Asking neighbours not to grow plants on our fence

Presumably you asked them to contribute as the land registry shows it as a shared boundary. You purchasing the fence doesn’t change that so I reckon they can put whatever they want on it.

Actually, you're wrong, legally they DO get to dictate that the neighbours do not attach or paint their fence.

Then ask them to remove it and tell them that you do not give them permission to attach anything to your fence. If you have their phone number or email address do it so that you have it in writing.

For the people unbothered by this - you are not allowed to attach things to your neighbours fence without their permission!

They can grow whatever they like as long as nothing is attached to your fence, or leaning on it in such a way as to potentially cause damage. I'd be very tempted to spray the fence with weedkiller. To keep the moss and other weeds from growing on it, if asked.

I totally get that no one wants to fall out with their neighbours but in this case it's not the OPer in the wrong yet theyr'e being told its only "tomato plants".

Not really the point, the point is the neighbour knows it's not their fence, even refused, rightly, not to contribute to a new one being erected yet still want to have use of it by way of using it as a support for their tomatoes.

This is exactly why those that think they can, can and do behave like entitled twunts they show they are.

Are the fence panels easy to remove? I'd take them out for now, fk them. You paid, it's your fence.

They are not allowed to attached anything to a fence that is not their property. Yes they can grown things to disguise the fence but NOT attached anything. We had a request from our neighbours wanting to attach a trellis to our fence so they could grown climbers. The fence wasn’t in a good condition and wouldn’t have taken the weight of a trellis so we refused permission stating we were replacing the fence. We paid for new panels……and now they don’t want to plant any climbers, obviously because they have a nice new fence to look at.
A spray of weedkiller will put paid to anything attached to your fencing OP!

I would tell them it's not allowed to grow plants up your fence and to either remove them, put up their own parallel fence or give them another chance to pay half of the cost of your fence.

Not sure how you'd enforce it though.

Make me think about our neighbors that have wanted to replace a fence between us (2 months after we moved in). Due to more urgent work, we said we would not contribute, there was a bush there for separation which was more than fine! However they were pretty good about it, we did plant things alongside the fence but nothing leaning on it for example.

also more expensive

I thought that too.

In an ideal world it would all be clear cut but the higgledy piggledy nature of housebuilding and historic land ownership in the UK means it rarely is.

I think my own house informs my attitude. I'm on a wonky, hilly plot and share boundaries with: a public path (fence and retaining wall all our responsibility); a road down below (no fence, keep hedges trimmed); neighbours on one side who are lower than us - retaining wall is theirs but fence and trelliswork on top we put up because it's out of their reach to do so. It gives them privacy from us but we maintain it. Been fighting a losing battle with ivy on it for years but the heatwave summer may have done me a favour there.

Neighbours at the back are above us. Retaining wall is ours but they wanted to raise it a bit and put a fence on it. We agreed to share their fencing costs so we could maintain some quality control and have a say in appearance. And grow a trachelospermum up it. 😁

I just try and go with the flow, otherwise I'd go a bit bonkers.

Is it the kind of fence with panels you can slide up and out for maintenance? We had this with NDNs, and I simply told them we would be lifting the panels out every year to clean and maintain/reproof them, so any plants grown against the fence would get ripped out. They moved them back.

Spray weedkiller on your side. A heavy layer.

Are you really going to risk a fall out with neighbours over a few tomato plants? Ridiculous.

I'd staple some brightly coloured tarpaulin or waterproof plastic material to the neighbours side only to protect it.

It might not be worth the bad feeding between you 2 saying anything .
Do you have anything near the fence ? A few years ago I got rid of old climbing plants near a fence ( it had a gap between the grass and the fence filled with pretty gravel in the garden side and nothing but a field on the other so weeds kept damaging the fence ) by depositing a huge amount of slat near the fence on my side . It meant nothing grew cp for a good 20 inches on each side . Obviously they won’t be happy but don’t have to know 🤷🏻‍♀️.

If the fence is ON the boundary,.you have no legs today and on. If the fence is IN your boundary you are able to tell them not to and to tell them to keep their plants in their boundary.

Sorry, damage can be treated as either civil or criminal, I recall - obviously this would be the former.

From my experience, it’s preferable not to have grey areas when it comes to boundaries etc. It does not need to be confrontational at all, but it is best to have matters agreed - houses are sold, people move/break up etc.

Just my view.

Legally the neighbours have NO right to paint it, put anything on it, attach anything on it etc AT ALL so get them told!!!

Legally yes you can!!

Presumably your neighbours have another fence on their other side for which they are responsible for. So I don’t understand why they would be asked to go halves on your one. They haven’t done anything wrong. Why pick an argument over nothing.

"civil tort of criminal damage" confused me a bit, not being a legal bod, so I thought I'd cover all bases. 😉Cost of solicitors versus cost of fence stands though.

You're basing your approach on the assumption that the fence will be damaged, and that isn't by any means certain. Which is why, to my mind, it's not worth creating an issue by asking a second time for money they've already said they're not prepared to pay. Also, at this point, whatever costs were incurred weren't agreed in advance by the neighbours (if I agreed to share the cost of a fence I'd ask to see quotes and want to have a say in who/how much/when etc) so they have another reason to refuse.

Not worth it.

I'd just ask for some tomatoes. 😁

If they were growing clematis, wisteria, planting trees up against it then that would damage it. But I don’t see how canes for tomatoes and attaching normal plants will damage it. If they are big or heavy then I would have a word but lighter things I wouldn’t bother. I would definitely ask them not to stain or paint it though - my neighbour did this (their fence so their right) but the drips on my side were awful

This would be a civil matter, not criminal, so your comment concerning police involvement is irrelevant, with respect.

As to simple pragmatism - if I were the OP, I would again invite the neighbours to go halves. If they decline, then I would politely ask them not to attach anything to the fence etc. The logic being, the OP would presumably need to pay for the fence to be repaired (which is unreasonable, of course).