Neighbour paints boundary fence without permission and now it's rotten

wishiwasinliverpool

Hi

To begin with, I'll state that we don't get on with our nextdoor neighbour for various reasons, so any dialogue with him is out of the question. We can't reason with him; if we try to, things get heated, the R card comes out and the police end up on our doorstep.

So now that's out of the way, the issue is with our boundary fence at the front of our property. We erected it some years ago and it's within our boundary. He paints his side without our permission about twice a year. The drips on our side are one thing, but he's effectively damaged the fence because the paint has rotted it. We want to put a new one up and alongside other issues we had with him and him with us, we stated we didn't want him painting the fence any more. In one of his notes to this idiot, though, my husband ended up relenting on this fence (I wasn't happy with him for doing that) and said he might as well keep painting it if he wanted to because it was already ruined, but if a new one was put up on no account was this neighbour to touch it.

If he tries to paint a new fence does anyone know our legal rights? And also is there a treatment we can get so that if he does try and paint it, the paint won't take?

My husband won't replace the fence with a wall because of the cost and I'm inclined to paint this old fence myself after he paints it

Thanks

Mojisola

How has paint caused the fence to rot?

wishiwasinliverpool

He just uses ordinary paint, not a preserver. In any case, that's not really the point: he has no right to paint it without asking first because he knows we'll say no

MarvinDay

Mojisola said:

How has paint caused the fence to rot?

Painting one side of a fence can accelerate the rotting process because water can easily soak into the wood from the unpainted/untreated side and because one side is treated, it makes it harder for the fence panels to dry out fully hence it rotting and warping more.

Bradden

MarvinDay said:

Mojisola said:

How has paint caused the fence to rot?

Painting one side of a fence can accelerate the rotting process because water can easily soak into the wood from the unpainted/untreated side and because one side is treated, it makes it harder for the fence panels to dry out fully hence it rotting and warping more.

Really? do you have any evidence to back this up?

theoretica

It does raise the question how often, over the last several years, did you maintain or paint the side of the fence that faced him?  No, he 'shouldn't' be painting it, but you will have a hard time enforcing anything.  Maybe a maintenance-free plastic fence would suit the situation better?

mr_stripey

According to http://www.boundary-problems.co.uk/boundary-problems/fences.html

In short, anything you do to your neighbour's fence without your neighbour's permission
- including staining, painting or applying preservative to your side of your neighbour's fence -
amounts to criminal damage.


So I guess you can't stop him from painting it but if he does, then it is a criminal offence

Mardle

How about a plastic fence?
https://www.withamtimber.co.uk/timber-concrete-and-plastic/eco-fencing/boards/eco-fencing-board-graphite.html?sku=Eco+Fencing+amended.csv/2&gclid=CjwKCAiApfeQBhAUEiwA7K_UH3FUMNiSstq7JhbUTJap6fKSrVOwuuRzJBWEfaWhRYxM_8h-mKvNxhoCMt8QAvD_BwE

kazwookie

Put the new fence just in side the old rotten one, that way it is on your side, neighbour cannot reach his side of new fence as the old fence is in his way.

Section62

MarvinDay said:

Mojisola said:

How has paint caused the fence to rot?

Painting one side of a fence can accelerate the rotting process because water can easily soak into the wood from the unpainted/untreated side and because one side is treated, it makes it harder for the fence panels to dry out fully hence it rotting and warping more.

Who would put up an untreated fence?

Any external wood needs to be treated with a preservative as a minimum. It should also be protected against water penetration. If that is done properly then having one side 'painted' shouldn't be causing "rot".

TELLIT01

Mardle said:

How about a plastic fence?
https://www.withamtimber.co.uk/timber-concrete-and-plastic/eco-fencing/boards/eco-fencing-board-graphite.html?sku=Eco+Fencing+amended.csv/2&gclid=CjwKCAiApfeQBhAUEiwA7K_UH3FUMNiSstq7JhbUTJap6fKSrVOwuuRzJBWEfaWhRYxM_8h-mKvNxhoCMt8QAvD_BwE

Have you seen the price of the plastic fencing?