Broken fence neighbour ignoring

youth_leader

Is it worth offering to contribute?  He might not have the money?  I'd just moved into this bungalow when the NDN knocked and asked if could 'repair' the fence.  She said it was only 'staying up' because it was between the two sheds. 

I was quite annoyed as I'd only been here a week and she'd obviously asked the vendor, who'd not bothered as she wouldn't 'benefit'.

I found someone local and he gave me a quote of £40 for one post to be concreted back, in 2021.  Two years later he's just turned up and the fence needed three new posts - £140.00.  Not great in the longest January I've ever experienced, it was MOT month too and I had to get a new tyre! 

NameUnavailable

If the fence is leaning over into your garden can't you just fit some posts on your side to prop it up?

jonnydeppiwish!

sevenhills said:

Drhitz said:

This has occurred for 2 reasons, he has built a brick shed at the back of the garden which is within 20cm of the boundary and the fence has broke given he has left old fence panels resting on the broken panels.

The council website doesn't suggest it can assist with property disputes around fences.

Does the brick shed conform to planning rules?

I wouldn't really want to get involved, it will open a can of worms!

The fence is no ones issue, if you want a nice fence, you sort it out?

bobster2 said:

Drhitz said:

Thanks for the comments. I believe the garden brick shed was built without planning permission (it's not registered on the council planning website) - more importantly, it's not 1 meter away from the boundary and just a measly  20cm from fence boundary. In that tight space the builders could have leant onto it or the current spare panels are leaning onto it.. 
The neighbour has ignored the request to fix the panels by avoiding me or plainly closing the door when approached. 
I don't wish to pay for it given the behaviour towards it, the root causes are listed above. But as someone above mentioned, he doesn't have to replace / fix it and could use a string. 

Looks like this is a dead end

Is the shed > 2m tall? If not it doesn't need to be > 1m from the boundary. It also might not need planning permission - it may be permitted development.

Brick built sheds can be up to 2.4m high if built within 2m of the boundary, without planning permission.

Bigphil1474

OP, do you mean the fence behind his brick shed is falling into your garden? Can't you just remove it and use the back of the brick built shed as your garden boundary?

ThisIsWeird

Drhitz, assuming your neighbour is the one 'responsible' for this fence according to your, and their, deeds, most folk feel the correct moral duty to maintain them. So the first thing is to be certain that this is the neighb's fence. 

Also, where is the fence located - on their side, your side, or straddling the invisible border line?

Are you semi, terraced, or detached? With the first two, it should be straightforward to determine where, pretty much exactly, your two houses join - that is then, almost certainly, the boundary line. For detached properties, this can be difficult to determine with any accuracy that could help...

Anyhoo, assuming that the deeds imply the neighb's responsibility for this fence, and its location also suggests it's on the neighb's side of this invisible line, then the neighb owns that fence. You can certainly take action in order to prevent the fence falling further, but really that should be by adding posts or supports on your side only - unless you come to an agreement for you to, say, replace the actual failed posts.

As said by others, unless it states in writing in the deeds that a physical boundary must be maintained, then it's nigh-on impossible to force someone to carry out their moral duty. An exception would be if, say, the lack of fence allowed their animals or children to access your garden. Or, if the loose fence was threatening to cause damage - but if you know that it could - if you, say, had cloches sitting there - then you'd also be expected to mitigate the likelihood of damage to a reasonable degree! You cannot just stand there watching the fence slowly descend on your cloche...

Why isn't your neighb sorting this fence? No idea. They could be cash-strapped, in which case don't expect the situation to change any time soon. Or, they could have a low level of responsibility. Or, you could have irritated them in the past. Who knows.

What to do? Try the smiling, knocking on the door but carrying a wee note, approach. "Hi. I don't know if you've noticed that some of your fencing is falling down? I'm worried it might cause damage if it does, or even be blown away if we have another storm like the one last month. If you need also access from our side to sort it, that's fine if you let me know when..." or something like that. Judge what their response is. If they come out and simply claim they don't have the money to sort it right now, then have a decision in your mind beforehand whether you are willing to contribute. So, perhaps, "I understand - things are really tough at the moment largely thanks to BoBrexTrussy (cough - delete that...), so would you mind if I get some quotes, and perhaps we can split the bill if it isn't too bad?"

Summat like that.

Or, you just put up your fence on your side of the line, and then it's all yours.

otb666

we fixed our neighbours fence that was leaning into our garden with 3 concrete fence spikes cost 300.  We asked their permission as fixing required on their garden.  It was not worth an argument and looks so much better our side now

pinkshoes

Drhitz said:

Thanks for the comments. I believe the garden brick shed was built without planning permission (it's not registered on the council planning website) - more importantly, it's not 1 meter away from the boundary and just a measly  20cm from fence boundary. In that tight space the builders could have leant onto it or the current spare panels are leaning onto it.. 
The neighbour has ignored the request to fix the panels by avoiding me or plainly closing the door when approached. 
I don't wish to pay for it given the behaviour towards it, the root causes are listed above. But as someone above mentioned, he doesn't have to replace / fix it and could use a string. 

Looks like this is a dead end.

You're indeed over-thinking this. 

Firstly, a shed likely comes within the permitted development, especially if it's under 2 metres tall. 

Secondly there is no LEGAL requirement to have a fence for a boundary. You can just have a piece of string as you stated, so if it's definitely THEIR fence, then I'd look at pushing it back onto their side, then put your own fence up.

If money is tight you can do it yourself with posts and 6ft chicken wire. You can buy 50m of mesh wire for about £80, then I think concrete posts are about £15 each. The hard bit is sinking them into the ground!! You can then grow plants up against the wire for privacy. I've done similar in a previous property as we had bushes round the outside of the garden but needed to stop the dog escaping!

doodling

Hi,

ThisIsWeird said:

[...]

As said by others, unless it states in writing in the deeds that a physical boundary must be maintained, then it's nigh-on impossible to force someone to carry out their moral duty. 

[...]

Just to be clear, even if it does say that the neighbour must maintain the fence in the deeds, that is highly likely to be unenforceable.  Positive covenants are generally not enforceable.

ThisIsWeird

doodling said:

Hi,

ThisIsWeird said:

[...]

As said by others, unless it states in writing in the deeds that a physical boundary must be maintained, then it's nigh-on impossible to force someone to carry out their moral duty. 

[...]

Just to be clear, even if it does say that the neighbour must maintain the fence in the deeds, that is highly likely to be unenforceable.  Positive covenants are generally not enforceable.

Yup, I understand that's correct.

markin

If the is 2 back to back its likely 1 is yours.