Its a fence one .

Some of these comments are unbelievable.

By unbelievable do you mean factual? 😂

Whether you think the new fence is nicer, more attractive, stronger etc. is totally irrelevant to the situation.

You can't just destroy someone's property and replace it with something completely different 🤷‍♀️

@Northernladdette I'm on planet earth, no matter what you think looks or is practically better, you are entitled to your opinion but it doesn't have to be the owners. One new side that has concrete posts (not liked by many) and the old English garden style the otherside would not match -it's a fact. In my humble opinion mismatched fences would look dreadful. Regardless of our opinions it doesn't matter if it's made of solid gold, if they don't like gold they aren't obliged to suck it up, on my planet that's just manners & consideration.

You obviously like efficiency. Some of us prefer aesthetics and in their own garden, they get to choose. They would not have given permission for OP to remove their fence if they’d known what replacement she was choosing.

The timber fence put up at my new build 26 years ago is still going strong. Never stained or painted because that spoils the wood. It’s aged to a graceful silver, as it’s designed to do. Extremely windy plot as well- we couldn’t have a parasol up as it carried the table away with it. Vertical slats in that case, with tiny gaps for the wind to pass through.

The hideous concrete posts are not to everyone’s taste. OP should have put the fence up on her side if she didn’t like their existing fence.

Years ago it was courtesy that you gave your neighbour the good side. In law this ins’t the case at all 🙄

Years ago, people were happy with low fences so it wasn’t such an issue.

So many people thinking you “own” a boundary. No one owns a boundary, you have one that you are responsible for.
Years ago it was courtesy that you gave your neighbour the good side. In law this ins’t the case at all 🙄

Ok that's fair enough, not as inconsiderate as I thought but still not what you agreed. If I was neighbour I'd be happy about it and I'd not request the nice side but they are entitled to as you didn't do as they asked.

“Make their garden look dreadful”
oh, silly me, the neighbours are sooo fussy and had such pristine previous fencing. I wonder what planet you’re on?
Some of these comments are unbelievable. Most new fencing installed (including my own) is vertical slats with concrete posts. Far superior (and more expensive) than cheap horizontal panels with flimsy wooden posts that will fall over in a puff of wind. Things have moved on since the 80s 😩😩

You should follow through with what you agreed. I bet they never agree to any favours you ask of them in future.

The wood part is nice. Concrete is ugly.

@pavillion1 Clearly that wasn't the case here or you'd have said their otherside didn't match before we took it down. When our neighbour put a new one in, we did the same the other side because it looked awful. Just because lots of other people have mismatched fences, they only do because of you. Sorry but that's the truth. I personally would be happy to follow suit and buy a new one the other side but if they can't or don't want to prioritise that out of their own budget then of course they will be annoyed.

On your boundary you have the structural side. Which means you can maintain it easily.
So for vertical panels there will be horizontal supports, the support side is yours. On OPs image the new fence in the pic is the non structural side for example.

@BusyMummy001 I agree. It's their fence. It could look a million times better or could have saved them hundreds of pounds but they could tear it down next year if you piss them off because it's not your fence!

You’re being extremely blasé about unilaterally destroying someone’s property, replacing it with something of your choosing and then complaining they should be grateful they get the ugly side of whatever you’ve chosen!

You’re completely in the wrong here. By rights, you should take down whatever you’ve destroyed and replace it with exactly what was there before. Put your fence of your choosing in front of it, if you don’t like look of the back of theirs.

Apart from the panels being different I would also be annoyed at the concrete posts if I’d been told like for like. .

I think you need to replace everything as you originally agreed ‘like for like’

However
I wouldn’t have permitted someone to replace a fence I own on my boundary anyway,
As an aside I don’t think OP you can know whether your neighbours think the new panels in a now mismatched garden of panels is better, most people like things to match.

It’s their fence - ie they own it, it is not just a random boundary marker. You need permission and you need to stick to the ‘like for like’ that you discussed - ie you should not have put concrete posts without their express permission, as these are a more permanent stricture and do not match what they already have, and you absolutely should have got a horizontal style that matched their existing fence panels along that boundary. What you’ve done is no different than spray painting their car a different colour and then saying that it looks better, so why are they complaining?

They are legally within their rights to insist you remove the fence and replace it. If I were you I’d get your fencer to replace the panels with matching panels and apologise for using concrete posts/baseboards and hope that they don’t push it by getting a legal enforcement order for you to redo it. (And difficult neighbours will.)

@Northernladdette but it'll make their garden look dreadful if their otherside matches the old one, which it likely does. Whether it's a better fence or not, it's not in keeping with their garden

I'd be grateful of the new fence and agree it is nicer than the old (not a fan of concrete posts myself though) BUT the issue is it'll make their garden look really mismatched if their other side is like their old fence and it'll force them to replace it with your preference if they want it to match. You shouldn't feel hard done by, you've taken a huge liberty here, you need to get out of your head that you've done them a favour because you think it's an upgrade. @pavillion1 how would you feel if your neighbour the otherside replaced your other fence with a horizontal one?

But that's not what they wanted. We might not understand why, but they were clear what they wanted and the OP agreed. Then did something different.

If it was their fence, haven't you essentially just given them a brand new fence that they now own and can do what they like with?

I think I'd be trying hard to smooth things over to try and avoid them tearing up their shiny new fence and replacing it with something that suits them better.

That really doesn't matter, though. It wasn't their fence to take down and replace to begin with.

You can't just destroy someone's property and expect them to be happy with a totally random replacement that they never agreed to.

there is no rule.