Fences

pollyanna24

It might be worth looking at the tenant's handbook about this issue. Where I used to live, the tenants only had to maintain boundaries between HA houses. Any boundary/fence between a HA tenant and a privately owned property was maintained by the HA. The fence fell down between our HA tenant neighbours and ourselves. The HA tried to tell us that it was our problem until we sent a copy of our deeds (which demonstrated that the boundary was not our responsibility) and a copy of the relevant page from their own tenants' handbook (which demonstrated that the HA and not the tenant had to deal with the issue). The HA put a new fence up.

This is interesting to know.  I have a situation where I own my house and one of the fences on the left hand side has gone.  As my garden is so long, it does not bother me as I cannot even see there is no fence until I go wandering down my garden, but it is the end of the garden to one of the houses to my left which is a council house.

The fence originally was destroyed by a previous tenant who thought it would be a good idea to have a bonfire at the end of his garden.  He replaced it, but not very well and has since moved on.  The new tenant is adamant is it is my responsibility, but can't prove it and my deeds say nothing.  I probably would fix it if I had a dog or some other reason to, but it was mainly his rudeness that has made me dig my heels in.  I have heard him on the phone to the council, but they have told him they can't force me to put a fence up, but there is still no reason to think or assume that it is my responsibility. 

I think I will just wait till this tenant moves out and a new one is due to move in.  The council will probably put one up then.  Must admit, I find it strange to be the tenant's responsibility when they don't own the property.

strawb_shortcake

pollyanna24 said:

It might be worth looking at the tenant's handbook about this issue. Where I used to live, the tenants only had to maintain boundaries between HA houses. Any boundary/fence between a HA tenant and a privately owned property was maintained by the HA. The fence fell down between our HA tenant neighbours and ourselves. The HA tried to tell us that it was our problem until we sent a copy of our deeds (which demonstrated that the boundary was not our responsibility) and a copy of the relevant page from their own tenants' handbook (which demonstrated that the HA and not the tenant had to deal with the issue). The HA put a new fence up.

This is interesting to know.  I have a situation where I own my house and one of the fences on the left hand side has gone.  As my garden is so long, it does not bother me as I cannot even see there is no fence until I go wandering down my garden, but it is the end of the garden to one of the houses to my left which is a council house.

The fence originally was destroyed by a previous tenant who thought it would be a good idea to have a bonfire at the end of his garden.  He replaced it, but not very well and has since moved on.  The new tenant is adamant is it is my responsibility, but can't prove it and my deeds say nothing.  I probably would fix it if I had a dog or some other reason to, but it was mainly his rudeness that has made me dig my heels in.  I have heard him on the phone to the council, but they have told him they can't force me to put a fence up, but there is still no reason to think or assume that it is my responsibility. 

I think I will just wait till this tenant moves out and a new one is due to move in.  The council will probably put one up then.  Must admit, I find it strange to be the tenant's responsibility when they don't own the property.

Our property was HA and we have several neighbours still HA that border our garden, the fencing has always been a bit iffy but it has always been the tenants that took responsibility for the fences. 
Even if the HA took responsibility their idea of suitable fencing would be much different to those that have to live with it.

KxMx

Even council tenants as renters have some responsibilities as per their tenancy agreement.

I live in a council property, accidental damage to windows and pest control comes out of our pockets and not the council. All garden maintenance is down to us. 

They will sometimes agree to fund fence replacement on a case by case basis but not often.

jimbog

youth_leader said:

 I won't ask her to share the cost Neil49, she is a bit confused I think, somehow we talked about pensions and she is wrong about her SPA too.  The bonus is that she likes cats.

OK I bite. What is she wrong about with regards to her SPA?

Skiddaw1

youth_leader said:

Thank you davidmcn, I haven't looked at the property information form for so long I'd forgotten about it.  Answers are clear on there, looking at the front of the house my boundaries are on the right, at the rear, and at the front.  Thank you.  My previous house and garden was huge and remote and I didn't have to consider my boundaries as they were very clear.  I won't ask her to share the cost Neil49, she is a bit confused I think, somehow we talked about pensions and she is wrong about her SPA too.  The bonus is that she likes cats.

It's a result that she likes cats at any rate.

olgadapolga

youth_leader said:

Thank you davidmcn, I haven't looked at the property information form for so long I'd forgotten about it.  Answers are clear on there, looking at the front of the house my boundaries are on the right, at the rear, and at the front.  Thank you.  My previous house and garden was huge and remote and I didn't have to consider my boundaries as they were very clear.  I won't ask her to share the cost Neil49, she is a bit confused I think, somehow we talked about pensions and she is wrong about her SPA too.  The bonus is that she likes cats.

I would still check the deeds to the house though and not rely on what's written on the property information form. The one we received was incorrect with regards to the boundaries. The vendor clearly didn't have a clue about the boundaries (or was in denial about it).

olgadapolga

annabanana82 said:

pollyanna24 said:

It might be worth looking at the tenant's handbook about this issue. Where I used to live, the tenants only had to maintain boundaries between HA houses. Any boundary/fence between a HA tenant and a privately owned property was maintained by the HA. The fence fell down between our HA tenant neighbours and ourselves. The HA tried to tell us that it was our problem until we sent a copy of our deeds (which demonstrated that the boundary was not our responsibility) and a copy of the relevant page from their own tenants' handbook (which demonstrated that the HA and not the tenant had to deal with the issue). The HA put a new fence up.

This is interesting to know.  I have a situation where I own my house and one of the fences on the left hand side has gone.  As my garden is so long, it does not bother me as I cannot even see there is no fence until I go wandering down my garden, but it is the end of the garden to one of the houses to my left which is a council house.

The fence originally was destroyed by a previous tenant who thought it would be a good idea to have a bonfire at the end of his garden.  He replaced it, but not very well and has since moved on.  The new tenant is adamant is it is my responsibility, but can't prove it and my deeds say nothing.  I probably would fix it if I had a dog or some other reason to, but it was mainly his rudeness that has made me dig my heels in.  I have heard him on the phone to the council, but they have told him they can't force me to put a fence up, but there is still no reason to think or assume that it is my responsibility. 

I think I will just wait till this tenant moves out and a new one is due to move in.  The council will probably put one up then.  Must admit, I find it strange to be the tenant's responsibility when they don't own the property.

Even if the HA took responsibility their idea of suitable fencing would be much different to those that have to live with it.

In our case, the HA replaced like for like (probably to avoid another complaint to their chief executive though).

youth_leader

I've just had time to go through the deeds left by the seller, and it seems the bungalow was built on a 'parcel' of land belonging to someone who owned land north and east of it.  Very interesting!   

From 1928 up until 1958 there is a statement about the covenant, frustratingly the pack is incomplete, the last set is dated 1966. There is a T on every red line of the original boundary diagram.

"Covenant by the Purchaser with the vendor that she would thereafter maintain the fences on the North West, North East and South West sides of the property thereby conveyed in good and substantial repair and condition."

Suseka97

Definite result that she like cats... we are about to move in to our new property on Tuesday (had the keys since last week, but the removal firm couldn't fit us in) and being at the house today we've seen that the neighbouring 3 houses who each have back gardens that run along the side of our property all have dogs.  I do love dogs, but we have cats and we're are now going to have to 'dog proof' the fence that runs along the entire row.  Yikes!

Anyway, hope you are settling in YL (have been following your story on and off) and it's good to maintain neighbourly relations.  Am curious though about her confusion re SPA too  

youth_leader

Suseka97 it is a relief, my cat is 16 and has had huge hunting grounds at my other house all her life, I hope she can settle here.  I hadn't realised how boxed in the garden is and the fences are all six foot, but on my neighbour's side my garden is slightly built up and she could get over there.   If she does go over, I'm not sure she'll be able to get back,  so at least I can knock at the neighbour's and rescue her if necessary.  Good luck to you dog proofing.  A friend that used to work for the Cat Protection League used eight foot bean canes in the ground and draped a length of  with netting across the tops of them to stop her cats going over into her neighbour's garden.