Money Moral Dilemma: Should we pay for a fence panel that was supposed to be free?

Mikeat60

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Ignore.  You didn't book the fencing panel failure, it's nothing to do with you.  Tell your neighbour in terms of " he ought to know about this".

Interestingly, my answer to such fencing panel queries is to repair myself.  If you can't, note that a panel should cost around £10 plus fitting, £50 for the wrong size is plain silly!

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guineapig1

The fence belongs to the person who put it up. The title deeds show only ownership of land, and where the boundary is. A fence is a (temporary) structure on the land

unforeseen

 The rule of thumb is the fence on the right belongs to your neighbour and they should pay for fence.

There is no rule of thumb. If no H or T marks with entry in the deeds to back them up then the default is that it is a shared boundary.  
If the fence is definitely on OP's land then it is his/her responsibility. 
However if the neighbour has sourced a supposedly free one and someone to fit it without consulting the op beforehand  then it is the neighbours responsibility to make any payments to the fence fitter. 
If it fitted then it was a nice gesture for the neighbour to give the op a free fence panel and fitting as any costs are still the neighbour's responsibility

mermaidnwuk

Could the repair not wait until you had returned home?
The neighbour decided to source the panel and appoint the fitter - for whatever reason and however the panel was damaged. 
As you had no involvement whatsoever, I don't think you should pay anything unless you decide to take over the fence repair - if it is your responsibility.

Dontpanic

Whilst it was a kind gesture to try to replace the broken fence panel for free, they can't then change their minds and try to charge you because either they, or their friend supplying the 'free' one got the wrong size. It does sound though, like their 'friend' had a spare fence panel he wanted to offload. No fence panel I have ever bought was £50 even if it was delivered.  The sad thing is, that this fence panel, regardless of who pays or doesn't pay for it, will rankle for a while.

DPS-2016

£50!?  Assuming a standard size, you could go and buy a new fence panel for under £20 and just drop it in place.  

sharon1900

I have owned 2 houses with clearly marked deeds showing which boundaries were my responsibility. One was the left side and one was the right. There is no law (that I am aware of) that requires a boundary to be maintained, unless you have a dog and then you must have a fence to prevent it straying beyond your boundary.  This means you would have to erect and maintain all sides, if none were already in place. Once you have paid for a fence, regardless of whose boundary it technically belongs to, it ,as your property, is your responsibility to maintain going forward.
In the case of damage while you were away, there is something called, iirc, an "agent of necessity" . This means that if there is damage, a neighbour could get it repaired in your absence and you would have to repay them (the courts would enforce this), however this only relates to very necessary/time sensitive, repairs (e.g. roof blown off in a storm). I doubt a fence panel would fall into this category.
If they have a dog they need to contain, even tho it is your fence, then they should pay for it as it is to help themselves and not you. Of course this means that they would own that single panel on your boundary and would have to maintain it going forwards.
This is info I have gleaned over the years. IANAL.

TELLIT01

Any conversation should be had with the neighbours, not with somebody you have no reason to have dealings with.  If the panel is your responsibility, and you are happy with the panel the neighbour provided, and they incurred any costs then those should be reimbursed.  If any of the above has a 'No' as the reply then don't pay anybody anything.

nikkij_uk

Absolutely not!! If you were only away on a short break then it can't have become too much of an inconvenience for the neighbours that quickly....unless they broke it and wanted to sort it for you rather than assuming you would. Either way, they should have measured properly and consulted you first.
I echo what everyone else has said, not your responsibility to pay as you had been told it would be free x

JayD

As has been said already ... the person responsible for the fence is the one who has that party line on their deeds (assuming the fence is on the exact party line and not on one side or other of it). Of course, that means they can put anything they want on it - e.g. just a low wire fence or nothing at all.

Yes £50 seems steep but you don't know how much work it took to make the badly measured panel fit - and it is a lot cheaper than a new panel.

In the interests of good neighbour relations, I suggest you suck it up. After all, they got the pane for free. However, I would check your deeds to find out just whose party line that fence is on, just for future reference, as I'm sure the other panels will eventually need replacing too.That will put you in a better negotiating position when reaching an amicable agreement re the costs.