unsafe fence

Hammie67

My new neighbour has recently attached a 6ft fence to our exisiting  low fence which has only 4ft  fence posts.  As predicted, after the storm, our fence post is now broken.  He has not acted on my request for him to erect his own fence with suitable size posts, nor has he taken down the fence as requested as it is now an unsafe structure.  Where do we go from here please?

TELLIT01

Is the 4ft fence a boundary fence?  Is it shared responsibility or entirely your responsibility?

Hammie67

Thanks.  As far as I can tell from the deeds, it is a shared fence. He had informed us that he was going to erect a 6ft fence - we did not have any issue with that, but we did not expect him to attach it to our smaller structure.  

FreeBear

Wooden fence posts ?

Modern ones just do not last if buried in the ground. If you get 10 years out of them, you're doing well.

In the absence of legal protection on your household insurance (you do have LP ?), I'd pull the fence down and leave the neighbour to source suitable posts at his expense. With LP, give the insurer a ring and see what advice/help they can offer.

Hammie67

Thanks, I hadn't thought of my insurance cover.  The main issue was that he has wrecked our fence by attaching his 6ft thing to our short fence - it was an unsafe and inconsiderate thing to do in the first place

twopenny

I had a similar thing. My neighbour had installed cheap panels on the fence already there. It was my boundary.

First storm they came down along with the old posts, she disappeared. Then she offered to pay half because she felt guilty. I consulted and agreed on what would suit us and as soon as it was done she announced she didn't think she should contribute!

You need an agreement between you in writing.

Do you want a 6ft fence? 4ft with trellis is a compromise. Personally I'd go for 6ft so you don't have to see your thoughtless neighbour but the 4ft with trellis, as the place here was built, lets the wind through and much less chance of it giving way in our frequent gales.

You can always grow something to give you privacy.

Hammie67

Our fence is a 4ft fence with trellis which we (ourselves and the previous neighbour) were happy with.  The issue is not that he built a 6ft fence, we didn't object to that, but he attached it to our shorter fence even after being advised that this was not the thing to do owing to safety reasons.
Thanks for your response

Bendy_House

It might not be that straightforward.

For instance, the posts used for a 4' fence and those for a 6' fence could well be identical, even buried to the same depth, but one is just a couple of feet taller - which shouldn't be an issue for most fences.

So, did you have a reason to say there shouldn't be a 6' panel fitted to your existing posts?

How did the fence break? You suggest the posts broke? What size posts were they, and in what condition? I mean, if these were even as little as 3x3 posts - the smallest one should fit - they should still hold up a 6' high fence without snapping. So, if they 'snapped', then why?

In your deeds, are there any boundaries marked with a series of 'T's?

Hammie67

There are no 'T''s on the deeds.  It would appear to be a shared fence and the previous home owner had discussed with us what we both wanted when the fence was renewed.  The reason we did not want the new owner to attach the 6ft fencing to our posts was that our fence is considerably older and although it was in good order before the stress of having the high fence connected, the posts would probably have needed to be renewed within a couple of years.
From what I've read, people cannot just attach things to your fence, let alone attach a huge structure.

Hammie67

Thanks for all your help.  We now hopefully may have resolved the issue

markin

But who actually paid for the little fence, that's what really matters.