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Who owns the fence between a council property and a private house
WLM21
Posts: 1,589 Forumite
My daughter lives in a council house and has a neighbour who has bought their ex-council house.
The fence between the two properties is in a very poor state, so as my daughter has a young child she wanted it repaired / replaced. She therefore contacted the Council.
A worker has called and in his words .. the neighbour has bought their house and so also bought ownership of the fence.
There is actually a tall, mature hedge on the neighbour's side, so they can't even see the fence.
For my daughter to have to ask them to repair the fence, they don't even see seems a bit strange.
What should my daughter do next ?.
The fence between the two properties is in a very poor state, so as my daughter has a young child she wanted it repaired / replaced. She therefore contacted the Council.
A worker has called and in his words .. the neighbour has bought their house and so also bought ownership of the fence.
There is actually a tall, mature hedge on the neighbour's side, so they can't even see the fence.
For my daughter to have to ask them to repair the fence, they don't even see seems a bit strange.
What should my daughter do next ?.
0
Comments
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Firstly, it depends on the property itself and who is responsible for each boundary. Secondly, there is no requirement for anyone to replace a fence. They could choose to mark the border with a piece of string if they wanted to.
what does her tenancy say and what is the specific concern about the fence – dangerous? Her daughter can get out? or just that it doesn’t look very nice?All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.2 -
elsien said:...Secondly, there is no requirement for anyone to replace a fence....^Subject to what it says in the deeds.Councils do like to make the buyer responsible for maintaining the boundary fence (which would include replacing it when beyond repair) wherever appropriate.So what the council worker said may be correct. Whether the neighbour can see their own fence is irrelevant to their obligation to maintain it... if such an obligation exists in this case.1
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Download the deeds of the neighbours house from Land Registry, that should say if the neighbour is responsible for the fence.I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0
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OP here .. thank you for your help0
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Is your daughter renting direct from the council? If so, do they have an obligation to make sure the property is fit for purpose?If they have such a duty, perhaps they should fix the fence, then argue with the neighbour about who pays?No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0
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Is this a terraced block? If so how does the fence sit in relation to the house? Is it your daughters side of the centre, bang on the centre, or to the neighbours side of the centre?
Normally the boundary is at the centre point between the two properties, meaning if the fence is offset it is likely to be on the land of the house on that side.(Our deeds state we are responsible for the right hand fence, but it is clearly on our neighbours side, and the wall on the left is clearly on ours…)0 -
OP, councils are skint so don't want to spend any money. However, if the garden is 'unsafe' then it might be worth speaking to your local councillor. You rent your property from the council and they have a responsibility to you as their tenant. Involving a councillor might get them to do something.1
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Be aware that Title Plan on the Land Registry site probably won't show who owes the fence.She or you will need to ask the Land Registry for all the documents they hold, and hope that the boundary is described adequately.The comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.0
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Based on the OP's first post, the council housing officer will probably tell the councillor that the fence belongs to the neighbour and they will (/have) asked the neighbour to put the fence back into a resonable state of repair (if necessary).Bigphil1474 said:OP, councils are skint so don't want to spend any money. However, if the garden is 'unsafe' then it might be worth speaking to your local councillor. You rent your property from the council and they have a responsibility to you as their tenant. Involving a councillor might get them to do something.If it is the neighbour's responsibility then the council shouldn't be paying for the fence to be replaced/repaired... there's plenty they can't afford to do without taking over responsibility for someone else's obligations. The councillor will hopefully be aware of that already.1 -
If it is the neighbours responsibility then barring a positive covenant (rarer than hens teeth) then they can just remove it and replace with some sticks and a bit of string0
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