Fence Ownership (again!)

ginger_chocolate

I was going to hijack the other existing thread about this but my problem is subtly different so I wasn't sure it would be fair!
I own a house with a garden that is surrounded by four other properties - one each left and right and two that back onto my garden (i.e. the joining wall between those two properties intersects the fence at the bottom of my garden half way along). I haven't been able to establish clearly who has responsibility for the fence at the back of the garden - there's nothing in the deeds (no little T-shapes), although the existing fence is partly attached to some decking in our garden which seems to indicate it belongs to my side.

Earlier this year I replaced the fence on the left of my property, I simply spoke to the neighbour on that side and got her agreement. The fence posts are all clearly on my side of the boundary, and if she really hated the fence she could put her own up on her side to cover it, but as it happens, she was pretty happy.

I now want to replace the fence at the bottom of the garden and I'm totally willing to pay for this myself. Problem is, I don't actually know for sure whether it's mine, and I can't very easily work out where the two houses that back onto mine are located so I can go around and talk to them about it (I tried analysing Google Earth for ages but the roads round here are very curved and all the houses look the same so I couldn't convince myself that I wasn't just going to call on the wrong neighbours!) - I've never seen any of them actually use their back gardens so no shouting over the fence either! The two "back" neighbours have very overgrown sections at the back of their gardens. Which on the plus side means I'm not sure if they will even notice me replacing the fence, much less care; on the minus side, it means it's going to e pretty difficult to get the job done without cutting back some of the foliage, and possibly setting foot at least slightly on land that isn't mine.

Do I just go ahead and do it? Or am I setting myself up for a whole load of grief here?

Soot2006

Always worth speaking to them, but it sounds like it makes little difference to their lives.

My garden has a similar set up. A few months ago I let the dog out and heard shouting and barking. One of the rear neighbours was replacing the back fence and my dog objected to the new gap between our gardens.  Until then I didn't know who owned the fence. I still don't know who owned the old fence, but the new fence is much sturdier and very nicely done and clearly belongs to the neighbour so there we are. No harm done, the better fence benefits me too (even if they did cut into one of my plants to set it up! Thankfully, it's a rapid grower so it'll be back in no time). Just the other perspective; not everybody is into giving grief!

baza52

ginger_chocolate said:

Earlier this year I replaced the fence on the left of my property, I simply spoke to the neighbour on that side and got her agreement. The fence posts are all clearly on my side of the boundary, and if she really hated the fence she could put her own up on her side to cover it, but as it happens, she was pretty happy.

There is your answer to avoid trouble in the future

twopenny

Can you read through the part of the deeds relating to this? The one that's attached to the plan.

I could not find any T shape for one panel at the side of my property though all the rest clearly belonged to my neighbour. That one panel was part of my side alley.

It was some while till I read the text and it said that any not marked were shared..........that could be the reason.

it was rotten, I'd paid to repair it after a storm but needed renewing. My neighbour was happy for me to replace it at my own expense. It wasn't a huge amount for security and good looks and gave me a bit of an edge when I wanted rose trellis put up that slightly (ie 2") went into her plot.

You could ask the neighbours at the back and say 'I think it's mine' and hope they don't care. Or it might make them pipe up with who the ownership belongs to.

ginger_chocolate

I've had a more careful read of the text - it looks as if all of the boundaries are shared. I think part of the fence is actually on my side of the boundary, but as the neighbours plants are growing all over it I feel as if I ought to ask them. I'm just having problems now working out exactly which house it is that backs onto mine so I can go and talk to them. They all look the same!