Neighbours complained to council about fence when sale of house nearly complete

[Deleted User]

Our neighbours (attached to our semi) have decided to wait until we are near completion on the sale of our house before complaining to the local council about some trellis that was added to our fence months ago. They are pure evil and we have had nothing but trouble with them since we moved in. The 60cm trellis is on top of 5ft (bottom of garden) and 6ft (top of garden) fence panels, which sit on top of 1ft gravel boards. We put the trellis up after they erected a massive raised patio without planning permission. The council were advised about it and after coming out to inspect decided all was fair and just charged them a retrospective planning permission fee. The council decided that despite it being well over the allowed 30cm allowed height for a raised patio, privacy was not an issue as we had erected a higher fence (fence between us is our responsibility) to get some immediate privacy while the planning process was concluded. Before we put the new fence up (these are the 6ft panels at the top of the garden) the neighbours were able to stand on the patio and look straight into our house and garden, so we couldn’t face waiting months for the council to act.
My question is, can we just ignore the complaint as we are moving soon and let the neighbours sort it out with the new owners? Or would we still be liable for the fence and trellis after moving?

Barny1979

Could you take the trellis down, as doubt the buyers would notice it had been taken down?

greatcrested

Is the fence now above the permitted height?

Any neighbour dispute should be reported on the Property Information Form section 2. If you've already submitted the form (declaring no disputes) and a dispute subsequently arises, you should declare it.

[Deleted User]

I'd agree, remove the trellis. Complaint resolved.  Are the buyers aware of the problems with your neighbour?   As you made a complaint, they should have been informed.  If they complete and move in unaware, it could lead to problems for you.

greatcrested

deannatrois said:

I'd agree, remove the trellis. Complaint resolved.  Are the buyers aware of the problems with your neighbour?   As you made a complaint, they should have been informed.  If they complete and move in unaware, it could lead to problems for you.

The OP's complaint regarding the patio appears to be resolved.

The ongoing complaint is the neighbour's one regarding the fence.

blue_max_3

Is a trellis a fence? Not sure it really is. Hence why they are often added to fences.

[Deleted User]

greatcrested said:

Is the fence now above the permitted height?

Any neighbour dispute should be reported on the Property Information Form section 2. If you've already submitted the form (declaring no disputes) and a dispute subsequently arises, you should declare it.

Not sure which side the permitted height applies to. On their side, it’s under 2m (top of patio to top of fence) but on ours (“true” ground level to top of fence) is over 2m.

Davesnave

blue_max_3 said:

Is a trellis a fence? Not sure it really is. Hence why they are often added to fences.

It seems to me that if a trellis is added to a fence, it becomes part of that structure. This is confirmed by companies that specialise in fencing. It is counted for the overall height. 

The neighbours, after being reported for their high patio, have merely responded in kind, having spotted that the fence may now exceed the 2m boundary fence rule. It's tit for tat.

This won't necessarily hold up the sale, but as others have said, it needs to be declared. As this is a neighbour attached, the existence of a dispute might cause the buyer to ponder on the wisdom of buying into the situation.

seven-day-weekend

A trellis is classed as a fence and unless things have changed since I worked in Town Planning 15 years ago, the fence can be no higher than 2m high  (on your side if it's your fence) from ground level if it's at the back, or 1m if it's at the front, without Planning Permission.

If I were you, I would just take the trellis down.

[Deleted User]

seven-day-weekend said:

A trellis is classed as a fence and unless things have changed since I worked in Town Planning 15 years ago, the fence can be no higher than 2m high  (on your side if it's your fence) from ground level if it's at the back, or 1m if it's at the front, without Planning Permission.

If I were you, I would just take the trellis down.

Thanks for this. What about sections of fence that have been in place for 10-15 years without any objections? Would the council be able to make us remove these after so long, just because a petty neighbour is trying to score points against us?

Davesnave

labrajaws said:

seven-day-weekend said:

A trellis is classed as a fence and unless things have changed since I worked in Town Planning 15 years ago, the fence can be no higher than 2m high  (on your side if it's your fence) from ground level if it's at the back, or 1m if it's at the front, without Planning Permission.

If I were you, I would just take the trellis down.

Thanks for this. What about sections of fence that have been in place for 10-15 years without any objections? Would the council be able to make us remove these after so long, just because a petty neighbour is trying to score points against us?

There's a good reason for setting a maximum height of 2m for boundary fencing that has no planning permission. There is nothing stopping an individual from applying to go higher with a fence, but obviously there might need to be a good reason for it  and assurances about construction.

For example, acoustic fences along motorways are usually above 2m, but they aren't the sort of thing one picks up at B&Q.