Whose fence is it anyway?

m33r4

Hi all.

My house is surrounded by 3 sides. Back fence, left fence and right fence.

Whose fence am I responsible for please?

I have looked at the deed but am more confused than before by the drawings!

I was under the impression, looking from inside my house to the back end of my back garden, the fence on my left is mine?

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

There is no rule, your deeds will tell you. Look out for a T sign in the drawings.

Southend1

Van1971 wrote: »

There is no rule, your deeds will tell you. Look out for a T sign in the drawings.

I have same issue as the OP. In the original info from the 1907 deeds held by the land registry it says look for the T on the drawings but then goes on to say when the property was registered with the land registry (in the 1970s?) no plans with the boundary ownership markings were lodged! So I'm just going to try to negotiate with the neighbours to both contrubite when I replace the fence! Good luck OP hope you get to the bottom of this

oldestgnome

Is there anything actually describing which boundary fence you are responsible for - mine is described as the south west to the rear of the property which by comparing with the drawings makes it easy to work out - HTH

m33r4

oldestgnome wrote: »

Is there anything actually describing which boundary fence you are responsible for - mine is described as the south west to the rear of the property which by comparing with the drawings makes it easy to work out - HTH

There is T facing into my garden to the left of the land when looking out to back fence. I presume therefore the left hand fence is mine :question:

m33r4

Van1971 wrote: »

There is no rule, your deeds will tell you. Look out for a T sign in the drawings.

The T facing on the inside of my property boundary? Which therefore means the left hand side fence.

What about the fence on the back of the property - it's also the back fence of the neighbour over that fence -who would responsibility for fence repair belong to in that case?

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2247

G_M

Another option is to ask other property owners in the street. Usually (but not always), the fence ownership is the same for all houses down the street. So if 2 or 3 guys further down the street, who perhaps have lived there ages, all say "everyone owns the fence on the... left (or right)" then that's a good guide.

propertyman

Get a copy of the title plan for the adjacent properties at HMLR, and see what they say.

They may attribute responsibility where yours is silent.

propertyman

timmyt wrote: »

there are 3 tests:
3. the presumption (rebuttable) is that the owner who places the posts/ugly side on their land owns the fence)

Until someone helpfully invented pre made woven panel fences

phill99

You need to bear in mind that there is a difference between a 'boundary' and a 'fence'.

When you look on deeds (ie the OS Map), there may well be a 'T' against a boundary. This will however, only designate who has responsibility for the 'boundary'. The 'boundary' is the strip of land that divides 2 pieces of land which has been deemed to be a 'spade's width' (app. 9"). This is not the same as the fence (or wall, or hedgerow etc). The person responsible for the fence is the person that owns the fence.

Typically, a person who has responsibility for a boundary, would normally erect a fence, wall, hedgerow etc. However, it may well be that an adjacent land owner erected a fence on their land but adjacent to your boundary. This would mean you still have responsibilty for the boundary (ie the strip of land that divides two parcels of land), but not responsibility for the fence, as it is not owned by you.

You need to establish who put the fences up. If previous owners of your house put them all up on your land, then you are respoinsible for them all. If adjacent land owners put the fences up on their land, they will be responsible for them. If land owners erected them, jointly, then both land owners are responsible fro them.