Neighbours have put panelling up on their did of the garden, it goes right up over our side of the fence & looks so ugly😢 what can we do our side to improve its appearance?

[Homeontherangeuk]

Tia

You can get trellis with fake ivy on which would be a quick fix.

You really need to take yours down and feather it before putting up a clematis.

Get a fencing person in for advice.

Trellis at the top and a fast growing climber? horticulture.co.uk/fast-growing-climbers/

@Viviennemary

Your own fence is no better. Its hideous.

Full of charm as usual

Oh no!! Id be so annoyed. I painted my fence a nice colour and it looks amazing (also managed to do it without it seeping through, as did my neighbours, who painted their side a different colour). So I’d be upset about that. I’d ask if you can paint their bit the same pink. Get them to have a look.

I quite like their fence, but it does make yours look daft, whereas I'm sure it looked quite cute on its own.

Invite the around, ask them why they felt the need to put such a high fence up and talk to them about their plans. They may have already planted something (like clematis) and be happy to allow it to grow over the top then you can deal with it on your side. If not you can discuss attaching trellis to their fence/posts and put in some climbers.

I think you really need to talk to them.

Decide for sure first if you are happy with the height of their fence, because now is the time to object if you don't like the height of it, not once plants have been bought & planted.

I do understand wanting to be nice and get along but what if you plan to sell in the future? A 3-m is huge!! It’s better to get it sorted now. You can always just talk to them about how you are worried it’s illegal and they might get in trouble.

If you really don’t want to say anything, I’d go the trellis route, but then your fence will be illegal, so I don’t know what is best for you.

I also understand the sentiment about you wanting to just cover it up, but if it's illegal you may find you have difficulty in selling, not just from an appearance angle.

There's certainly no harm in contacting your local council's enforcement team for advice.

The official planning information can be found here - fences, gates and garden walls where it specifically states it can't be over 2m tall unless something was already that tall in the first place.

Anything over 2m definitely requires planning permission. You could report it to the planning department.

Is the pink fence actually yours? Have they attached the panels to it? If so that requires your consent, and I would be concerned about the damage they could do to your fence and safety issues in a high wind.

Trellis on top of your 6 ft fence to take you to 2m max and then climbers - ever green honey suckle, clematis Montana etc

Might be worth a phone call to council to see if they'd actually do anything about a 3 m fence or not - though I can see why you wouldn't want to rock the boat as it were.

@Panickingpavlova

Actually whoever owns the boundary has the right to paint the fence.

You can only paint your own property - I assume you own the pink fence.

But then it gets silly. If their posts are on your land and stop you putting up your fence they’d have to take the whole thing down.

Just put up your own the same height or feather the one they’ve put up. Our neighbours had no choice as posts and some other slats were partly on our soil. They were fine with us feathering the back of it if it meant they could keep it.

@HopeHappy

I also understand the sentiment about you wanting to just cover it up, but if it's illegal you may find you have difficulty in selling, not just from an appearance angle.

There's certainly no harm in contacting your local council's enforcement team for advice.

The official planning information can be found here - fences, gates and garden walls where it specifically states it can't be over 2m tall unless something was already that tall in the first place.

Exactly. No way would I ever buy a house that had a 3m fence. So however much you want to keep on good terms with your neighbours, you really should contact the planning department to make sure that this has been cleared with them.

Don't wuss out, because this could really matter at some point. And better to address it now than later.

Go to planning. They are taking the piss and no they are not nice neighbours if they have done this!
Tell them it looks awful from your side and is too high do they either lower it you'll go to planning.

I like the pink, just painted my mums bench hot pink against a pale grey fence looks great.
I'm also looking at options to higher my mums fence, I'm thinking trellis

How high is your fence op ?
Anything above 2 metre requires planning permission.
Why on earth didn’t they suggest using the existing concrete posts for higher panels which you could then paint again - all dependant on agreement of whoever owns that boundary and about costs etc.it does look awful.
You say they are good neighbours. I don’t actually think they are to have done that without any warning or negotiation etc.

We both own our own homes but the panelling is on our side... DH spoke to a carpenter friend of his who is going to raise the wood on our side & we'll just paint it pink & add hanging baskets /garden ornaments etc on our side... Its a bit of an inconvenience & extra cost we hadn't envisaged... DH is going to measure properly tomo

We both own our own homes but the panelling is on our side

How is it on your side? The pics show behind your fence/boundary.

Please tell us the actual height of your fence op, I asked earlier and others have too but your neighbours fitting a 3m fence seems unreal and something I have never seen. Are You sure your fence is 2m?

So sorry meant to say its on their side! So it is not on our boundary. It's just the aesthetics I want to fix from our side.. DH is going to measure all tomorrow, tbh I'm not bothered by the height & our light seems unaffected... I just really want advice on how to cover it from our side & what I can do... I hadn't considered the legalities surrounding the height...

Anyone buyin (if you ever sell) will be extremely worried about a 3 metre fence !
If yours is only 1 metre or 1.5 then the slats would be very very small. It looks more as if they have gone over 2 metres.
Good luck sorting out.
If it were me I would suggest to them putting their higher (if not more than 2 metre) into the existing concrete posts. So that you only have 1 fence. Bizarre what they’ve done no matter the awful potential height issue.

Give it a few months and I doubt you will notice it. Your pink fence and their orange’y fence will both have mellowed.

THREE meters OP?

Are you sure? The average house ceiling height is only 2.5 meters. Is it really half a meter higher than your ceiling?

If it really is i imagine the wind will have it down in a couple of months...

To be fair your fence looks super short. Why aren't you answering when people ask how tall yours is? I suspect theirs is a standard height fence whereas yours is shorter. As stated before just top yours with trellis and plant some climbers.

I have said countless times DH is measuring properly tomorrow