This is going to be dull, so I apologise in advance, but I would really appreciated any views.
We're just about to take out a large hedge that divides our neighbour's garden from ours. It takes up about a metre of our garden, and is entirely on our land. Our neighbours have reluctantly agreed to this.
The issue then, you've guessed it, is the fence that will need to go up in its place. (There is half a fence already, incidentally inside our neighbour's boundary, but the whole thing will need replacing.) We DEFINITELY own the fence on the other side. Our predecessors erected it a few years ago- we all know this, as apparently there was a bit of a row about it at the time. But our neighbours refuse to acknowledge that they own this fence, and so refuse to pay a penny towards erecting it. I know, I know it's us that want the work done, but it seems to me that if we can't agree on who owns the fence, the neighbourly and civilised thing to do would be to split the cost down the middle, which is what we have offered. They have refused.
What should we do? As an aside, I don't particularly care if there's no fence there for a bit- we've been building, and our whole garden needs redoing. They, otoh, are trying to sell their house, and will find it quite hard, I think, with only half a fence, particularly when they have to say why...
Help appreciated!