New house, neighbours don't want fence up....

[RaggleTaggleTick]

We have just bought our first house. The elderly man who lived there had allowed his neighbours to have full access and use of his garden for 30 years. The neighbours also had the same on the other side, so they have basically had 3 gardens.

They have built 2 large conservatories in their own garden and now have just a tiny paved area of space, they have said they don't know where they are going to put their washing line... They have asked that, even though we need to put some kind of fence up (young dc, they have small but deep pond), we only put a short trellis one up as otherwise they will have no light in their conservatories.

DH wants chest height fences, I would but am prepared to compromise, this is going to get awkward, are we BU?

id go out a few times in your skimpiest bikini and once the neighbour sees her husband ogling you im sure she wont have any objections to a high fence!!!!!!

but seriously, your kids safety comes first and thats more important than their conservatory. and if your kids were to fall against it and injure themselves on their glass, well.......

what i would do is (verbally and casually) agree not to put a fence up on the condition that they fill in or securely cover (properly) their pond. and then i'd let my dcs go buck mad in their garden with their chalks and sand and digging toys. i'd then sit back and watch while the neighbours hurriedy erected their own chest high fence or begged you to do it

5 foot fence and i would want it erecting before i moved in tbh.

Yes i'm sure they would like to use your garden whilst enjoying their consevatories.

We do have a dog which is another reason a fence will need to go up. The neighbours on the other side had said they were unhappy that the house had been sold to a family with DC and a dog as it would mean a fence having to go up.

What NL said.

Quite honestly I would run a mile from buying this house if I possibly could. Cannot wait for your future threads about your child's ball getting on their roof because of the low fence, them moaning about the noise your children make, how the froggies are thriving in their pond any more because of poor access to your garden, etc.

XPost. And a Dog! I knew a dog would be involved. They will love your dog -- Not.

Dont forget that the neighbours may be all nice now while the negotiations are ongoing but as soon as you are in they (or a relative of theirs) may turn into a barrack room lawyer and make your life a misery.

No experience but I would get the legal side checked too and not just hope for the best

I know you said that it ticked all your boxes, OP, but I'd walk away from it. Niggling neighbours can make life hell -eg imagine what is going to happen if your DC starts playing with a ball in the garden. There may be no danger of it actually hitting their conservatories but they'll be consumed with angst every time you go outside.

I can think of numerous likely problems.

Unless the local council tell you different, how about a four foot panel with two foot of trellis above if you are happy with this and it's in your budget?

hmm, so you have two sets of neighbours both enjoying access to 'your' garden for teh last 30 years? i would run from this house!!

Missed your post while typing - the neighbours on the other side? Gawd, you face the possibility of bad relations with both neighbours?

I'd walk on by.

No the neighbours in question have been using the gardens either side of them.

Run.

I would be rather worried about the possibility they have established a right to use the land in your garden. That's the most serious thing here, not whether your dog will annoy them or whatever. If you have a dispute with them once you own the house they could pull out all the stops and launch a case against you and then you don't have a private garden anymore. The necessity of not pissing them off lest they claim the land could hang over you permanently.

I would look into this urgently and consider pulling out.

Have you already bought it or not? If not, walk away, or at least insist that the vendor puts up fences prior to sale going through.

If you have already bought it, then just say while you sympathise that they were used to an old man living alone next door, you have a dog and small children, it's not an option for you to not have fences up and "we're a family who really value our privacy and i'd hate to have people wandering about in my garden uninvited, everyone's different I suppose." (deliver with a big smile)

get quotes and get the fences you want, ideally chest height. Get them in ASAP (as in, within the next 3-4 weeks) and plant along side of them too.

But as I said, if you haven't already bought it, find something else.

but OP it sounds like the other neighbours dont want a fence up either afetr their somment about the dog so i wonder why they dont want a fence up? i would think they have been used to having access also.

Just to check, youve got no fence on one side but you do on the other? Just match the one you've got on your other side for height.

Either they will be pissed off when you put a fence up

Or;

They legally are now allowed to be in your garden at any time (easement)

either of those should stop you buying the property.

It's not worth it - you are starting off on the wrong foot.

Ensure your solicitor gets this issue absolutely watertight prior to exchange. We had an offer on a house accepted and the ball was rolling but our (superb) solicitor noticed a breach of planning regulations, it was historic but effectively the owners had built an annex having been denied planning permission.

After waiting months and months to have them confirm there would be no legacy of problems when we came to knock down the annex we pulled out. Best thing we ever did. Friends moved a few doors down and said there was no end of unknown issues with the house. Lucky escape and we have now found and moved into our dream home.

The neighbours on the other side had said they were unhappy that the house had been sold to a family with DC and a dog as it would mean a fence having to go up.

Even if you got everything checked and legally watertight, having neighbours like this would make me have serious second thoughts about the house.

Hang on, have all three neighbours in a row been sharing each other's gardens? Have the neighbours on the other side of the NDN's been able to use 'your' garden too? Is that why they don't want a fence up?

Am the only one wondering why the Solicitor has not picked up on this problem?
When you ring your Solicitor on Monday, make sure they don't fob you off. As others have alluded to, this could potentially be very problematic in the future. Be very careful how you proceed with all this. Don't let your emotions about the house get in the way.

I wouldn't proceed on this basis, personally. Boundary disputes are an expensive nightmare.

The only way I would consider going forward is that a standard 6 foot high fence was in place before exchange, and that you had written advice from your own solicitor that the neighbours had no claim to your garden.

But actually, this would still make me run TBH as I wouldn't want to deal with the neighbours in future as this is likely to come up again in the future.

walk away, in fact RUN away really - you have years of angst and aggro awaiting you if you move in next to these people.

seriously, it would ruin your enjoyment of the ideal home you think you have found.

that they feel entitled is one thing, that they may actually have rights because of the longstanding agreement is another thing entirely - both are a problem you can do without.

the NDN want their new neighbour to be a nice, single, quiet person with no dog or kids, who doesn't use the garden much and wont interfere with their enjoyment of their enlarged grounds