Fence ownership

Saria

So we have a fence on the left side of our garden which is very unstable and needs to be replaced (new posts, new gravel boards, new panels). I've had some people come in to give me quotes to replace half of the fence (as the garden is 45m long so too much for us to do at once). It's not going to be cheap to get done, but it just doesn't look safe and I'm worried it will come down with the next storm.

When we bought the house, the previous owners told us we owned that left side of the fence, and the other neighbours owned their left sides too. We've seen both neighbours replace panels on their left sides. However, I've checked our title plan and documents (from 1979) and on there it says: "All walls and fences separating the said property from adjoining properties on the Vendors' CASTLE GATE ESTATE (of which the said property forms part) shall be deemed to be party walls and fences to be maintained and repaired at the joint expense of the respective owners for the time being of the properties separated thereby."

So from this document it sounds like the fences are shared between both neighbours? This seems to be something my neighbours might not be aware of, as they have been fixing their left sides. Now of course I don't want to be a !!!!!! and tell my neighbour she needs to share the cost of a new fence with me, especially as she doesn't seem to have the money for it anyway. 

My question now is, if we replace the fence and pay for it ourselves, do we then legally own the fence? Will it still be seen as a shared property and can she make changes to it if she fancies, or claim that it is her fence or something? I just don't want any legal arguments over this which is what worries me.
Any advice? 

olgadapolga

We had a similar issue; we just ensured that our fence was on our side of the boundary.

EssexExile

Personally I wouldn't worry about the legalities. Ask her if she minds you replacing the fence, if she's happy to let you do it then do it. Do you have any reason to think she might muck about with it once done?

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

I don't think you van ask them to contribute to the fence. She has already replaced one side. She might also genuinely think she owns the left side. If you want to put your own fence on your side,  at least have a conversation explaining why first. 

TELLIT01

If it is joint responsibility then the OP can ask the neighbour to contribute to replacing the fence.  The neighbour doesn't have to agree to the type of fence the OP wants and may be happy to have a tumbledown fence, or may just want to replace it with post and wire to demark the boundary.  If the OP wants a fence which the neighbour can make changes to they will need to erect it entirely on their property, not on the boundary line.

twopenny

I wonder if this is similar to where I lived most of my life. It had been agreed over decades that everyone would do the fence on the left of the properties. It actually came down through generations as it was that sort of street.

Then suddenly my neighbour wanted me to share the cost of repair (even though it was her brambles and ivy that caused decay) because that was in the deeds. Sure enough, when I went to solicitor and looked it was marked that way.

But I did tell her I wasn't happy to do so - she wouldn't have maintained that either in my defence and I'd trimmed her ivy into a nice hedge on my side to defend myself from the brambles lol. Also I was out of work.

So take all such things into consideration. You could mention it and see what she says about any verbal long standing agreement.

stragglebod

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster said:

I don't think you van ask them to contribute to the fence. She has already replaced one side. She might also genuinely think she owns the left side. If you want to put your own fence on your side,  at least have a conversation explaining why first. 

Why would the fact that she has previously paid for something she's not responsibe for let her off her obligation to pay for something she is responsible for?

kdotdotdotdot

Surely the fact that your neighbour is (unknowingly) jointly responsible for the fence doesn't mean you can force her to pay for repairs you want to make?  I believe there's no legal requirement for there to be a fence along a boundary (although of course we all prefer to have one), so in theory, couldn't your neighbour just take down the existing rotten fence and leave it as is?  Would you want that?

Just speak to her and sound her out whether she'd like to contribute towards the cost because of the wording in the deeds, but in a friendly way and be prepared to pay by yourself.    

Soot2006

kdotdotdotdot said:

Just speak to her and sound her out whether she'd like to contribute towards the cost because of the wording in the deeds, but in a friendly way and be prepared to pay by yourself.    

I completely agree with this. It is possible that she is happy to contribute in exchange for a particular type of fence.

In my previous home I was very glad I went to speak to the neighbour before replacing my left fence as it turned out his brother was a landscaper and so in the end we only bought the wood, to the specifications the neighbour wanted, and neighbour + brother put it up. £700 of timber for a beautiful 30m long fence that was still standing when we moved 10 years later.  Always worth a conversation!

Saria

kdotdotdotdot said:

Surely the fact that your neighbour is (unknowingly) jointly responsible for the fence doesn't mean you can force her to pay for repairs you want to make?  I believe there's no legal requirement for there to be a fence along a boundary (although of course we all prefer to have one), so in theory, couldn't your neighbour just take down the existing rotten fence and leave it as is?  Would you want that?

Just speak to her and sound her out whether she'd like to contribute towards the cost because of the wording in the deeds, but in a friendly way and be prepared to pay by yourself.    

Nowhere did I say I was going to force her to pay, I was saying the opposite, that we would put up the fence ourselves. All I wanted to know is if we put up a fence, is it then legally ours? 
I know there is no legal requirement to replace a fence. Though she does have two dogs (and we have two cats we'd like to keep in our garden), so there is the issue of keeping the dogs on her property. 

I'm pretty sure she would not be able to contribute towards the cost because of her personal/financial situation, so I am not sure I should even be bringing it up with her. I basically just want to know if we are fine to replace the fence so it's safe for our cats to go outside (we would let her know we're getting the work done of course).

kdotdotdotdot

Saria said:

I'm pretty sure she would not be able to contribute towards the cost because of her personal/financial situation, so I am not sure I should even be bringing it up with her. I basically just want to know if we are fine to replace the fence so it's safe for our cats to go outside (we would let her know we're getting the work done of course).

It never hurts to ask, and keeps relations friendly, If you just inform her you're replacing it, then that can come off rather high-handed too.