Help! Fencing issue

helloelloello

Due to the delightful storms, the fences have died both to my left and right sides of my house.  Land reg doesnt give any indication on responsibility (this was verified when buying the property). I had thought (although I note this is not strictly the case) the general rule of thumb was that you are responsible for the left fence as you open the back door and look down the garden. On this basis, I already indicated to the neighbours to the left (left being when im standing looking out the backdoor) that I am responsible for that side..I have heard no counter argument. To my neighbour to my right (as Im standing looking out my backdoor looking down my garden) I said ages ago that I would go half for any cost as i thought it the decent thing to do. I think he thought, like me, that that was the fence that was his responsibility so he was pleased. So now it seems Im having to pay for one and a half fences!. When I look online though, it seems some say its left from the front. Does this mean facing the front of the property (in which case it would be the same), or when looking out from your front door? I also spoke to a family member who was adament that I have it the wrong way around! Does anyone know for sure? Either way I guess I will just need to suck it up! But just want to check!

ic

There's no rule.  If there is a clear ownership, it'll be in your deeds.  Personally, I've paid for all my fences as my neighbours would be happy with nothing.

There's been a million threads on this subject - try searching to see all the arguments in all directions.

TELLIT01

To the best of my knowledge there is no hard and fast rule that the fence to the left is your responsibility and the one on the right the responsibility of the neighbour.  Unless it is shown on deeds it is a jointly owned boundary.  The next problem is that there is often no legal requirement to mark the boundary either, although it obviously makes sense to most people to have the boundary clearly defined.  Even when the boundary does have to be defined, the line can be marked with a single strand of wire and it's not possible to force a neighbour to erect a fence to your requirements.

REJP

My deeds say I am responsible for the fence on the left of my garden looking out of the back door.
however, My garden backs on to a farm on th right hand side.  But farmer would not build one, so I did it myself.  Always check your deeds if you have them.

msg4geoff

Deeds are concrete proof but rule of thumb without deeds is correctly assumed that when facing front of hosue the left is that owners responsibility unless objection occurs. There is no law that states boundaries must be fenced or clearly defined.. only statutes relating to public safety from structures that are in place I believe.

theonlywayisup

helloelloello said:
So now it seems Im having to pay for one and a half fences!. 

It would seem you had offered this.
As others have said there is no 'rule', if you have deeds then ownership is indicated with the letter T on the boundary line. 

TheCyclingProgrammer

theonlywayisup said:

helloelloello said:
So now it seems Im having to pay for one and a half fences!. 

It would seem you had offered this.
As others have said there is no 'rule', if you have deeds then ownership is indicated with the letter T on the boundary line. 

T marks on land registry plans usually indicate responsibility for maintaining boundaries, not ownership of any structures placed on or near those boundaries. 

chrisw

Our estate was built about 30 years ago. There is no T marked on the deeds.
The first house starts with a wall on the left built by the developer so from there everyone put in a fence on the right hand side of their garden. As a result, it is generally accepted that we all take responsibility for the right hand fence.

richpensioner

Consider yourself lucky. I am responsible for all three sides as they were built by the developer. However my neighbour's son is a fencer so I get a discount ! So I consider myself lucky as the fences lasted nearly 20 years before needing to be replaced!

no1catman

From my experience, fence panels are much more susceptible to storm damage. Best, is to replace them with feather edge boards. With mine, I'm responsible because not on the boundary line but on my side.

Davesnave

no1catman said:

From my experience, fence panels are much more susceptible to storm damage. Best, is to replace them with feather edge boards. With mine, I'm responsible because not on the boundary line but on my side.

In exposed places, hit & miss fencing is probably the strongest, allowing some wind through.

The local Tesco erected about 1/2 km of the stuff around their car park. I'd imagine they know something!