Boundary questions with diagram

[PinkStickleBrick]

I own a house quite back from the road with a longish drive that we own. Our houses are more in line with gardens of the houses behind our road.

As we own the drive it's really hard / impossible to know who owns what boundary line.

There's a empty villa in front of us and down our drive with the fence fallen down. x boundary line on diagram. It's in the process of being sold to developers so I'm not touching that as I know they can sell with deliberated fencing.

On our deeds we only own fence W. It's fine but not pristine. Does its job. Neighbour wants it replaced eve though its mostly not even visable due to bushes in their side.

Boundary Y - the neighbours are insisting in hous A that you own the fence to your right so we pwn that. We have patched this up and replaced in bits as we did cause some damage doing the extension.

However today the church behind us came round and said we need to replace that fence. It's behind very tall hedges and a nursery runs from their. As far a we are concerned we don't own that boundary on our deeds. We said we will provide our deeds and asked them to prove we own the fence. We have our bushes and it's secure our side from our pov but I suspect not enough for the nursery and they want us to pay to make their site suitable secure. That would mean removing our hedge for maintenance of this fence.

The problem is we can't afford to replace any fence. We are still paying the extension so there's no cash to do anything.

Do they need to prove we own that boundary? Can we ignore them until they prove it?

I suspect the nursery running from that site are trying it on. The boundaries are up and solid but not pristine they are serviceable. Maybe not enough for a nursery but again, i see thst as their issue to maintain.

Opps diagram

There is no law that states anyone must have a fence.

Even if you did own it there is no legal requirement to put in a physical boundary. Your hedges would be your boundary.
If it's not on your deeds but another boundary is then you probably don't own it anyway.

This. Boundaries do not need to be marked with a fence.

You don't have to replace any fencing, they can add their own on their side of any fencing they don't think is suitable .

You won't have any control in what they put up and need to make sure that they don't take any of your land. But as long as your fencing stays up, that shouldn't happen.

Of course they would love to say it's your responsibility and therefore at your cost, but unless there is something in the deeds saying you must retain good quality fencing (and who sets that standard?) then no one can make you replace fencing that someone else thinks isn't good enough.

Tell them irrespective of ownership and responsibility of fences, you won't be making any changes.

You don't have to have a fence. Loads of people don't have fences

These are my side of the fence. If it did come down it would need to be put back in straight for a start so I would be reclaiming land in a parallel line as shown on the deed ( its straight on the deeds, not wavy as in real life presently. It all looks fine and secure to me? I suspect they want a nice pristine fence good as new just because they think they can push the cost onto us.

So it seems like they legally can just jog on? There is no gaps at all in my boundary on my side

If they want a fence they need to put one up. There is no requirement to have one.

you might be liable if your fence is improperly maintained and fell on someone and injured them. But if it’s decrepit you could simply pull it down and not replace it

Surely, unless you have any animals/livestock that you need to control you don't need to have any fence?

Any neighbours who wish for or require a fence for their own purpose can put one on their own land at the boundary. This would be to their choice, height & style.