Fence line query

Bristolminimad · 20 August 2017 at 11:23AM

Hi everyone, we have bought our house from my in-laws, who had a new fence put up 18 months ago. The fence followed the line of a fence that has been there for 20+ years!!! My in-laws had lived in this house since getting married 39 years ago.

We recently had a new couple buy the house next door (to our left) and they have asked to move the fence back to the boundry line. We have no problem with this in theory, but they have now decided they want to change the very expensive fence panels and concrete posts that are currently there to cheap wooden posts and bamboo fencing.

Where do we stand with this as our deeds don't really show a great deal in regards to who has responsibility over the boundry fence!

Many thanks :-)

Warwick_Hunt · 20 August 2017 at 11:31AM

They can put what ever fence they want up on their property, same as you can keep your existing fence. I'm sorry but I doubt anyone here can help you with the exact position of the boundary.

shaun_from_Africa · 20 August 2017 at 11:37AM

Firstly, provided you can prove that the fence line has been in place for 20+ years, you may well be able to claim adverse possession of the land.

If however, you are happy for the fence to be moved back to the boundry line, there is no reason why you cant put up posts and panels on your side of the boundry to cover the bamboo fencing put up by the neighbours.

Bristolminimad · 20 August 2017 at 11:39AM

they do not want to put the fence on their property, they want to take down a perfectly good fence that is on the boundry line and replace it with a less substantial fence so they have "a nicer looking fence" the fence was erected by my in-laws to secure the garden, paid for by them solely too.

Bristolminimad · 20 August 2017 at 11:43AM

We did agree to the fence moving to the boundry, but didn't agree to the fence style changing. I have requested that they don't start any work on this until I have spoken to a solicitor.

societys_child · 20 August 2017 at 12:06PM

Do the deeds show who is responsible for the boundary? Usually denoted by "t" on the plan.

Is it obvious that your fence is actually "on the boundary" or
could it be one millimetre back from the boundary line?

Aylesbury_Duck · 20 August 2017 at 12:10PM

A few things:

It will be difficult to determine th exact position of the boundary because of the scale of the drawing.

T marks on the deeds will show who has responsibility for maintaining the boundary, but don't denote who owns any fence on it. The person who paid for the fence owns the fence. You can mark a boundary with sticks and string if you wish (unless the deeds specify there must be a fence, or you have a dog).

The fence is owned by you because your predecessors paid for it and you have bought the property from them. Ordinarily, that means that a neighbour has no right to take it down, move it, hang things from it or even to paint it. It's your property.

However, if your fence is on their land, it will be a little more complicated. Given the 20+ years of that fence line, you should take legal advice to establish the position of the boundary and whether or not the land the fence sits on is yours.

Whatever your neighbour's eventually do, they are entitled to erect a fence on their own land, to their own design. If you don't like the appearance of that, you can erect your own fence/hedge/screening to hide it, as long as you do so on your own land.

Aylesbury_Duck · 20 August 2017 at 12:13PM

Bristolminimad wrote: »

We did agree to the fence moving to the boundry, but didn't agree to the fence style changing. I have requested that they don't start any work on this until I have spoken to a solicitor.

I think you've been a bit hasty there. Wait until you agree where the boundary is.

bris · 20 August 2017 at 12:25PM

So the fence is on their property then? unless you claim adverse possession there is nothing you can do.

moneyistooshorttomention · 20 August 2017 at 12:29PM

bris wrote: »

So the fence is on their property then? unless you claim adverse possession there is nothing you can do.

...and if you do claim "adverse possession" then you will have started a "neighbourhood dispute" that you will have to declare if you sell your house.

As (if it is on their land and they know it) then relations will always be a little "cool" between your two houses....:cool:

Bristolminimad · 20 August 2017 at 10:35PM

The neighbours have recently had an extension, which removed an old outbuilding (that the old fence run parallel too) and replaced with new brickwork and rendered.

The wall that was built with the extension is a party wall so spread across the boundry, the old fence sat right in the middle of where this wall is now, so I would guess that was the boundry.

If you run a straight line up from that point to the end of our gardens, the fence deviates approx 6inches across into "their land" at the point closest the house, but is exactly on the boundry at the other end. spanning a 60 foot length, there are 10x6ft panels along the length of the gardens and all the posts apart from 1 will need to move under 4 inches in the ground.

We have said we are ok if they are that bothered to move the fence line 6 inches across to the edge of the new wall and follow the straight line to the end of our gardens, but have said as the fencing was purchased by our side, we want the same fence put back, as it is our property.

Title deeds show no set person who is responsible for the fence/boundry and have looked back at photos from 18years ago (lucky my other half grew up in this house!) that show the fence line exactly where it is now. I will be consulting a solicitor tomorrow but like others said I don't want to do things formally as it can lead to frosty relations between neighbours, and things can spiral very quickly.

I have requested that they do not start work on the fencing until I have spoken to someone about it, they have left our garden insecure for 6 months, too.

Fence line query

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