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?

Aww I was hopeing for an answer

Does it matter what te solicitor or vendor say? Isn't it te nieghbour who is the one with the potential claim to use the garden you should be speaking to? Even if the vendor puts a fence up there is nothing stopping the nieghbour starting proceedings afterwards?

I would want the solicetor to prove to me, without doubt that the nieghbour won't have any claim to use the garden or I would want something legally binding from the nieghbour stating that he won't take any action.

I don't think that is good advice.Talking to the neighbour might alert him to rights he hadn't even considered!
Solicitor first!!

Personally I would run a mile from this, even the nicest house in the world can become a constant headache with niggles like this.

It doesn't sound like the kind of neighbourhood which will welcome your dog and children - you don't want to have to be walking on eggshells every time they go into the garden.

If you absolutely have to have this garden then ideally I would want 6ft panels ideally or 5ft with trellis on top. If you neighbours are elderly there is every chance they will want to socialise every time you step out into the garden, whilst that is nice occasionally it can get a bit wearing if it happens every time you want to pop out to read a book and have a coffee for 10 minutes.

I would get the fencing done by the existing owner as a condition of completion as fencing isn't cheap!

There is an added problem potentially - rights to light - I'm not sure whether this would affect what is put up next to the conservatory, even if they accepted that you could put up a fence.

Right to light only covers certain properties ( really old ones) the conservatory would wipe out the rtl argument as it is a structure.

Get the highest fence you are able to put up and make sure it isn't climb-able by your DS. My wee bro at 18 months scaled a 6' fence and was found happily playing by next doors' pond half an hour later. If he'd decided to go into the pond we might have lost him.

You neighbours have no rights to your property/light going by what has been said.

'Right to light' applies to windows which have been in place for at least 20 years .When was their conservatory built?

I've just spoken to solicitor and he's says they could potentially have a claim on the land as they were using it for so long but he will need to look into it further before he can properly advise...

Get out as fast as you can, Raggle....!

The estate agent said they were very reasonable and understand a fence needs to go up, but would rather not have a 6 foot paneled one..

I'd buy a different house.

Run far away - and get something knocked off your solictors bill too because he should have told you this - not folks on the internet!

I'm so shocked and pissed off that two people who don't own the house can interfere with it so much, why would you build all over your own garden, then expect to use someone else's? The mind boggles!

But my mind boggles that you may have to live next door and may be be shocked and pissed off by them every single day.

Indeed.

Hope your solicitor has a good look at this. The vendor should really sort this out and fence it before a sale.

I would say 6 foot panelled fences are normal and not always a bad thing.

Sparklingbrook - Ha! Very true...

My cousin pulled out of a house sale with the rear access through the neighbours garden - he turned out to be a bit of a scary nutter. The solicitor was very supportive and said it was their right.

Have you any other properties in mind Raggle?

No, it's the only one we've found (and been able to get at a reasonable price) in the last 6 months. It does tick all the boxes. I've just called the estate agent and said we want the vendor to put a fence up, he's says it should eb fine.

You want the vendor to put up a BIG fence and you need the solicitor to establish you have no risk here - and take out an indemnity policy if necessary I think.

Agreed Comtess.

Easements by prescription take 20 years to acquire.

Hanging washing out won't constitute an easement of necessity.

I think tat its best to get checked out but unlikely to have actually got any kind of right.

I think I would be tempted to have the vendor put up a low fence that the neighbours won't complain about and put it up for a year or so then plan to replace (without telling neighbour of course) with 6' panels once you have established the fence being there.