Fencing Rules and Regs for council property

Styger

Hi all,

I need some help from someone who knows their stuff... Basically me and my partner have moved into a council house in Scotland, the problem is that the fence around the back of the property is all over the place, it starts off at 6ft next to the house for one posting then it drops to 4ft along the side and along the back of the house the fencing is only 3 ft. This causes us a lot of problems as we have a very hyper puppy which can jump the fence and there is a walkway along the side and back of our house so it is very exposed to people walking past and we often have children come into the garden to see the dog or annoy him from the other side. Rubbish gets thrown into the garden and it is now a mess because of people ruining it and we have gotten a few letters from the council about it.

What I need to find out is if the fence by law should be 6ft for a corner (council) property.. If anyone knows because we have phoned the council and they are not being helpful at all and we do not feel secure in the house at all as you can see clearly into the back of the house and kitchen because of the public walkways at the back of our house. When I say a walkway basically the area has lots of terrace houses in the area and between the roads and houses are footpaths which are always busy. I just need to know if the council should replace it due to security (which the person we spoke to said it's not their problem if we don't feel secure) or regulations.

Thanks for any reply, sorry it's a bit all over the place but typing very fast

stitching_witch

I'm not sure if all councils have the same rules of even if Scotland is different to England. When we moved to our current council house there was no fence at all between us and a public footpath so we had dogs coming into the garden every day and the local children used the garden as a shortcut to the road at the front.

When I enquired about the council putting up a fence we had to satisfy two conditions:
1) That the garden bordered onto a public footpath or highway
2) That there was no fence there when we signed the lease

Although we satisfied both conditions it took the council so long to do anything we gave in and bought fence panels ourselves!

It may be worth finding out what your local council's rules are, but they seemed unhelpful from what you say.

Another idea could be just to add a three feet high trellis on top of the existing fence as that may be cheaper than replacing the whole fence.

squinty

Check your tenancy handbook. This should make it clear who has responsibility for the fencing.

Most councils seem to take the view that thier responsiblity is to provide fencing as a boundary marker only, so the most you can hope for is a very simple post and wire fence.

valk_scot

I am pretty sure that all the council needs to provide is a boundary marker, as has been said. Also if you want to replace the fence yourself you'll need their permission or at least to inform them, as it's not then going to be something they will subsequently maintain. In fact they may require you to pay for the original fence type to be reinstated when you leave the property, so if you do decide to add in another fence, make it a temporary one. Or a hedge, that can be cut down?

Tigerlilley1980

When I had a council house, the fence was useless with bits missing. I'm not sure what your council's rules are but ours came and put me in a new fence. The house was on a corner and backed onto a large green space. The fence they put in was 6 feet at the back and side and 3 feet along the front of the house. Personally I would ring thme again and try and find out exactly where you stand and who is responsible for it. If they aren't being very helpful and you are planning on staying in the property for a long time I would ook into getting your own fence, but youmay need their permission for that.