Fence boundaries. Who is responsible for what?

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Hi all, basically we share fences with our two neighbours and both need repairs after the storm. the fence on our right side has been iffy for a while but we’ve worked with the neighbours for a while to try and stabilise until it’s fixed. Our left side has come down completely in the storm

anyway, both us and the right side own our homes and both looked through the deeds and there is nothing on there to suggest who is responsible for what therefore we agreed to share the costs with no problem, we will get this done at some point whcih we are happy with. We couldn’t afford the costs all by ourselves. The posts are on our side of that fence if that makes any difference though.

however, the issue is now with our left side. We’ve always got on well with him and he rents so I guess it’s not his responsibility, he has spoken to his landlord who has dismissed it’s their responsibility but as far as I know no houses around here have fences in their deeds. The posts are on his die in this case. The post need replacing. The rest should be okay. We are happy to pay half.

the problem is our neighbour has an aggressive dog and the risk of the fence being down is too high with our children and our own dog so if the landlord is refusing I guess we’ll have to pay out. But this is not affordable right now. So I’m not sure what I’m meant to do or say.

we had a problem with the fence on the left in the past and we agreed to go halves then and got it sorted so not sure why the attitude has shifted now.

does anyone know if there is actually a rule on what fence belongs to who?!

I am worried sick how we can afford to fix two fences. We live in an open area and the wind has really taken its toll 🫣we’ve got about £100 left until pay day between us as it’s been an expensive month. We don’t earn a huge amount of money either and our savings took a hit last year due to unexpected house and car repairs 🫣

Was the fence installed before the tenant moved in? If so then it is the landlord's fence and, legally, he is responsible for having it repaired just as he would be for any other repair to his property. Ask the tenant for the landlord's number and speak to him directly, hopefully he'll be reasonable about going halves. If he refuses and the fence is causing a safety issue (e.g., not containing the dog, in danger of falling on someone, etc) then you can report it to environmental health at the local council and they'll pursue it with the landlord.

There isn’t an obligation to have a fence - unless states in the deeds. The boundary could be marked by a strand of wire attached to some sticks and be legally all that’s needed. But, as I understand it, there is a need legally for for the dog to be kept within the boundaries of its home/garden. However, I don’t know if this would be the tenants responsibility or the landlords. I would have thought it was the tenants responsibility as the dogs owner, rather than the landlord.
Certainly if I was the tenant I would be looking at making it secure, because the consequences for my dog to do anything else would be unthinkable.
(not a lawyer).

Is it the whole left side fence or just the posts that need replacing, I didn't think you had to have a fence in law.

Because the fence was in situ when the tenant took over the property, the landlord has a legal responsibility to maintain and repair it.

If you want your garden secure you need to put up a fence.

shared fences were places when houses were built! They were here when we bought house and moved in.

we want to get it sorted but realistically we don’t want to pay halves for the right side and the whole price of the left because I could argue my neighbours are responsible for our right/their left in this case - not that I’d want to screw then over like that.

hopefully just the posts dependent on the extent of the damage.

Exactly this. If the landlord doesn't want to replace the fence he may well just use post and wire. Hes exactly entitled to. Unfortunately you may just have to do it yourself

Fences were in place when we bought too but we wanted higher ones for more privacy/dogs so we put them up at our own cost. Front fence that neighbour put up - 2 panels came down in the storm. She is housebound a d not likely to fix so we fixed it even though it wasn't our responsibility.