Neighbour fence issue

[BongoHunter]

Evening

About a month ago we had a new fence put in front of our semi between our property and the adjoining neighbour - straight down middle of the front gardens / drives (perpendicular to front wall of building).

Previously there was a big hedge of conifers there - a couple of which were dead.

Had green light for hedge removal from neighbour before doing any of this obviously - them mentioning hedge a few times was one of the reasons we did it, main reason being for us to more easily get down the path to our own front door.

When install was done a pipe was found between the properties just on our side of the line the fence would run - fence bloke advise moving posts 1.5" toward neighbour to avoid any issues if poss, spoke to neighbour who agreed after having a look.

Fast forward a few weeks - neighbour wants fence moved as its to far onto their side.

I don't think moving it is an option - as will have to pay to have it removed, sort the pipe situation, and then get the fence put where it was meant to be in first place, plus a bit for materials (though I might be incorrectly assuming a concrete fence post can be smashed out of its concrete base!) - it's just going to cost too much to justify for me.

I don't think I have any choice but to remove it in this scenario if that's what they ask for - so I'm planning on removing the panels and gravel boards before having a crack at digging out the posts - leaving us without anything seperating our front gardens, and hopefully costing me nothing but my time and disposal costs. I've floated this idea to the neighbour and they don't appear to chuffed with this either surprisingly.

So my question! I'm sure they can ask me the remove the fence from their property as we have nothing in writing regarding the move toward their side - fair enough. But - can I be forced to have to move it instead? Without the fence our front gardens are completely open to one another - which makes the walls and gates around their property kind of pointless. I would replant the hedge at some point - but that's going to take a few years to look anything like a proper boundary - so just want to know if I have to provide one if asked in this scenario if poss!

Many thanks!

 

[BongoHunter]

Basically no. You can remove it and leave nothing there. Then let them pay for a fence.

Brilliant ta!

Now just need to convince them to buy a nearly new, low miles, one owner example I'm about to come into

 

[BongoHunter]

@dholdi 1.5 inches

@Dave85 Definitely don't want to escalate anything with them - got to live next door so would like to keep them happy, we only moved in Feb 2019 and not going to be moving for a while. Just don't want to spend anymore money either!

 

[BongoHunter]

Thanks for the advice all

its inches not feet!

This pic shows how much the fence needs moving by. After the move the fence post would be an inch or two to the left so its edge lines up with the edge of the brick work if that makes sense.



I'm sticking with removal plan I think - it doesn't sound like we can be forced into paying the cost of moving it if we don't want to from what everyone's said.


(And yes - new paving for that path is on my lockdown to do list )


Edits in response to some of the q's:
- Pipe is water pipe - comes onto property about 2.5 ft down between the brick post and the path shown above
- Have legal cover on home insurance, but don't think I want to consider going that way tbh
- Yes the hedge took up a lot of space, it would would intrude on the path even when well trimmed. Neighbour has probably gained 1-2ft back on their side (they use their side as parking).

 

[BongoHunter]

Have you seen a copy of the boundaries from the land registry?

Yeah have have all that from when we purchased. Land registry stuff is pretty useless for this kind of thing I think as it's a very thick line on a small map with very few details. As it's a pair of identical houses that are semi detached we think the boundary should be interpreted as the middle of the party wall in the centre of the building - neighbour agrees I believe.

I think if gets moved the 1.5-2, inches as proposed it would straddle the boundary exactly, as it stands the posts probably touch the imaginary line but the bulk of it is deffo the neighbours side.

 

[BongoHunter]

Need a fence drama update

Ha - Well it's still there, going to be removing the panels this weekend. Then going to have the neighbour confirm they are happy to wait a few weeks for the guys who put it in to come back and remove the posts.

Fortunately we already have the same guys coming back to fit a new side gate we have on order, and to replace 3 old panels in the fence at the rear around an old substation thats against one of our boundaries. Just going to be a few weeks until they are free unfortunately.

Latest neighbour news is that they are thinking about selling the house - it's not due to the fence issue, they want to downsize (I think they'd be sane to leave the fence if really selling - will not look good with nothing there!).

 

[BongoHunter]

I said earlier I had a feeling the change of heart was in regards a potential issue on sale (potential boundary dispute)

Why not say to them you could both agree in writing that the fence should stay and you will engage with the new owners if they sell.
Then you offer the new owners the same deal, leave fence, remove fence, or they can replace at their own cost

People coming to view wont know about the 1.5" so they wont feel they have lost it, they bought it and viewed it where it is now. Once later on they find out the vast vast majority of reasonable people will go "nah leave it there"

Have already spoken to them about this, offered to do anything needed to ensure no issue at sale such as selling them the fence, having some paperwork drawn up etc. They are not interested and only appear open to moving it as part of it all unfortunately.