Garden Fence blown over.... who is liable?

baileyraggieyogi

Hi guys

Our garden fence is totally destroyed due to last night's wind!

We looked out to next doors trampoline on top of the fence & all our conifers wrecked

The house is owned by the housebuilder & rented out. I have contacted the builder who claim its a shared fence, the fence is to our left, we thought it was their responsibility & we owned the right side.

Is this correct considering the trampoline caused the damage?

Thank you

Sambucus_Nigra

Have you taken photos?

If it was the trampoline and not the wind, then yes - I'd say that they need to replace it.

ormus

check your deeds to see who owns what.
the right/left hand rule is an urban myth.

baileyraggieyogi

Hi Sambucus

Yes I have taken a photo, the neighbour removed the trampoline but it is still evident that it caused the damage as its in pieces too!

Ormus - We will check the Deeds this evening, @ work atm

Thanks

kalaika

Surely if the damage to both the fence and your conifers has been caused by the trampoline then it's the owner of the trampoline that should pay for the damage (which I assume is the tenants next door, rather than the landlord).

1984ReturnsForReal_2

who is liable?

God........

dacouch

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

God........

Or the "modern" version force majeure

Becles

You need to look at the deeds and find out who owns the fences. However it might not tell you. On ours there is no record who owns either fence.

On the right hand side, we agreed with the neighbours that they would pay for the materials and we sorted out the labour. On the left hand side the fence blew down when my neighbour was terminally ill with cancer. I didn't feel comfy asking him to pay for half a fence given the circumstances, and I needed one for my benefit to keep my dogs in, so we just sorted it out ourselves.

magpiecottage

It is unlikely that OP will be able to claim for damage caused by the trampoline unless they can prove that it was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of somebody's negligence.

You might, for example, be able to prove that it was obvious that a tree was in a dangerous condition a long time before a storm but trampolines are generally quite heavy and I doubt a court would normally accept that it could reasonably be foreseen that the wind would become so great as to pick it up and throw it onto a fence unless it was in a very exposed position.

baileyraggieyogi

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

God........

:rotfl:

Andrew - We have spoke to the neighbour, he rents the house from the housebuilder, we own ours, the houses are only 5 yrs old & the fence has never been replaced before (i.e. shared cost) & he looked very worried this morning ! but we are friendly so will arrange something, hopefully.

Becles - from the deeds I remember a 'T' being on the left side fence (which we think means they are responsible)

Magpie Cottage - The gardens are fully enclosed with 6ft fencing, the wind was very stong & obviously lifted/blew the trampoline to the fence, as I said earlier, the neighbour removed the trampoline when it started getting daylight but I took a photo of it earlier in the morning

Thanks all, I shall look at our Deeds this eve

jackieb

The trampoline should have been pegged down.