Boundry fence ownership?

Mrs_Arcanum

25_Years_On said:

Mrs_Arcanum said:

25_Years_On said:

Responsibility for a boundary does not mean responsibility for a fence on that boundary.

T marks are your friend.

T marks show who is responsible for the boundary. This is not the same thing as being responsible for a fence on that boundary.

Sigh. It is generally accepted that it indicates who needs to maintain the fence/wall on a fair basis, that is there is a fence or wall of some description.

If you really want to go down the litigious route arguing about maintenance of boundaries or risk neighbours putting fences on your side of said boundary, on your head be it, in the spirit of neighbourliness it really is not worth it. 

25_Years_On

Mrs_Arcanum said:

Sigh. It is generally accepted that it indicates who needs to maintain the fence/wall on a fair basis, that is there is a fence or wall of some description.

If you really want to go down the litigious route arguing about maintenance of boundaries or risk neighbours putting fences on your side of said boundary, on your head be it, in the spirit of neighbourliness it really is not worth it. 

I agree that's how it normally works. The problem is shirty neighbours who start making demands about what people should do on the boundary. I've seen this on the housing forum a number of times. So in those cases it's best to know the actual law when dealing with unreasonable neighbours.

Cornucopia

Thread moved to "In my home".

Grenage

Normally the posts are on the land of the person who had it installed; sometimes that's not obvious and you can ask the neighbour.  If nobody knows or you don't believe them, you weight up the hassle of an argument vs getting it sorted.

The old dears next door insist they've always gone 50/50, and I know the fence on the other side is mine.  For the price of materials and a day of graft I'm happy to indulge excellent neighbours.

daveyjp

fzbob said:

Hi.
hopefully, got the correct forum 

I have a property where the right side fence (2 panels) looking down the rear garden blew over.
Is it still the case that the left side is my responsibility not the right, or has that changed?

Regards

Bob

That was never a rule. Talk to your neighbours and share the cost.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Several people have mentioned T marks on deeds - if your deeds even have them, they will not show who owns a fence. A fence is generally owned by whoever paid for it to be put up although you could also argue it belongs to whoever's side of the boundary it's on (which isn't always easy to prove).

Regardless of who is responsible for maintaining a boundary, anybody can put up a boundary feature such as a hedge or fence along any boundary so long as it's on their property and there are no covenants preventing them from doing so, so the fence could belong to either party. It could also be a "party fence" i.e. on the boundary (neither one side or the other) with the costs shared by both neighbours although this any agreement is likely to be informal.

Simplest solution - ask your neighbour.

DiscoDJN

I purchased a house several years ago with a fence on the back which went onto recreational land.  The owners of the house we bought had bought and installed the fence.  Recently someone bought the land behind and built a house whcih their garden sides onto our fence.  Am I in my rights to change the fence panels that border onto their garden as I want to put higher ones in for more privacy.  They have no 'rights' over the fence as it was part of our house when we bought it and well before their house was built?

The_Warned

DiscoDJN said:

I purchased a house several years ago with a fence on the back which went onto recreational land.  The owners of the house we bought had bought and installed the fence.  Recently someone bought the land behind and built a house whcih their garden sides onto our fence.  Am I in my rights to change the fence panels that border onto their garden as I want to put higher ones in for more privacy.  They have no 'rights' over the fence as it was part of our house when we bought it and well before their house was built?

Yes, you can take down the fence you bought with the house and replace it with another, so long as its height isn't above 2m and it goes back in the same place.

stragglebod

It's your fence on your property, so you can do what you like with it - subject to planning regs - and at your expense.

You could offer them input into the design in return or a contribution to the costs, but if so be careful to specify who will own it and be responsible for maintenance.