Real-life MMD: Should I pay for my neighbour's plants?

FAJ_2

We are in the slightly unusual position of having five next door neighbours. 12 years ago we came home to find new neighbours in the process of cutting down the shared hedge and chain link fence that ran through it on our side of the boundary. After that they started using our garden for tea parties, I guess as theirs was postage stamp size. At great cost we ended up having to erect a cross between the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall just to keep the garden secure for our dogs, cats and chickens

Keep the peace if possible. Good neighbours are hard to find.

chrisjw37

Don't be silly now please.
You are sounding as bad as the old bat herself. :rotfl:

Mojisola wrote: »

How do you know she watched?

She might have gone out one day and come home to find the new fence in place and lots of her plants flattened and/or pulled up.

florere

warehouse wrote: »

As usual a simple question gets bogged down by long winded nonsense. A simple answer...

Absolutely pay for the damaged or removed plants, no question. Find out from your neighbour what the cost will be.

Deduct it out of half the cost of the fence that you will now ask your neighbour for.

If it is a shared fence and the neighbour was not consulted about the work before it was done, you cannot ask for any payment from them, they did not agree to it being done. In fact if it is their fence or partially owned by them I think that to take the old fence down would be considered a trespass.

Mojisola

chrisjw37 wrote: »

Don't be silly now please.
You are sounding as bad as the old bat herself. :rotfl:

I don't understand your comment.

If you look on some of the "neighbour problems" forums you'll see examples where neighbours have gone ahead with work like this without warning anyone and while they were out.

The opening post doesn't suggest that the neighbour was involved in any discussion about the fence before it went up.

Fif1985

Two things - as stated above it is unlikely the fence is jointly owned therefore you cannot use the reason that she paid nothing towards the fence as justification for anything. Even if she owns the fence. Should have consulted first.

Secondly - if the contractors have removed plants without prior permission to do so, then this is an issue that she can raise with them. You can politely inform her that no instructions were given to disturb her plants & therefore if they have indeed been removed she could get in contact with the contractors to request they replace the plants. Thus removing yourself from the equation & offering her a solution that should not affect your relationship.

Sharonella

The rule that you own the fence to the right or left is not always true. This is a myth unfortunately. Your deeds may say who owns what and many boundaries are joint boundaries and are the responsibility of both parties. Read your deeds.

JSS

Good manners cost nothing and help keep the peace. I'd apologise to the neighbour immediately for the damage caused, and make a date in the very near future to go and view the damage WITH the manager from the fencing company - explaining to the neighbour that you are quite sure the company will want to see for themselves and put things right. You'll all be able to see very quickly what damage there is, and you should then insist that the fencing people put things right. If there's no actual damage, the neighbour will be shamed into silence, but if there ARE wrecked plants, it's the fencing company's job to replace them - although a bunch of flowers to apologise for the trouble to the neighbours couldn't hurt.

I hope you did discuss it with the neighbours in advance, though - we paid for our new fence, and made jolly sure our neighbours were happy first, which was just as well, as there was a lot of indvertant trampling around in their garden. But they were nothing but gratitude afterwards.

happyinflorida

Right - when you own a house you get legal documents that show you what you do and don't own.

When you have something that is shared ownership with a neighbour YOU ARE LEGALLY BOUND to speak with them first before you do anything to the shared items.

You appear - from what you've written - to have not done this.

You are therefore in the wrong 100%.

You didn't check what the contractors were doing as you haven't a clue if they ruined your neighbours plants or not.

Again - not good on your part.

If I were you I'd start grovelling like mad to your neighbour - firstly apologise for erecting a new fence without consulting them first.

Secondly - ask what you can do to rectify the situation and follow what they tell you do 100%.

Never, ever do anything again like this.

marich

Ask yourself how you would feel if :

Your neighbours got a squad in to replace your fence without talking to you about it or agreeing to the materials used , its height or its line .

They think it's alright because they paid for it all - but they don't even know if it was their own fence , your fence or a shared one .

If that wasn't bad enough - the size 12 boots trampled your beds and the digging saw the end of some of your plants .

Are you miffed ? Whose fence was it ? Can neighbours justify doing whatever they want with a boundary just because they paid for it ?

Should they also pay for the damage they (directly or indirectly) have caused you ? You would probably think so !

I think you have certainly been insensitive if not downright foolhardy . Suppose you legally had no say over that fence and your neighbour wanted the original type reinstated !

I would apologise profusely but would pass your neighbour the contractor's address . It's them who have to answer for their actions .

And I would not do anything mutual without consulting the OP again .
Wally that you are !

georgemcghie

If I was going to replace a fence I would make sure I owned it. That being so I would have had a word (basic courtesy) with my neighbour. You are unlikely to be able to replace a fence without doing some damage on both sides of the fence. That being the case if you employ a contractor you are responsible for them as they are acting on your instructions. It therefore follows that you are responsible for any damage caused. It is then up to you to seek retribution from your contractor.

In summary if you replace a fence and do damage to someone else property then you pay up - easy.