garden fence

pjran

Please could someone confrim when you're looking at the front of a house which side of the fence is the owners liabilty? I have found the following statement but it doesn't state which side, or am I being thick.

"If the deeds say nothing, as unfortunately they all too often do, then in the case of fences with posts or struts on one side, the law presumes that the owner on that side owns and is responsible for repairing the fence."

Thank you and any reference to Garden Law would be very helpful.

Catti

It will depend on what the title deeds say!

Mojisola

pjran wrote: »

Please could someone confrim when you're looking at the front of a house which side of the fence is the owners liabilty? I have found the following statement but it doesn't state which side, or am I being thick.

"If the deeds say nothing, as unfortunately they all too often do, then in the case of fences with posts or struts on one side, the law presumes that the owner on that side owns and is responsible for repairing the fence."

Thank you and any reference to Garden Law would be very helpful.

The law expects you to fence to the limit of your land so, traditionally, the posts were always put in the garden of the person who had to maintain the boundary with the fence panels right on the boundary. People these days often prefer to have the "nice" side facing into their garden so you can't make that presumption any more.

Fences that are made from concrete posts with the panels slotted between them blur the situation even more.

If there is nothing on your deeds, you could try looking at your neighbours' deeds. There are some houses that don't "own" any of their boundaries and others that are responsible for all of them.

If you can't find out for certain and you want to change the fences, you could get an agreement (in writing) from the neighbour to remove and replace the fence or you could put up a second fence in your garden.

If you are hoping to get a neighbour to replace the fence, you're unlikely to be succeed. There isn't always an obligation to maintain a fence to any particular standard. We have to keep a stock-proof fence on our boundary but that could just be wire mesh if we wanted.

Richard_Webster

The law expects you to fence to the limit of your land

The law doesn't. If there are no covenants etc to do so and there are no other reasons (e.g. to restrain fierce dog) you do not have to fence your land at all.

The point about the fence supports is right as a presumption in the absence of other evidence as to ownership, but increasingly there aren't any because people use fence panels and the posts are on the boundary itself rather than to one side.

Usually it is a matter of sorting something out with the the neighbours - but if in doubt and you they should put up a fence but they don't want to (even if there are covenants saying they should - which actually are very difficult to enforce in practice) the cost of fence panels is generally a lot less than the cost of an argument about them!

Mojisola

Richard_Webster wrote: »

The law doesn't. If there are no covenants etc to do so and there are no other reasons (e.g. to restrain fierce dog) you do not have to fence your land at all.

The point about the fence supports is right as a presumption in the absence of other evidence as to ownership, but increasingly there aren't any because people use fence panels and the posts are on the boundary itself rather than to one side.

Usually it is a matter of sorting something out with the the neighbours - but if in doubt and you they should put up a fence but they don't want to (even if there are covenants saying they should - which actually are very difficult to enforce in practice) the cost of fence panels is generally a lot less than the cost of an argument about them!

Many properties don't have any obligation to put up a fence.

Perhaps that should have said - If you do put up a fence, the law expects you fence to the limit of your land.

DominicJ_2

Perhaps that should have said - If you do put up a fence, the law expects you fence to the limit of your land.

I believe that means you cannot use your neighbours land, to create a border around your own land. So if you put up a fence, you cannot use a neighbours land to do it.
The problem of course, with most newish houses, fences were just put "in the middle" with no clear owner.

Best bet is simply to talk to your neighbour, if they wont repair the fence, theres nothing you can do to make them, unless they are letting their dog into your garden or some such.

Mojisola

DominicJ wrote: »

I believe that means you cannot use your neighbours land, to create a border around your own land. So if you put up a fence, you cannot use a neighbours land to do it.

I've always understood it to mean that it's normal to fence in all your land and not put up a fence within your garden, leaving part of your land on the other side of the fence which may look as if it is part of the neighbour's garden.

There's a thread on gardenlaw at the moment - https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16894 - where you can see the problems that arise when a fence is erected away from the boundary.

Richard_Webster

I've always understood it to mean that it's normal to fence in all your land and not put up a fence within your garden, leaving part of your land on the other side of the fence which may look as if it is part of the neighbour's garden.

That is a fair point. If the land on the other side looks as if it is in a neighbour's garden then over time they may effectively acquire title to it. The Land Registry only go by general boundaries so a movement of 20cm or so won't be noticed. You may do that to avoid tree roots and could lose the land in due course.

My back garden goes round the back of my neighbour's and when I first moved in there was no fence there at all - simply a concrete strip in the ground. Present neighbour put up a fence inside his boundary because he didn't want the trouble of putting it on the concrete strip. We accept that the true boundary is the concrete strip.

Mallotum_X

Whatever you do, do not get into an argument over fences, just not worth it. Causes too many arguments and wastes far too much money.

lincroft1710

There was a view that standing on the pavement looking at the front of the house, the boundary fence on the left hand side was your responsibility. This probably has no foundation in law.

DominicJ_2

lincroft1710 wrote: »

There was a view that standing on the pavement looking at the front of the house, the boundary fence on the left hand side was your responsibility. This probably has no foundation in law.

I'm sure I heard something similar, but its unlikely to have any legal bearing as you say.