Fences - are they all mine?

Mental_Mentor

Hi Moneysavers

Not sure if I am posting this in the right place but am looking for advice on which garden fences I am responsible for.

Have lived here for 2 years and the previous owners replaced the left side fence of the garden. Last summer our neighbours agreed to meet half the cost of the right hand side fence, which my OH replaced.

The problem is the bottom of the garden joins on to 4 other neighbours gardens, due to the way the gardens are set out and it is in a poor state of repair. Sadly, my dog escaped through one of the broken panels a couple of months ago and was run over and killed. I haven;t had the heart to deal with this until now.

Can anyone tell me - Are all these fences my responsibility and how should I approach this with my neighbours to get them replaced? Is there any set rules about this?

Many thanks
Mental Mentor

Nile

Hello Mental Mentor

Have you looked at your property deeds? It should state the boundaries of your property and indicate which side (fence) is your responsibility for maintaining.;)

grumbler

The fences you are responsible for should be shown with 'T' marks on your deeds. See http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/boundaries.html. There is also a good forum on this website with a special boards Boundaries and Fences ...

Mental_Mentor

Thanks 4 that

shelly

Its ok saying this fence belongs to Mr A and that one belongs to Mr B but if they aren't willing to replace them when approached theres not much can be done to make things look better from your side. I'd perhaps say to them that if they won't get them fixed then how about you go halves with them and get the work done. I know you shouldn't have to pay half of something thats there responsibility but if they won't get the work done then maybe its better than looking at an eye sore.

Debt_Free_Chick

Many deeds don't have details of boundary fences - often, these were added after the deeds were drawn up.

You should have had a sellers information sheet when you bought the property and that would have confirmed who had maintained the boundaries. However, this is likely to confirm just custom & practice and not legal duty.

I would have a friendly chat with neighbours to see if you can all agree to split the costs - after all, you will both benefit from any repair or replacement.

nelly05

I am in the same situation at the moment. I saw the guy whose garden mines backs onto last night and mentioned the poor state of repair of the fence to him and what should we do.

He then said "oh so they are your fences are they, i haveno problem at all with you replacing them" and with that he was off back into his house. He wasnt nasty but just handed it to me if i wanted to do them.

I will replace them because it will enhance my garden (which is blooming awful at the mo) but it will be at my cost.

I guess you have to decide if you want to do them and if you can affords them

Regards

tagz

I'm in a dilemma about our fences too. There are four houses in a row, the two at each end have about six garden backing onto their sides. The house on our left is one of them and the owner has recently replaced the fence but the house on the other end has also paid for the fence to be done. Our neighbour to the right died recently and both our fences desperately need doing - but which is ours? The neighbour to the left has hinted that we should replace the left hand fence, but I don't trust him and think he might be pulling a fast one. Our deeds don't help either as they only have our boundaries marked without the 'T' sign showing ownership of the fences!

woodbutcher_2

Well i live in the corner of a cul-de-sac and have no less than eleven neighbours gardens to the sides and back of my property.Each of the walls/fences were in various stages of neglect but being a joiner and builder,i set about replacing/repairing them all over the space of my first summer in the house.I built 6ft high fences to each side and repired or rebuilt all the walls to the back nine properties.Not one of the neighbours offered me as much as a cup of tea during the whole time i was doing the repairs.In fact,the only one who said anything was a guy whose wall i demolished while he was at work.He got a bit shirty with me to the point where i was going to thump him.I bit my lip,rebuilt the wall next day and have never seen him since.The point i am making is,no-one is going to offer to pay anything unless you ask them.Even then,unless you can prove joint responsibility,they will be reluctant.

balliol

Actually if you stand in your garden and look at the fences, the ones that you can see the frame work for (ie the bad side) they are your responsiblity. Thats how it used to be and I dont think its changed

Craig_A

That's an old wives tale, I suspect you'll find, what happens if the previous owner replaced a fence and didn't want to look at the 'bad side' so had them built the other way round? Does that now mean that you are no longer responsible for maintaining that fence? As a general rule of thumb you would be responsible for the left hand fence as you look from the back of your house but that is a very rough guide and you should, as has been suggested, check your deeds.