Who owns the fence between a council property and a private house

Section62

unforeseen said:

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 string

Not so.  They are very common with ex-LA properties.  (already covered earlier in the thread)

propertyrental

So far, it's all just conjecture.

The OP asked 

"Who owns the fence between a council property and a private house"

and clearly hoped there was a standard answer in relation to council/private houses.

As has been explained there is no such standard answer so until the OP does does further research and provides further details, based on the respective properties' deeds, any attempt to answer here must be couched in terms of 'sometimes', 'usually', 'possibly' etc.

Section62

propertyrental said:

So far, it's all just conjecture.

Except

WLM21 said:

A [council] worker has called and in his words .. the neighbour has bought their house and so also bought ownership of the fence.

As the council own the subject property, the OP's research would only be able to identify whether the council officer was telling the truth or not.

silvercar

Section62 said:

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.

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).

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.

The council officer may say that, without showing deeds that confirm it, it doesn't mean it is true.

user1977

And even if you can determine that (as between the neighbouring owners) it's the council's fence, that doesn't necessarily mean they have an obligation to the tenant to do anything about it.

sevenhills

propertyrental said:

So far, it's all just conjecture.

As has been explained there is no such standard answer so until the OP does does further research and provides further details, based on the respective properties' deeds, any attempt to answer here must be couched in terms of 'sometimes', 'usually', 'possibly' etc.

If the council officer stated that the neighbour owned the fence, it must be on his side, so he has responsibility for that. If there is a tall, mature hedge on the neighbour's side, why does the OP need a fence?

Grumpy_chap

Section62 said:

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).

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.

The Cllr may well be aware but may also give a very sympathetic ear, agree it is awful and then come back and say they have investigated and, so sadly, the Council Officer they spoke with said there is nothing that the Council can do.  Then re-confirm how awful that all is and how they feel for the plight of the OP and really wish they could help.

Call me a cynic, but the Cllr will want votes at whenever the next local election falls, so will give a super-pandering  answer.  It would be far better really if the Cllr simply acted in a more honest way.

Bigphil1474

Not sure I agree with that - the councillor may well agree that it is the neighbours fence and that the council can't make them repair it - doesn't mean the councillor couldn't persuade the housing office to install a suitable fence on the council tenants side to avoid the usual anti council headlines in the local rag. 

sevenhills

Bigphil1474 said:

Not sure I agree with that - the councillor may well agree that it is the neighbours fence and that the council can't make them repair it - doesn't mean the councillor couldn't persuade the housing office to install a suitable fence on the council tenants side to avoid the usual anti council headlines in the local rag. 

The OP has a child, so that will be what makes the council put a fence up, if it's required.

elsien

sevenhills said:

Bigphil1474 said:

Not sure I agree with that - the councillor may well agree that it is the neighbours fence and that the council can't make them repair it - doesn't mean the councillor couldn't persuade the housing office to install a suitable fence on the council tenants side to avoid the usual anti council headlines in the local rag. 

The OP has a child, so that will be what makes the council put a fence up, if it's required.

They haven’t said yet why the fence is a problem for the child.