Is this fence ours? If so how can we claim it?

[UberTiger]

There's an old fence between us and a neighbour and it's quite low, with a trellis at the top at face height so you can see straight through.

I attached some featherboards to it to make it more solid and increase privacy, now the neighbour is claiming that it's her fence and threatening us with legal action if we don't take it down.

I have offered to replace the existing fence, but they're not interested.

If it is hers, then I accept I made a mistake and I may erect a fence right next to it if that's permissible. But first of all, is there a straightforward and inexpensive way to verify if that is our fence within our boundary?

I've attached pics, and it does look like it's on our part of the wall that continues above their garage to form the side of our house, which leads me to believe it would be within our boundary.

If it's not hers, could we get an authority to grant us ownership and we can proceed to upgrade it?

This whole situation has been quite traumatic and stressful for a family member involved, so in the end really just looking for a straightforward and ideally cost effective way to resolve the privacy issue and get some kind of fence sorted

edit: Pics removed

 

[UberTiger]

That's the thing, I don't think the current home owner erected it as they've only been in the property a few years and the fence is definitely much older than that. They may have done minor repairs to it, but they didn't install it.

I did check the title plans and there's only a black line showing the houses, which continue through the gardens with a thicker red line inside that. No T o H indication for fence responsibility. Doesn't seem very clear.

I'm not sure what kind of person could verify the boundary and rule if the fence is within our boundary (and therefore ours?) or not?

 

[UberTiger]

Spoke to the council, they said I could put up my own fence and that there was no regulation with regards to distance gap between them.
Had a fence fitter put a new fence up yesterday. Within my boundary of course, it’s on our side of the existing fence (which I reckon is within our boundary anyway)
It’s no taller than 2m from the ground on our side along the length of it.
Posts long the middle aren’t touching, although some are close.
Boards are a good 5-6” away from each other, so plenty of room to breath.
She comes around waving a google search results print out with something about the fences needing to be 1-2 feet apart.
FML, she just doesn’t give up.
Guess I’ll have to talk to the council again and ask for written confirmation that it’s permissible?

 

[UberTiger]

Rest assured, you move the fence back 2 foot and she'll suddenly take her fence down and claim the extra 2 foot of garden!

Exactly! Yeah, right.

Despite the constant bad press the council are given, they're actually surprisingly helpful around my way. It could be worth just asking them what they would suggest about the potential boundary issue (I haven't seen the photos but attaching a fence to your property doesn't sound right). If they say something in your favour, you could get them to write it down and wave it at her, not necessarily because you're then going to try and enforce anything but as a way to get her to back down a bit. You know, be polite but also make her know that there are certain things you want in terms of privacy etc and that she can't have everything her way.

I agree, they've been really nice and very helpful when speaking to them thus far. I feel like I'm pestering them now though, over what's probably a very low priority trivial issue for them. I think you have to pay to get written responses from them, hence just talking on the phone for now. But if I have to get an email or letter from them I think I might have to. I'm sure she's reported me to planning enforcement, so maybe they'll come out and have a look. Again it feels like a waste of their time though, I'm sure there's much more important planning issues than this, but we need closure so she stops bothering us.

 

[UberTiger]

Thanks for your input and advice everyone, it's all been helpful. Just got written confirmation back from the council that there's no distance limit! And it's all within regulation in accordance with height, so she's got nothing to come back to us with.

Hopefully we can now enjoy our new fence and privacy again, and hopefully enjoy all the work we've put into the rest of the garden and new patio recently!

 

[UberTiger]

A bit of paper seems like nothing, where was the information from? Was it from the local authoritiy? Government guidance? Or just an independent company who may have their facts incorrect or outdated.

It was literally a print out of the google search results page with the rich snippet text at the top, lol

 

[UberTiger]

Good good, hopefully she'll stop nagging you.

Any idea why she wants to keep the open top fence so much, is it for light or just her being nosy? Personally I couldn't relax in a garden with those half fences / open top fences, like my privacy.

Incredibly nosy.

We've seen her from the upstairs window literally with her ear against the fence trying to listen in on conversations.

I also have video of her on our Nest camera from when she came around once to return a parcel that had been delivered to her when we were out. She came up to our front door and tried the handle before even ringing the doorbell. Who does that?!

 

[UberTiger]

It's come up. We've had the police involved. She plays stupid.

Sadly there's no law in England regarding residential security cameras (or apparently attempting unauthorised access to your house by trying the handle). What with the explosion of nest and ring it's be coming a real issue considering they're all rigged with mics now.

I'm all for home security and do enjoy the benefit of having tools such as video doorbells and affordable and accessible home cctv monitoring, but JFC is it a tough issue when it comes to external cameras at the rear of properties at places such as patios where people are supposed to be able to sit and relax, eat, chat and shoot the breeze without fear of being monitored and recorded.

It's getting totally out of hand now that you can get decent cameras for very little money, and if you're aware of the cameras nearby on a neighbours property it definitely affects the way you act and how much you feel you can relax in your own home. It's so ******.