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Neighbours ball damaging fence.

PhilE
PhilE Posts: 566 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
So I'm in a situation where the neighbors at the rear, children and father, pound a heavy football against the fence. Its my mothers property.

Its been agitating her, and has caused damage to the fence. There's a bench at the back where she likes to sit, now she can't do that without the fence sounding like someones taken a hammer to it.

I'll be checking the deeds on Monday to see who owns the fence. I'll take pictures of the damage, and then knock on the door and politely ask that they stop, as they have damaged the fence and are causing agitation.

Failing that, it will have to be a solicitors letter. I'd rather it didn't go that far.

Any shared experience on a similar matter or additional things I could do would be appreciated.
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Comments

  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    Have a chat over tea and cake.

    (with the neighbours, not your mother!).

    In my mum's similar case, we ofered to pay for a new, strengthened, fence.

    Another option could be to build a 2nd fence inside your mum's bounday.

    But the ideal is to pursade the kids to use the opposite fence for their games, or go to the park.

    Lots of options. Tea and cake.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Name Dropper Photogenic First Anniversary First Post
    Meanwhile, gather as many glass bottles as you can and then get dodgy/inadequate hooks to enable them to hang off the fence on your side, put paving slabs under them. When it happens, rush out to hang them all up ... and wait.

    It won't be long before the bottles smash .... and she can shout out and go "Oi I'm sitting here and you've smashed my garden features"

    Dim people with inadequate brain cells have no idea that all fences have two sides....
  • PhilE
    PhilE Posts: 566 Forumite
    I'm going to be as polite and reasonable about it as possible in the early stages, my mum actually lives by herself and I'm not always around. He doesn't look like a thug or anything, but you never know.

    I'm actually in favor of kids talking exercise in their gardens, but it shouldn't be at the expense of others obviously.
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
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    Just a quick word to say that the deeds may not tell you who owns the fence; in fact they're unlikely to be of much help unless the houses and the fences are quite new.

    Property title documents may say who is responsible for which boundary, but that's what they record: boundaries, not fences. The fence may follow the boundary, of course, but there is no legal requirement for a fence. Any kind of marker would do.

    So, with established properties, fences belong to whoever erected them.
  • Ithaca
    Ithaca Posts: 269 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary
    Our rear neighbours do exactly the same thing, to the point where there is now a reasonably large hole in the fence.

    I've taken the view that as I have a four year old boy and a one year old boy the situation is likely to be reversed in about 5 years' time, so our neighbours will find out about the concept of karma in due course.

    The option I will probably take, however, is to sink some tree posts in front of the fence where the goalposts are which should prevent a majority of shots hitting the fence.
  • sparky130a
    sparky130a Posts: 660 Forumite
    As suggested, tea and cake. Make your point then..

    And the coup de gras...

    Produce a brand new shiny fluorescent football.....


    http://www.discountfootballkits.com/Footballs?gclid=CODf-9S7t9QCFdMW0wodiv4AsA

    Damn sight cheaper than a solicitor...

    But of course on the understanding they start playing fair....
  • hammy1988
    hammy1988 Posts: 145 Forumite
    Anti climbing paint all over the fence :D it never dries so will cover and stickily ruin the football...and anything it touches such as clothing and shoes mwahaha. Might soon put them off!
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Photogenic First Post
    hammy1988 wrote: »
    Anti climbing paint all over the fence :D it never dries so will cover and stickily ruin the football...and anything it touches such as clothing and shoes mwahaha. Might soon put them off!
    That's more likely to lead to retaliation, which the OP's mother doesn't need and wouldn't necessarily cope well with.

    We can all think of nuclear options.

    Tea, cake and the promise of a new football every few months if it stops is route 1.

    Routes 2, 3, 4 etc are much more expensive, but none of them ought to involve putting something as nasty as anti-vandal paint on the footballer's side.
  • Mardle
    Mardle Posts: 518 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    sparky130a wrote: »
    As suggested, tea and cake. Make your point then..

    And the coup de gras...

    Produce a brand new shiny fluorescent football.....


    http://www.discountfootballkits.com/Footballs?gclid=CODf-9S7t9QCFdMW0wodiv4AsA

    Damn sight cheaper than a solicitor...

    But of course on the understanding they start playing fair....

    They've obviously got a football so maybe one of these would be better. http://www.argos.co.uk/product/2968456
  • sparky130a
    sparky130a Posts: 660 Forumite
    Mardle wrote: »
    They've obviously got a football so maybe one of these would be better. http://www.argos.co.uk/product/2968456

    Indeed.

    But my point stands. ;)
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