast a wooden panel fence i believe would be necessary....

Fantom · 20 Jun 2013 at 14:11

Phosgene1974 said:
In my experience, the council property next to ours erected a 6ft overlapping vertical wooden slat fence on the boundary. I think there are some rules regarding 'overlooking' so a chainlink fence wouldnt do,

Give the council a buzz and get them to clarify.

That is just what I want, the overlooking thing is a good point

is your neigbours house along side your house? or does it directly overlook your garden?

Fantom · 20 Jun 2013 at 14:33

Well the guy from the council has just left, we talked and there was lots of listening but not a lot of committing, he said its unlikely that they would install a wooden fence but they would probably reinstate the post and wire as in the deeds, I argued that the animals next door would escape if that were done, as well as privacy issues. He is going back to his office to get some advice.

Not sure what to expect now...

Pestilence · 20 Jun 2013 at 16:06

Fantom said:
Well the guy from the council has just left, we talked and there was lots of listening but not a lot of committing, he said its unlikely that they would install a wooden fence but they would probably reinstate the post and wire as in the deeds, I argued that the animals next door would escape if that were done, as well as privacy issues. He is going back to his office to get some advice.

Not sure what to expect now...

Pretty sure you can expect to be done over with a cheapo slatted wooden fence. They don't care about privacy.

grumpysculler · 20 Jun 2013 at 16:34

Unless you know the history, it sounds as though the fence and the boundary are not related.

What obligations do the deeds place on your neighbours? Are they required to maintain a fence on the boundary? If so, tell them to do so. If the deeds just say posts and wires then that is all your neighbours are required to do.

It sounds to me as if that is your fence on your land and the boundary is marked but not fenced. If so, nothing to stop you taking that fence down and putting a new one up adjacent to the boundary. Having the council erect posts and wires on their side of it might help stop the neighbours using your fence for anything.

p1RATE · 20 Jun 2013 at 16:47

Fantom said:
3 dogs, 4 chickens, 2 rabbits, 1 parrot and countless cats.

Fantom said:
Their garden is quite badly overgrown

sounds delightful.

Fantom · 9 Jul 2013 at 16:21

sorry to thread resurrect, however I have heard back from the housing company, they say they have examined the deeds and the boundary is their responsibility to maintain and that the fence is on my side of the boundary and thus not their responsibility to maintain...

On the deeds it specifies that concrete post and wire was originally in place but now we can only see short concrete posts intermittently.

Would I be within my rights to take down the existing fence and demand that they reinstate the concrete post and wire? Also I want to make a case that the animals would escape if the fence was taken down, do you think they would be bound to create a suitable boundary for those reasons?

ci_newman · 9 Jul 2013 at 16:26

IIRC you have no legal basis for insisting that they repair their fences. I'm looking into the same issue as some of the fences bordering my garden are in a sorry state of repair. You're only recourse is to erect your own fence within your own boundary - presumably this is what a previous owner has done if you already have a wooden fence on your boundary.