Fence issue

joeypesci

The annoyance of boundary lines. So been in a house for several years with a house to the right that was rented. The fence fell down a few times and the owner of the house admitted he was responsible for that fence so would repair it. Near owner moves in, asks about the fence and I said it was theirs. They then check with their conveyancer who said its not clear.

On my deeds it shows a T for the end wall but no T for the fences on left or right so I'm still assuming this means we don't own the fence on the right and/or that its not a shared fence.

During the new great storm the whole lot fell down. Now he wants to replace and went and purchased all the kit without consultation because "I just want to get on and do it. You'll never get the discounts I can get. But I'd like you to pay half as I believe its a shared fence". I disagreed. He argued "But you'll get a free fence out of it if you don't pay and its shared". I eventually said get quotes even though he'd said he'd already bought everything.

A few weeks pass and I have a note appear in the post showing a quote and his account details. It comes across as "This is the quote I got, here's my bank details, pay the money into that" but that's just a quote, how much did you actually pay? And why haven't you given us a chance to get our own quote and materials?

I assume we can't be forced to pay, especially if its not clear on the deeds who owns the fence.

I've been doing work in the house and noticed there was no firewall in bathroom. Whoever owned it couldn't be bothered to finish off the firewall. So we paid for materials and had one installed. Before I did this I mentioned to neighbour who said "Doesn't need a firewall its a wet room innit". 1. Its not a wet room all the time, sometimes wet rooms are dry. 2. A fire doesn't care if a room is "a wet room innit". For safety I installed one. I'm now thinking of suggesting "Lets call it even with the fence. I installed a firewall which you get for free as we never charged you".

Assuming neither of us goes the legal route, we wouldn't have to declare the dispute of fence ownership right?

A few questions in this post.

 

mwt_2

I don't see why you would need to pay for anything. The fence he's purchased belongs to him and he's only allowed to install it on his side of the boundary. As far as I know, he cannot force you to replace the fence, even if it was yours, you could simply choose not to have a fence. If he doesn't like that, he can install his own on his land.

DRP

The firewall is irrelevant and sounds quite petty. Ignore that.

The best way to deal with a new fence would have been discussion and sharing the work/cost/choice. Now that he's gone ahead, you don't have to pay. However, it might be in your interest to contribute something.

theoretica

If you have nothing in your deeds about the boundaries left or right and neither do your neighbours then the deeds are leaving it to you to sort out between you, or have no fence if you don't sort it.  Nothing in your deeds doesn't make it theirs!

EssexExile

How would you like your relationship with your neighbours to go? Remember you've got to live next door to them.

Ant555

The old fence has gone - it doesnt really matter who owned that fence, you now have a gap between your gardens and its up to the pair of you to determine who is going to pay for any fence to be installed.
Neighbour could put one on the boundary line if its obvious or just inside his own boundary if there is any likely dispute.

Is there any dispute from you as to where the original fence was?  Do you believe it to be on the boundary, on your side, on his side?

If he pays for the whole fence then its his fence, but he may ask you not to touch it, not to allow plants to grow up it, paint your side your preferred colour etc.

What type of fence is the neighbour proposing - concrete posts, wooden posts and how much is half the 'quoted' cost?

joeypesci

No boundary line dispute. Just fence ownership is in question. Concrete posts and kickboard. Just over £600 which includes labour, which I can't afford.

Carrot007

joeypesci said:

On my deeds it shows a T for the end wall but no T for the fences on left or right so I'm still assuming this means we don't own the fence on the right and/or that its not a shared fence.

T is just a note that you ahve to maintain the boundry. unless there is some covenant in the deed than there is no need for a fence by the boundry owner (of the neighbour) unless you want one. A stick and some sting will shgow the boundry if the neighbout gets tetchy.

Fecnes are owned by whoeever bought them (but unless deed as above) but there is no requirement for one.

Your neighbour has asked for a contribution to a fence they want which seems reasonable. Saying no is also reasonable (unless say you keep a poor dog in the garden).

Bendy_House

Is £600 half or the whole lot?

Do you have any responsibility for the fence on your other side? If 'yes', then chances are your neighb has 'responsibility' for the disputed fence. If 'no', then chances are you do.

As pointed out above, tho', unless your deeds state that you must maintain a physical boundary, or unless you need to contain some animals within your land, then no-one has to put up a fence.

What to do? IF you have responsibility for your other fence, I would tell the neighb this, and your conclusion that - unless he can demonstrate otherwise - the disputed fence is therefore 'his'. If you don't have responsibility for your other fence, then I'd bite your neighb's hand off in going halves.

What about neighbours further up and down your road? Which fences do they have respon for - which sides?

mandy47

Do you have any responsibility for the fence on your other side? If 'yes', then chances are your neighbour has 'responsibility' for the disputed fence. If 'no', then chances are you do.

I was under the assumption that I was responsible for the fence to the right and rear of my property. We had panels replaced after consulting with neighbour, they didn't offer a contribution and we didn't ask. Then they dropped it out that their deeds stated the boundary was theirs. We checked and we aren't responsible for any of our boundaries. Nice of next door to let us fork out for new fence.
lesson learnt. Always check your deeds.

DRP

Have owned 3 houses , each with 2/3 fenced boundaries. Never have the deeds specified who is responsible for what. Houses/deeds dated from 1880s - 1930s.

Is this a new build thing?