Restrictive Covenant - Fence

harvey115

Hi all

I am getting a bit of abuse from my neighbors due to a fence I have installed on my front garden from stopping vehicles getting over the garden and ruining it.

This is my first own home so not sure what I should be doing if anything.

• Boutght the house fro developer
• All houses in the estate sold already
• I put up about a meter high fence to prevent vehicles coming on to my front garden
• Neighbor's drive is next to the fence
• They are complaining the fence do not match the rest of the estate and that it needs to atleast match the fence type used for the rest of the estate

The contract says as below:
12.4.1.5 not to erect any walls fences or buildings (whether temporary or otherwise) nor make any alteration or addition to the exterior or external appearance of the Property or the building on the Property without first obtaining the written consent of the Transferor and the Company………

The fence I have put up is not even a fence, its bollards with chain, very similar to the picture below but only 1 meter in height:


The rest of the estate has very similar to the following type installed:


Apparently when the developer was on site my other next door neighbor asked them to extend their existing fence to the border of the property. The developer told them it will have to be the same style as the rest of the fence already installed and the same as rest of the estate.

We been having issues with vehicles constantly getting onto our front garden due to a drive in next to it and the path being a little narrow. We planted several plants/flowers which were ruined. SO we went and installed the bollards/fence without any consent to avoid the damages happening regularly. The fence I have put in is almost half the height of the rest of the estate and very easy to get across by just walking over the chain is it is kept lower near the floor for accessibility and going over them. So it can be classed as bollards but I am no expert.

I spoke to the developers and they said they are happy with what we have installed and because the other fence in the estate is much higher and enclosure type that it would look awful and very restrictive in access.

I am just not sure what should I be doing now as I do not want to change my fence to the one similar to the rest of the estate simply because it will look like a jail in my garden (I might be over exaggerating), but it wont look good.

Can someone please give me any advice...

Thanks in advance

anselld

If the developers are happy just ask them to put it in writing, then you have complied with the contractual requirements.

Jenniefour

Ask for the written permission.

harvey115

Okay I will try to get something in writing to cover myself on this issue.

Although my neighbor is quite adamant on this issue and thinks the developer has no right to allow for this to happen??? Do you think I have to worry about anything as long as I have a written confirmation from the developers?

This is what my neighbor also wrote in the email:

My issue with the Developers is to understand why permission was granted in the first place if indeed it was and this leads to the following 3 scenarios:

1. Permission was not granted verbally or in writing The resulting construction is not in line with the covenants and therefore finding a retrospective agreement that is deemed acceptable to you and Developer is not the answer.

2. Permission was incorrectly granted verballyIf that is the case then you have a case for a claim against Developer for granting permission as a result of their employee exceeding his authority and at very least you should recoup your investment and re-do your fencing.

3. Permission granted in writing If that is the case then why did they grant permission as it has without any doubt altered the appearance of the Estate. This is also inconsistent with their stance with #4 where they insisted on the same style and finish. Developer have failed to provide me so far with their written permission prior to works being done and I suspect there is none.

tunnel

Does the neighbour use the drive in by any chance?

ging84

sounds like your neighbour is now just being deliberately difficult because they were refused permission for something they wanted to do

there are only 2 possible solutions, 1 move, 2 bang frozen sausages into their lawn one day when they're not home

harvey115

Yes he is just trying to be difficult.

The drive is the only path to his and my next door neighbor garage/driveway, but I am not touching the drive at all and I have left some gap between the edge of the garden and the fence so that drivers can at-least feel the curb before hitting fence (helping them avoid damaging their car and my fence as well).

I read somewhere online that developers usually put these covenants in the contracts to let them sell their unsold homes in the same state, so if the developer has no issues then my neighbor should not be able to do anything I suppose? Or am I completely stupid and not understanding their frustration...

Its just the other fence he asking me to use is very restrictive in design and too high up. I think he has also approached the local council who rejected their complaint so he is trying to show me the contract restrictive covenants.

Should I be extra careful or just get a written confirmation from the developer and keep quiet?

Davesnave

harvey115 wrote: »

Hi all

I am getting a bit of abuse from my neighbors due to a fence I have installed on my front garden from stopping vehicles getting over the garden and ruining it.


Can someone please give me any advice...

Thanks in advance

Depends on the level of abuse, but it seems that you have nothing to fear from the developer and no need to change anything.

As others have said, try to get permission in writing and ignore the neighbour. Even be pleasant to them and avoid being drawn into argument. There's nothing a control freak hates more than just being dismissed pleasantly.

KennethC

Oh God, neighbour disputes are hell and to be avoided at all costs, but it seems in this case, that unfortunately you have got one. Moving home is rather drastic but it looks as though you have a neighbour who revels in trouble making, hence his email. Is it a shared driveway by any chance, if so then these are designed to cause trouble. I once had a similar problem with a neighbour blocking my way into the garage, we had five years of hell, eventually I moved (rather drastic I know) and said that I would never contemplate a shared drive again and never have.

tunnel

If the bollards are completely on your garden, just get the written permission and ignore the neighbour(no point aggravating him in case you ever decide to sell).

harvey115

Thanks everyone for the helpful comments, I am very happy with what I have read

Yes I am not the type of person to start the argument, in fact when the developers came to me with the complaint initially that the neighbors complained. I sent out an apology email to explain myself regarding the choices in selecting the fence and any further corrections I agreed that were on the complain. SO the developer told me they have no issues with this and they will ignore the complaint from this point on-wards.

The drive is shared between both the neighbors, my drive is completely separate and have no connection to their shared drive. All my fences are on my garden well away from the drive as well.

Thanks once again for all your help, you people are great!