Council Tenants Refusing to Fix Fence

byronwells

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Alright Peeps

I am in need of some advice please in regards to the next door neighbour which are council tenants and we are private tenants. Sadly their garden is in such a disarray, with the fence falling down, and their garden being overrun with plants, trees, etc.. It’s really a mess and due to that it’s now attracting rodents.  It’s have been like it for quite some years now and enough is enough..  Because next door is a council property we know that the actual council should be fixing that fence and not us paying £500+ to do it.  We have called the housing repair department and they have advise us that the actual neighbours need to call the them and report the job which they are never going to do at all..  Even our own landlord has asked do it and nothing all.. What do we do now? Or rather who do we need to contact now…

mattyprice4004

Are you sure it's their fence to fix? On our deeds it mentions who's responsible for maintenance of each fence, so might be worth asking the landlord to check as it could be theirs. 

GHolmesAdmin

Have you contacted environmental health about the rats?

Mojisola

No-one.  You can't force your neighbours to do anything about the fence.

If you want a fence, you'll need to put one up but talk to your LL first.

Comms69

byronwells said:

Type your message

Alright Peeps

I am in need of some advice please in regards to the next door neighbour which are council tenants and we are private tenants. Sadly their garden is in such a disarray, with the fence falling down, and their garden being overrun with plants, trees, etc.. It’s really a mess and due to that it’s now attracting rodents.  It’s have been like it for quite some years now and enough is enough..  Because next door is a council property we know that the actual council should be fixing that fence and not us paying £500+ to do it.  We have called the housing repair department and they have advise us that the actual neighbours need to call the them and report the job which they are never going to do at all..  Even our own landlord has asked do it and nothing all.. What do we do now? Or rather who do we need to contact now…

Are you sure they own the fence? In anycase there's no obligation to have a fence. If you want one, put one up. 

princeofpounds

Unless they have a covenant with your house being the beneficiary, they have no obligation to fence their own property, or maintain their fence. I assume you are certain that is belongs to them?

I know you said they will never do it, but you could talk to them and tell them it will be fixed for free if they call the council. What do you have to lose?

As for the mess and rodents, if it's really that bad you can report it to the council as a separate problem. But you may not want to do that on an attributable basis as you might have to declare it if you want to sell in the future.  ETA: ignore that part, I was wrong.

Comms69

mattyprice4004 said:

Are you sure it's their fence to fix? On our deeds it mentions who's responsible for maintenance of each fence, so might be worth asking the landlord to check as it could be theirs. 

No it doesnt. it tells you who's responsible for the boundary. Nothing to do with the fence

comeandgo

Comms69 said:

mattyprice4004 said:

Are you sure it's their fence to fix? On our deeds it mentions who's responsible for maintenance of each fence, so might be worth asking the landlord to check as it could be theirs. 

No it doesnt. it tells you who's responsible for the boundary. Nothing to do with the fence

I know our deeds say exactly who is responsible for the fence, it is the actual fence, not the boundary .   

GHolmesAdmin

princeofpounds said:

  as you might have to declare it if you want to sell in the future.

They're tenants. 

molerat

My local council are not interested in the fences, they have told tenants if you want a fence by all means put one up, if the existing council one is damaged they will remove it.

[Deleted User]

I am afraid a lot of council's won't repair fences. But it sounds like the one in your borough might.  But I'd side step this and get environmental health involved. 

Council tenants do normally have a responsibility to keep gardens reasonably well kept (I know mine is hot on chasing down tenants who don't keep their gardens reasonably presentable).  You could ask if you can make a complaint about the neighbours garden.