Neighbours Boundary with old fence?

chris1012

From the surfice it seems we have a good relationship with our neighbour.
Had some work done on my house a few years ago that took a few months and both sides of the neighbours were understanding, helpful and respectful.

I spoke to my neighbour 6 months ago about replacing his fence on his boundary as some of the panels have large gaps towards the bottom and are visible from our garden and they are only 4feet tall, so not good for privacy.

I indirectly told him the reasons for changing them was they were in need of DIY and it would be good with some taller fences.
He agreed, didn't object but did not suggest to pay.

6 months later I have decided we needed to re-landscape our garden and as my neighbour has no intention to assist with replacing the panels, we will do this our selves (will cost around 1k - £60-£70 a panel * 7, gravels boards, raise beds, sleepers and labour for 3 workers).

I have spoken to my neighbour again last week before the work commences tomorrow and he had no objections with the work and change of the fence.
I have nothing in writing and I doubt he would want us to change it in the future but if he did decide he wasn't happy for what ever reason, is there any way I would be able to protect myself?

We are also having our front garden re-done, and his single skin wall on his boundary is very unstable/wobbly - he agrees and willing to pay half to replace it.

We are happy to replace the wall with bricks that match the theme of the house however this would mean his wall being changed from red brick to yellow brick.
When he found out we was using yellow brick (I informed him a day after he agreed to pay halves, wanted to make sure he knew all details) he sounded a little unsure and said he would get back to me...

It is not the day before the work begins and he still hasn't got back to us.
If he does not want to use the same brick colour, we will have to build a single skin wall in our boundary behind his wall.
We are having a path way build as well so regardless of if we didn't build the wall, his wall if fell for what ever reason could cause a lot of damage to the news tiles...


What options do I have to protect myself?

Doozergirl

Anything you build should be on your side of the boundary.

You don't need to do anything to protect yourself. It will be your wall/fence. If he wants something different, he can put up his own.

People are under the misconception that certain neighbours are obliged to maintain a fence or wall, but most deeds only dictate that one maintains the boundary. That could be a piece of string, a post at either end of the garden or a line of rocks.

Whatever Is built belongs to the person that built and paid for it. If you pay for the wall and keep it on your side, that is yours.

Gloomendoom

If it's a garden wall rather than a fence on the boundary, you might need to comply with the dreaded Party Wall Act which would mean giving him formal notice of the intended work in writing.

The benefit would be that you would have a record of his agreement, or otherwise.

chris1012

The back garden fence is on his boundary and due to an existing side wall in our garden, it would be impossible to build the fence on our side of the boundary unless we knocked the side wall down and removed some of our patio...
The landscapers will be removing his fence then replacing it with our chosen fence with gravel boards...
(Our back garden is very tiny, so even if we had the option of moving the fence onto our side of the boundary, it would make a big difference to the over all size as every inch makes a difference)

The front gardens wall is again on his boundary -
With this we have the choice to build within our side of the boundary wall if he objects.

We have text message proof of notification, we he hasn't responded to as of yet..

SailorSam

So many neighbour disputes start over who owns the fence.

http://www.boundary-problems.co.uk/boundary-problems/fences.html

Doozergirl

Wherever you put the fence, it is your fence.

I'm not even sure what the problem is. You want your cake and to eat it. He is under no obligation to site the fence on his side at all or maintain it.

If you want a fence on his side so you get a bigger garden, will pay for it and he doesn't mind, go ahead, but you place something on someone else's land at your own peril. I can't see him changing it if he isn't interested in replacing a broken one.

mary4kids

When we replaced our fences we were told fences on our right belong to us. So we paid the fence on right. Then fence on the side of footpath was belong to council but told if we want them to replaced we needed to fund ourselves. So we paid that again. The house on our left belongs to housing association. We requested if they could replace their as literally there was no fence between two house. With us having a mentally disabled child they did replace it. There is a wall fence on front garden on our right paid by our neighbour on our right and they didnt ask us to pay as colours are matching their house. Although we were told they put the wall on our boundary and we can ask them to remove it but we wont be doing that.

-taff

If you put a fence on his bundary he can knock it down if he feels like.

You want the bigger fence, and you want to put it on his boundary, so yep, you should pay for it.
The front garden is another matter, you can site your own brick colour on your own land regardless.

Instead of sending text mesages, why don't you knock and ask?