Neighbours Fence falling down

4Chickens

Our back fence is falling down (into the neighbours garden). Now as I understand it we are responsible for the fence on the left, our neighbours to the right of us are responsible for the fence on our right. The neighbour at the botton of our garden is responsible for our back fence as it is thier left hand fence, our gardens are not back to back, thier garden is side on to our back fence.
I have never met them and don't really know how to approach this. I certainly don't want to be demanding or awkward about it.
However, we have a dog and 4 chickens that free range and I reckon it will only take one day of strong winds and it will be gone. The fence is featherboard rather than panels and the whole lot has disconnected from the posts (that are on our side). Quite frankly it is only the ivy growing over the fence and the shrubs the other side that is keeping it up now. If I was to write them a note, what should I put in it. My husband and I would have no problem in lending them a hand if they wanted to replace the fence themselves rather than getting a fencing contractor in. What would you do?

Hammyman

What do the plans in the deeds to the property say? They will contain what fences you are responsible for.

At the end of the day, if they're responsible for the fence they can put up what they want - they could even decide just to plant a hedge. If you want something thats suitable for your smallholding , I suggest it would be better for you to put up a fence regardless of who is responsible.

neas

offer to pay 50/50 like any good neighbour... Theres no distinction on my deeds who owns fence just its shared so 50/50 keeps things sweet don't you think?

Also.. putting a note into someones door is very impersonal and well sorry to say childish or immature. Man or a mouse, just knock on their door introduce yourself talk about the fence and offer to pay 50/50 as both you enjoy the fence.

red_devil

yes chat face to face. I dont there is any legal requirement for a neighbour to put a fence up and even if they did might not be what you want.

pimento

If I had a dog and chickens that would benefit from a decent fence, I'd pay to erect my own. That way, you get to choose what type you want. It needn't be expensive.

gravitytolls

Chicken wire, so called cos it does the job. Cheap as chips, easy to erect, secures your garden as you need it to be.

Never ever go with a note, you never know how the tone will come across, no mattere how careful you are.

Richard_Webster

There is no general requirement in English Law to fence land that you own so unless OP can show that the neighbour in question covenanted to maintain that fence (and OP can enforce that covenant, which is usually unlikely) then it is not worth being pushing the neighbour to replace it.

Sometimes a pleasant request does do the trick - the neighbour might well say he going to get some fence panels and will put them in next weekend - if he does, great.

If the neighbour doesn't respond to a pleasant request then as OP has chickens he will need to put his own fence to keep them in.

Cissi

Apart from the fact that they'd have no obligation to repair the fence even if it was theirs, I think this one is actually your responsibility anyway.

AFAIK there is no hard and fast rule that says that the fence on the left is automatically yours - instead, you normally look at which side the fence posts are on. Since you say that the posts are on your side, I'm guessing that this fence was once put up by someone living in your current house and is your responsibility. Again, you'd still be under no obligation to repair it but it sounds as if it would be in your best interest to do so.

mlz1413

gravitytolls wrote: »

Chicken wire, so called cos it does the job. Cheap as chips, easy to erect, secures your garden as you need it to be.

Never ever go with a note, you never know how the tone will come across, no mattere how careful you are.

I agree with this, chicken wire will fence in your pets and can be stapled to the exsisting posts so removing the need for a new fence.

I'd try and get chatting with the neighbours and see how they feel about the fence and its replacement before offering / asking to replace it.

noh

As said above there is a good chance that the fence is yours as the posts are on your side.
It is not a hard and fast rule but is so in the majority of cases.

rosyw

Regardless of whose fence it is, you have animals and it is your respnsibility to prevent them from getting out, so if it were me I'd replace the fence myself, if your dog and chickens get loose in the neighbour garden, or worse onto the road, and cause damage or an accident, you could be faced with a much bigger bill.