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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Neighbour snitched on me putting up 1 fence...

213 replies

Brokentoday · 07/05/2020 12:32

I have recently moved to new property...

I live in a row of houses, all the house apart from my neighbour to my right have 4 ft fences..

There are house opposite of my garden and there garden are next to ours and so are the rest of the houses on my street, so in my garden the fence in front is 6ft and the fence to my right is 6ft the fence to my left is 4 ft.

Me and partner decide to put new 6ft fence along the left hand side by professional costing a fair amount of money. I off course notified my neighbour to my left that I would be doing so and if she was okay with it. She has no issues with it and she hope's to raise her fence aswell.

Now my neighbours are friendly welcoming and all round decent people since we moved me. The issue i have is I can see 4-5 houses down in my garden, I'm not unsociable I just was a bit of privacy in my garden with 3 children under 5. I dont think it is partically safe either..

My partner also feels somewhat uncomfortable because we are black they stare at us in our garden..

I got a phone call from my housing association letting me no that basically somebody have called them to inform them that I am putting a fence up..

I was told to stop as I didnt ask for permission, I said the fence is more or less done. I was then asked to write a letter retrospective permission.. to inform them that I have done a fence and that is meets there criteria.. the lady I spoke to was nice and basically told me make sure it not higher than 6ft and it's done by professionals.. take a pictures and send it In.

To find it somewhat funny that somebody felt the need to report me as if i stole from the queen palace.. I mean Im entitled to some privacy for fuck sake.. the fence is up and nobody can stare at us.

AIBU?

OP posts:
zscaler · 07/05/2020 12:33

That does seem petty!

therona · 07/05/2020 12:37

You shouldn't build a fence without permission if it's not your property.

mencken · 07/05/2020 12:39

is it a rental? you'll have a contract telling you what you can and can't do without permission. In fact even purchased houses often have some limitations, read your documents.

use of the word 'snitch' belongs in the playground.

dementedpixie · 07/05/2020 12:40

If its not a property that you own then yes, you should have asked permission before erecting something structural on that property

Thisismytimetoshine · 07/05/2020 12:40

If your neighbour was ok with it why would she report you? I have to say it wasn't very bright to replace a fence in a property that doesn't belong to you.

SnuggyBuggy · 07/05/2020 12:40

Some people have nothing better to do with their time

TheCanterburyWhales · 07/05/2020 12:41

So you should have asked the HA for permission but you didn't and it's somehow the neighbour that's in the wrong?

amber763 · 07/05/2020 12:41

Don't worry about it. You're absolutely entitled to privacy and the housing association were cool about it Smile

GoatyGoatyMingeMinge · 07/05/2020 12:42

Yes, ridiculous. So long as your fence is no higher than six feet they've no basis to complain. Some people are just arsey with too much time on their hands. I'd say don't waste energy thinking about them.

LesleysChestnutBob · 07/05/2020 12:42

If you don't own it you can't just do what you like.

Thisismytimetoshine · 07/05/2020 12:42

Oh, don't be so bloody silly amber

Original poster
Brokentoday · 07/05/2020 12:44

I didnt replace the fence I put one on my side.. I have no idea who reported me, it's not my neighbour to my left its someone further down I think.. yes I should of asked for permission. Some random person on my street wanted to report me this doesnt concern them or affect them in anyway. I say its petty somebody feeling abit salty about it tbh.

OP posts:
understandme · 07/05/2020 12:45

What's silly @Thisismytimetoshine about @amber763 post?

It's the situation, the HA have said as long as it's not above 6ft and done professionally then it's a non issue.

As for the neighbour, stupid busybody looks like they wasted their time...., good!

dementedpixie · 07/05/2020 12:46

Maybe they asked for permission and were denied. And then saw you putting one up and knew you hadn't asked for permission

GoatyGoatyMingeMinge · 07/05/2020 12:47

If you don't own it you can't just do what you like.

But this comment and similar ones are not relevant. The landlord is perfectly happy with the new fence. It's the neighbour who is being an arse, and it has nothing to do with her!

Thisismytimetoshine · 07/05/2020 12:47

If the HA were cool about it they wouldn't have contacted op? She was asked to submit photos, not told it's fine. Yet.

Original poster
Brokentoday · 07/05/2020 12:51

I agree dementedpixie! Why would you report me even if I did ask for permission and was granted. This person when out there way to find housing officer number becuase HA office is close all person numbers are on HA website to find our neighbourhood manager to report me.. it seems abit extra like..

OP posts:
GloriousGoosebumps · 07/05/2020 12:51

It does seem petty when the person who complained is not your immediate neighbour so not affected but just think how annoyed they'll be when they realise you're not being required to reinstate the original fence!

Beautiful3 · 07/05/2020 12:52

You should ask the council before putting in a fence. But it would have been fine as long as its not more than 6ft. I used to live in a house with 3 ft concrete block walls. That was a real invasion of privacy. 4 houses on each side of us could see us in our garden. Every time I went in the garden. My neighbour would come out and stare at us! It made me want to stay indoors! It was too expensive to remove the concrete wall (attached to a concrete floor) and I had no right to disturb the other sides, (which was more the issue) we ended up moving!!!

heartsonacake · 07/05/2020 12:54

If you don’t want to be reported then don’t do things that will get you reported.

It’s not your property; you need to ask before doing anything like this and you were fully aware of that.

So yes, YABU and whoever reported you was right to.

saraclara · 07/05/2020 12:56

More to the point, whoever reported OP wouldn't have known whether she had permission or not. But they were petty enough to call the council anyway, to see if she did. Who on earth would do that?

user200000000 · 07/05/2020 12:58
Hmm
SoleBizzz · 07/05/2020 12:59

Can you put a fence up in front of the fence?

Leflic · 07/05/2020 13:00

My neighbours are lovely and told me they were putting a new fence up. We are HA they are shared ownership. Unfortunately it’s 6ft and completely blocks all the light after 4pm. The gardens are tiny so basically I get no nice long light evenings anymore.
A 5ft fence would have been fine as their side is raised so I couldn’t see over or anything.

It’s quite an antisocial/invasive thing to do, so I think you are in the wrong here in not asking permission or talking to your neighbours.

understandme · 07/05/2020 13:01

@Thisismytimetoshine they contacted her to confirm the details obviously! They can't see an issue if she has followed the permissions of 6ft and professionally, so it's a non issue! Anyway the OP has not asked for thoughts on that, it's about the silly nosey neighbour reporting her.

Again why did you say Ambers post was silly? It really wasn't!