Neighbour wants to replace MY fence, I don’t want them to!

They are not bullying you. Just because you and your other neighbours like the 4ft fences doesn't mean they have to!

I'd.let them replace it. Because they can build next to it anyway.

We had a 4 foot fence down one side of our garden, technically it belonged to next door which was rented. I offered to pay to replace it so long as he would sign it over to me, landlord couldnt sign fast enough. Best money I ever spent. There have been half a dozen lots of renters in that house since then, the garden is wrecked now, the roof has fallen off the shed. I never see any of it, completely private now and no one comes in to pinch my apples

Sorry OP but they certainly can do this, we had to do this when our neighbours got awkward about us replacing a 4ft fence too. Cost us a fortune but we wanted the privacy.

You should then also be aware you cannot damage/paint/attach anything to their fence within their own boundary, without their permission.

I'd hate to have a 6ft fence. Our garden is small and it would be in shadow more often than not

Yes what horrible bullies they are, offering to replace your fence.

Look, they are entitled to a 6ft fence. They're being kind enough to offer to replace yours at their cost. You are entitled to refuse, but you're not entitled to be in charge of all possible outcomes of everything ever. You have a choice: get the ugly and weird 2 fences next to each other scenario, or agree to a 6ft fence replacing yours, have a chance at having a say in the colour/design etc and have a decent relationship with your neighbours. 2ft of extra privacy seems like a small price to pay to me, but you do you.

Edited to remove a whole extra story that wasn't relevant

"Bullied" into getting a free new fence? Are you quite ok?!

When I bought my house 25 years ago one side of the back garden had a 4 foot fence which was a bit low for my liking. A few years later I was doing work on my house and this was one of the first things I got done. Neighbor was fine about it. Good fences and all that... He is still a lovely neighbor all these years later.

There is nothing illegal about a 6ft fence.

I take it you have never actually put a fence up or you wouldn't have posted this. A fencing company will have no difficulty whatsoever. Not quite as easy for a DIYer but certainly not impossible

I think that was a really kind offer of your new neighbours tbh, I’d have been really pleased. They probably have dogs etc and are trying to make sure they don’t annoy any neighbours. We chose our home as the tiny garden is private and has high fences so we can’t annoy anyone and if we have pets they can’t escape.

It will look shit from your side seeing double fences, and they're going to do it anyway so why not just accept the 6ft fence in the middle?

Yes it’s perfectly legal, you will land up with a higher fence next to your 4ft one.
4ft is very short for a fence, maybe they want more privacy?
Id jump at them paying for a 6th one

If op agrees to the 6' fence, who then is responsible for the upkeep? Eg damage from footballs, blown down etc? Is it still op's fence?
I feel for you op. You'll have a lop-sided garden and non-matching fences but I think it will be preferable to a half metre gap. You'll be the only one affected by all the weeds growing there!

Good grief.

It's perfectly legal to erect a six foot fence.

Some deeds have "right to light" written into them. Check your documents as there might be something about that which would prevent a taller fence being imposed.

By refusing, you’ve not stopped them, you’ve just made your garden look worse- not ideal. We’re paying £3500 for new fence down one side of our garden. It’s all falling down and was about 4’. Were gettting a solid wooden fence for 4’ with a foot of more open fence on top bringing the total height to 5’5”. Much much better. We knew it needed doing but our neighbours gave us the push to get it done. They’ll lose some light but we communicated with them about the height and the style and now we’re all happy (apart from with the bill!) I’d much prefer 6’ but DP much prefers lower fences for sunlight purposes.

It looks really bad to your neighbours that you have refused this, can you change your mind? 2 fences will look nuts and it won’t gain you anything.

The owner has no obligation to fence his boundary.

i would just be so happy to get a new fence that I didn't have to pay for that I wouldn't care. When I got mine done I had a 6ft one installed as I wanted privacy and also did not want to see into the house the other side of the communal entry as it is a hell pit full of rubbish and every morning when I came downstairs the sight of it made me want to cry.

You’re going to end up with a six foot fence either way.

I would recommend letting them erect their own fence on their own land without removing yours.

If you let them replace your fence, they will then feel that it is theirs and could possibly complain in future if you wanted to hang, attach anything to or decorate said fence.

Good fences make good neighbours.

They want their privacy in the garden - as would I in their place.

Accept their offer to put in a new fence as it'll look far worse from your side if you have a double fence with one being much lower.

I think your neighbours sounds lovely and have been perfectly reasonable offering to pay for the fence.
They are well within their right to have privacy in their own back garden .
We had this with a neighbour (a very odd man , odd area and an odd road in hindsight !) who objected when we put a higher fence up , wrote us a letter (two sided -typed 🤣🤣) it was hilarious... I will try and dig it out and post it in here Mumsnet would love it .
I think it was a control thing that he didnt like the fence and we were well within our rights to do what we wanted in our own garden ! He used to always try and talk to us when we were trying to relax our back garden ... annoying !
We have since moved (not because of that , we were flipping the house anyway )
Accept the fence and allow your sons neighbours privacy.

A six-foot fence is pretty standard. And if you want a 'community feel', you could try to get out more.

It's still your land, if the renters took the fence down you need to write a letter to the owner. If the owner did it u still write one to him stating the land is yours