Neighbour from hell and fence

sparky20006

A short while ago I noticed one of the trees by my boundary was in distress to the point of dying. Upon inspection it became very clear the neighbours to my left at the rear had lifted a fence panel and had girdled the tree by cutting all the bark away. You could even see the axe cuts. To prevent future occurrences of  trespass and criminal damage I used small woodscrews and several thin strips of wood to prevent the panels being lifted to allow access to my property. They are now saying that due to them having purchased the panels I am not allowed to protect my property by screwing these strips of wood onto the panels. Which, incidentally they cannot see. They are clearly obsessed as they have knocked our door several times to tell us to remove them, which in itself is bizarre bordering on the obsessive. At no time did they ever ask me to pay half to the panels. It is a shared boundary as well.

 Incidentally the panels are over two metres in height which I understand to be over the maximum permitted height.
Am I therefore not entitled to protect my property by restricting access to it as I have done? It seems absurd to think I'm not allowed such a basic and fundamental right.
Many thanks in advance.

 

pulliptears

Technically they are right, you can't touch their fence, it's their property so you do need to remove anything you have attached to it.
As for the fence height, have a look on your local councils portal and see what the rule is, in general it is 2 meters plus trellis.

As for protecting your property, I'd suggest CCTV in the area.

JustAnotherSaver

Interesting one.
So OP can't protect their property but neighbour is fine to hack away at OPs property? Seems a bit wrong. 

Mickey666

Have a look at the garden law website and forum, it is full of examples where small events between neighbours have blown up into full-scale disputes leading to misery on both sides.
The technical rights and wrongs are one thing but you should also consider just letting things be, unless you have the stomach for a long drawn out stressful and nasty dispute.   https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/

pulliptears

JustAnotherSaver said:

Interesting one.
So OP can't protect their property but neighbour is fine to hack away at OPs property? Seems a bit wrong. 

Two wrongs don't make a right.  OP cant screw things into the neighbours fence and the neighbour cant hack at OP's tree.  

JHW1942

JustAnotherSaver said:

Interesting one.
So OP can't protect their property but neighbour is fine to hack away at OPs property? Seems a bit wrong. 

No, the two things are different.  The neighbour has wrongfully damaged OP's tree, OP has wrongfully adapted/damaged the neighbour's fence.  OP shouldn't break the law to stop their neighbour breaking the law.

The answer to OP's question is: No, OP is not entitled to protect their property by restricting access to it as they have done.  What's next?  If the neighbour is instructing OP to remove the adaptations to the fence, OP should do so, or they could face action to recover the costs of reinstating it.  OP may wish to consider their own action in relation to the damage the neighbour has caused to the tree.

On the point of if being a shared boundary, that again is separate to ownership of the fence.  OP, you are entitled to erect your own fence on your side of the boundary if you wish to.  If the neighbour paid for the boundary fence, they own it, even if you share the boundary.  

ssparks2003

Can I ask why the tree had been damaged? Was it growing over their boundary and preventing the fence going up.

Manxman_in_exile

ssparks2003 said:

Can I ask why the tree had been damaged? Was it growing over their boundary and preventing the fence going up.

That was my immediate thought.  Why did the neighbours decide to damage the OP's tree?  Where is it?

Manxman_in_exile

Mickey666 said:

Have a look at the garden law website and forum, it is full of examples where small events between neighbours have blown up into full-scale disputes leading to misery on both sides.
The technical rights and wrongs are one thing but you should also consider just letting things be, unless you have the stomach for a long drawn out stressful and nasty dispute.   https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/

Unless the OP's neighbour is being totally unreasonable this ^^^^^ is excellent advice.

Neighbours should try at all costs to avoid what will inevitably become expensive disputes - especially expensive when they decide to sell their houses.

Money_Grabber13579

pulliptears said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

Interesting one.
So OP can't protect their property but neighbour is fine to hack away at OPs property? Seems a bit wrong. 

Two wrongs don't make a right.  OP cant screw things into the neighbours fence and the neighbour cant hack at OP's tree.  

Being Devil’s Advocate here. What if the fence is wholly on the neighbour’s property and the tree trunk has grown to such an extent that it was pushing through the neighbours fence. Would the neighbour be entitled to cut the bits of the trunk off that were encroaching into his garden, provided he offered the offcuts back again?

JustAnotherSaver

pulliptears said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

Interesting one.
So OP can't protect their property but neighbour is fine to hack away at OPs property? Seems a bit wrong. 

Two wrongs don't make a right.  OP cant screw things into the neighbours fence and the neighbour cant hack at OP's tree.  

I'm not saying they do, but how do you right the wrong?
OP can't screw in to the neighbours fence but neighbour has already damaged OPs property. My point is they shouldn't be allowed to get away with it just because oh well it's done now. There should be consequences if the neighbour refuses to put right.