A dreaded fence query!

SenrabN

I live in a Victorian terrace with a fence each side of my back garden.  When we bought the house both fences were dilapidated. We replaced the fence on the RH side as both the property info form and neighbour on that side said it was our responsibility.  The elderly neighbour to our left agreed to have the fence between his house and ours replaced by the same fencer at the same time and he paid the cost.  Next owner of LH side house moved in and maintained the fence throughout their ownership.  The current owner moved in and when the fence came down, she said it was mine, based on what the last owner had ticked on the property info form.
I explained all of the above and also contacted the previous owner, who confirmed in writing that she must have made an error on the form and that she paid for all maintenance of said fence as the owner. I have sent this email to the current owner.
My questions is that if the whole fence sits on her land, does not sit astride a boundary line but firmly on her side of it, surely the fence belongs to her and is her responsibility?  Even if her property form says I am responsible for the maintenance of the boundary between us,  there is no mention of a fence because it is not a requirement to mark the boundary.  There is no mention of fences on the deeds or any T markings. I spent £400 last summer repairing my fence on the right hand side of the garden which sits within my boundary line and I paid for. 
I understand that neighbours often end up sharing the cost of a replacement fence when they can't agree on who is responsible, but in this case, I saw both fences go up, know the owner of LH house paid for his fence and my partner even helped the fencer locate the original boundary posts and made sure the fence was set well over the boundary line and not within our land. If the fence is not on my property then surely I would be trespassing if I tried to remove it?!

Alter_ego

Just point out the fence is on their land and was paid for by previous owner of their property. 
(again)

theoretica

You don't need to do anything about the fence - but neither does your neighbour - having no fence is a perfectly legal option.  Removing the fence is not trespass if you have the neighbour's permission.

Apodemus

SenrabN said:

If the fence is not on my property then surely I would be trespassing if I tried to remove it?!

You would not be trespassing, because (based on what you have said above) you would be there with the current property owners permission. I'm not suggesting you should do it, though!

Ant555

What type of fence is it and what damage has occurred - is it a fence panel that has been damaged by weather but all the posts are OK then it sounds relatively cheap and easy to replace.

As your deeds do not mention a boundary then there is nothing to suggest either of you are responsible.  Even if it were mentioned,  I  remember that others have suggested on this forum in the past that unless stated otherwise, being responsible for a fence simply means all you have to do is bang in a few posts and put some string between them so your neighbour is probably not obliged to repair this current fence if they dont want to.  If its obviously entirely on their land then I wonder why they think its yours?

I am sure you will be able to put up your own fence on your own side of the boundary if you wish - that way you get total control over what is there although that sounds a step too far in this situation.

TELLIT01

If the fence is entirely on the neighbours property it is clearly entirely their responsibility.  They don't have to maintain it if they don't want to but there is nothing to stop the OP putting a fence up on their own property.

There are 3 fences and walls at the bottom of our garden.  The original chain link boundary fence from when the house was build in 1938, beyond that is a decorative concrete block wall, presumably built by the people in the house behind because they didn't like the chain link fence, and beyond that again is a 6 ft high wooden fence, presumably build by a later occupant who didn't like the concrete block wall.

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi SenrabN.

Perhaps one more attempt to pleasantly pursue the conversation with the LH neighbour. A bit of "Lol - it is confusing since they aren't marked out in the deeds, so what I and all the previous neighbs on both sides have done is to agree to take responsibility for the fence on our RH side. That way we all only have ONE side fence to look after - except the poor fellow at the end! Lol... It also explains why the fence between me and you is actually positioned on your side of the boundary, whereas the fence to my right is on my land..."

If they still shake their head, you may need to be a bit less subtle and ask them "Do you not have ownership and responsibility for either of your side fences, then? Ah, you do? Cool - which one? Hmm, really? I think you'll find the one on that side is your other neighb's - why don't you ask them...?"

If they are still being twits, then there's not much you can do - the fence is on their land is theirs simply by that fact. If you need to take your own action and have your own fence installed there, it would have to be on your side of the boundary; you cannot go on their land without their permission, and frankly I'm not sure I'd do that anyway with their attitude.

Your options would appear to be; have that chat, and if they are still in denial mode, you either ask them if you can come on to their land to repair their fence (keep referring to it as that :-) ), or walk away and have a new fence built on your side of the boundary.

For either of these unhelpful options, I'd be tempted to go into 'working to rule' mode if you wanted to (as I have done with one deeply ignorant neighb). Ie, civil, but not friendly. Take in their parcels if asked by a courier - stuff like that - but nothing more.

They want to settle in with good neighbourly relations? They know what to do - not be a twit. :-)

twopenny

" I'd be tempted to go into 'working to rule' mode if you wanted to (as I have done with one deeply ignorant neighb). Ie, civil, but not friendly. Take in their parcels if asked by a courier - stuff like that - but nothing more."

Ah yes, I have one of those and it started with a fence. and me not realising the nature of the lady.  Happily the rest are ok.

I can see the point if she has documents of sale saying that it's your fence - but you can prove otherwise. It's also on their land. So I don't think you should replace it. You will thereafter be responsibe forever more in the new neighbours eyes

How does she feel about there being no fence and how do you feel about it? If you don't do anything more she may come round to doing something to sort it out. You could do something to accelerate this like groups of noisy children, anyones cats you could allow in to use it as a toilet? All while be apologetic of course. Sometimes passive agressive is needed to shift a difficult situation without causing an obvious rift.