Neighbour removed there old fence and then painted

Box28

I wouldn't meet them head on yet. Get as much photographic & video evidence as you can if there is still some of the old fence post foundations left. Do the neighbouring properties border fences line up with their old fence? If so then it would be obvious to a 3rd party that it was not the original line.

Anyone who would remove their own old fence and start painting yours has a certain mentality - otherwise called a narcissist. You have to box clever with such people.

Getting the fence moved back to the border would probably be the simplest option right now.

Had a neighbour who removed an alleyway providing access for us to a side gate and making it part of his garden. He then stuck a shed over it quite deliberately to claim it and stop us using it.

brewthebear

Hi thanks for all replies I placed the fence a foot inside my own garden away from two house so the old fence is still in the correct position on one house.
The problem if I move the fence to boundary line is it will not run in a straight line due to the other neighbours fence still there and they have painted it red !! This was not fence panels but custom made individual wood planks which was expensive as well.New posts so it is clear it is on our garden. I did this as did not want to fall out with any neighbours saying we had removed there fence !!
They must have looked over there own old fence and seen we had put a new fence up but it is clearly a foot inside my own land. To access putting anything on the boundary would mean taking our fence apart to access it. Maybe Ill knock on there door and say Ive come to get to my fence......

Biggles

The last thing you need to do is stir up animosity by moaning about your fence being painted red. Let's face it, all you need do is paint your side whatever colour you want, you'll never see the red side.

But I would go round and ask if they intend replacing the boundary fence that they've taken down and, if not, you will move your fence up to form the boundary. Alternatively, if you're not bothered about having an extra foot of garden, just hammer in a line of stakes on the boundary line so that both of you know where it is, otherwise (as has been said) your new fence will become the boundary.

Barny1979

As said it's not the painting I'd be worried about primarily, it's the gaining of your land.

missile

It was a mistake to locate your fence 1 foot from the boundary, presumably at your cost(?).You should have talked to you neighbours and got their agreement to replace the fence(S).

Perhaps you should seek their agreement to relocate fence to the boundary - at your cost.

Davesnave

It's a mistake to locate one's own fence that far from the true boundary if no attempt is made to mark it.

A neighbour behind my old Dad's house set his fence back, probably more than 1', but he dropped in a load of concrete up to the real boundary so Dad couldn't plant there. Periodically, he'd take out the panels to paint them or walk along the concrete to inspect them. It used to drive Dad mad, having this guy randomly 'in' his garden, but the chap wasn't doing anything wrong!

Money_maker

missile wrote: »

It was a mistake to locate your fence 1 foot from the boundary, presumably at your cost(?).You should have talked to you neighbours and got their agreement to replace the fence(S).

Perhaps you should seek their agreement to relocate fence to the boundary - at your cost.

Exactly. Why did you not speak to the neighbours first? They would surely have been delighted with a new fence, particularly if the fence was theirs to maintain and you were paying for all/most/half of it. Had they kicked up a fuss then your current predicament would have been sympathised with. As it stands, you have lost some of your own land by your own actions.

brewthebear

Money maker The fence they had must have been at least 15 years or older was virtually falling to bits.

If they had any intentions of renewing it they would have done so, I placed my fence away from there so there would be no problem with them saying we had damaged there fence.
I was not expecting them to remove there fence and paint mine I thought I was doing the right thing as to not start on the wrong foot with a new neighbour.Surely by putting up my own fence in my own garden should not have put me in this situation now.

I was not really expecting to see anything of then being the fence is at the bottom of garden.

missile

Had you asked before, we would have advised you that was a bad idea.

Money_maker

brewthebear wrote: »

Money maker The fence they had must have been at least 15 years or older was virtually falling to bits.

If they had any intentions of renewing it they would have done so, I placed my fence away from there so there would be no problem with them saying we had damaged there fence.
I was not expecting them to remove there fence and paint mine I thought I was doing the right thing as to not start on the wrong foot with a new neighbour.Surely by putting up my own fence in my own garden should not have put me in this situation now.

I was not really expecting to see anything of then being the fence is at the bottom of garden.

The likelihood is that they didn't want to pay out to replace their fence, had you come along and offered to pay for it to be replaced then they would probably have bitten your hand off.


As it is, you paid anyway and lost some of your land all for want of needing to ask them. I'm really struggling to understand why upon buying a house, you would refence two sides of your garden a foot in from the boundary rather than asking the neighbours if they would like their fence replaced with a shiny new one at no cost to them.


Now is not the time to approach the neighbour - that boat has sailed. Only if you want to resite the fence on the boundary is it worth asking.