New fence - wants me to pay for his bush removal

ey143

The fence cannot legally be his if he simply replaces mine with his, surely?

Mark_Mark

ey143 wrote: »

The fence cannot legally be his if he simply replaces mine with his, surely?

Of course it can, he pays and can prove ownership= his fence.

Doozergirl

ey143 wrote: »

The fence cannot legally be his if he simply replaces mine with his, surely?

You can both have fences right next to each other if you want to. He can put a fence, you can put a wall. Both should be on your own sides of the boundary.

If he pays for it, it's his fence.

ey143

This doesn't make sense. If the boundary responsibility is mine, has my fence on it, can you suddenly come and replace my fence when I'm on holiday (as he's proposing) and suddenly cause it yours? I have restricted covenants on there requiring me to take responsibility of the fence anyway.

Doozergirl

What your deeds say and what people can do are different things. If he puts a fence 1cm into his boudary, it is his fence on his land. If it's sitting on the boundary then arguably, regardless of who it 'belongs' to, you have the responsibility to keep it maintained.

Ownership is different to responsibility, I think. You can't lift the fence panels and put it somewhere else if he paid for it. If you need to maintain it in the future, there is no loss to you, but if he continues to maintain it, what's the problem? You can put a wall up on your side if you want to.

Boundaries are funny things. If you blow up a land registry title, the boundary would be 2ft wide. In reality, a boundary line has no width and no thickness.

You just need to find an agreement. If he bought and brand new fence and erected, I personally wouldn't care even if I lost a few cm of what I thought was my garden (but ultimately couldn't prove). Saves me a lot of expense, especially with a major renovation on the go.

We have such a long boundary, I can't figure it out. It's supposed to be a straight line but at one point it physically steps in over a metre?! It's in next doors favour but most of the boundary is marked by trees and shrubs which makes it impossible to know. I think the original owners here planted the greenery but our predecessor put up the plywood(!) fence on our side of it again because he ran a garage. I do think fences and walls are much better markers than greenery.

ey143

I can't care less what he puts up his side of the boundary and of course, it is his fence if he does it on his side. My concern is, he cannot simply replace my fence at will.

Could I come into your garden or with your neighbour's consent, come into his garden, rip down your fence and install a new one and claim its mine and you have no control over it? Sounds strange right?

paddy's_mum

Sorry, but in this situation I'd be putting in the wall that, ultimately, is what you want.

What is the point in spending many hundreds of pounds on a fence which you propose to remove not far down the line? That same money would surely be better put towards what you actually want to achieve.

If (as I understand it) the hedge, bushes, overgrowth etc belongs to you in any case, I cannot see that your neighbour has any say or rights over it. If he wishes to reinstate privacy, let him pay for a contractor and the timber. Your good neighbour contribution would be in allowing his contractor access across your garden to do the job to a good standard.

You do realise that if he gets away with controlling what you do on your own land, he's going to kick off about an extension however kindly/generously/reasonably you behave towards him now!

Here's a thought for you to mull over. Why would you pay out many thousands of pounds for what, if your neighbour has his way, what would amount to a leasehold property?

PS I'd be having a house sitter in while you are away, preferably armed with a large and noisy dog!

ey143

Paddy's mum,
I completely agree with your comments. My only problem is that we will build a wall at the same time as the extension, likely to be after the summer.

I have bought 12m of willow shading but changed my mind about installing it on his side after I remembered his concerns about damage to foundations etc so I told him I will do it my side, which he is not now happy. I will offer him the shading next and and him to get his own guy to fit it his aide, afterall he was happy with the proposal before.

Failing that, if he does replace my fence, can that be regarded as damage to my property and I could later take it down if I chose to do so?

I have a pannable security camera facing the garden so should be able to check what is happening via my iphone whilst away on holiday....but it shouldn't need to come to that.

Doozergirl

ey143 wrote: »

I can't care less what he puts up his side of the boundary and of course, it is his fence if he does it on his side. My concern is, he cannot simply replace my fence at will.

Could I come into your garden or with your neighbour's consent, come into his garden, rip down your fence and install a new one and claim its mine and you have no control over it? Sounds strange right?

Not really?

You said the fence was at the end of it's life. If the neighbour has felt powerless for several years, perhaps he sees new neighbours as the best opportunity to take control over the issue. If he can afford it why not? The covenant is there so that 'someone' has a legal responsibility to maintain it, it doesn't matter if someone else does.

He might want everything to be uniform in his garden which is hard when you only have responsibility for one side.

If you want a wall, then why not agree with neighbour now that you each have your own fence/wall from now? Lay a string marker with him down the boundary before you go away, that no one crosses and let him carry on. Otherwise, let him put the fence down the boundary and enjoy it! Chill out.

We've just installed a new fence where there was none at the front where the boundary line is otherwise clear. That side is the neighbour's responsibility, but we're the ones who wanted the fence more. As it happens, the back has blown down and he's going to have to do that, so it helps him.

ey143

We agree on the result but not in the way it's being done.

The fence is at the end of its life, but that gives him no legal right to remove my property, regardless of his intention.