CF new neighbour

[toomanyplants]

House next door to me up for sale, previous owners emigrated.
Yesterday I had a knock on the door, couple stood there, around my age (say 40-50).

So he says hello I'm about to buy the house next door, and then immediately launched into how he dislikes the walls surrounding the back garden and wishes to replace with wooden fencing. "I have a thing about concrete" he said.

I was stunned and just replied "I can't make a decision about that until I speak with DH"

The walls are like concrete posts with the long slabs, ours are painted cream and look great, very secure and offer privacy to a good level.
AIBU to think that this is not how you introduce yourself to a new neighbour?

@nonetcurtains yes it's like that, I did post pic up top
Really secure, we get some horrendous gusts up here as winter sets in, I often see wooden panels dislodged in the area.

I'm hoping that as folks suggested he was just caught up in it all and probably has big ideas!
Just fired up the laptop so shall get documents now.

I hope it is your wall OP, at least you have a heads up that your new neighbour may be, let's say, a little entitled, and you can set out with your reaction to this that you are not going to be a pushover. I would go for polite but firm in my dealings.

When I moved in, my neighbor "introduced himself" by saying that I had to find a way to alter my mower because grass clippings were flying into his cars (across the fucking street). I stepped about that for a week... Then tried my best to keep the clippings aimed at my own property.... What did that fucker do? Had both him and later his son come out and inspect their vehicles while I was mowing.

Fuck him. He's a cock. I don't give a shit now and I'll never speak to him again. But I'm a fedup bitch and a grudge holder 🤷

That's lovely @toomanyplants I wish we had did that when our garden was renovated 5 years ago as for some reason we own both fences.
Wooden fence has been repaired several times as the kids kick footballs and it doesn't take much to warp them.

Wow, I hope it works out to be your fence!

(Btw, I can't see any picture apart from the one posted by nonetcurtains so not sure if your one posted correctly.)

I'm up north too OP and live on a hill quite exposed and with a wooden fence which gets all the wind. Every year I have a few panels blow out and quite often they are too broken to just slot back in. In particular there is one panel which ALWAYS blows out - it has blown out 3 or 4 times so far this year, the last time only a couple of weeks ago. It is SUCH a pain and quite expensive. I would much prefer a concrete one, but keep balking at the expense.

If it turns out it is his fence and he insists on replacing it I would ask him if he realises just how strong the gusts of wind can be and how expensive and what a pain in the arse replacing panels every five minutes would be?

My mum would bite his hand off, she would love new fences.

@nonetcurtains looking at your photo I am wondering if you can just replace the wooden panels with concrete ones using the same posts. I bet there would be a problem, say if the posts had moved a bit. Also, does anyone know if these concrete ones would ever blow down? The wind here is exceptionally strong as we are high up.

When we moved to Ireland I was surprised that every garden had tall brick walls (of varying pretty/ugliness - plenty of cement block walls for example) - then it got to Autumn and I found out why!

If he suggests replacing it, I'd try gently telling him about the wind, and that fence panels tend not to survive...

This really comes down to who owns it.

If it’s the op then she can say no and he can erect a fence his side to hide it

If it’s his, he can remove it and replace with a fence.

Either way though he wins, but only if it’s hers does the op.

I cant see the picture either

if it's on your land then absolutely nothing he can do about it. Double check then let him know. Hopefully he'll have second thoughts about becoming your new neighbour.

@TreestumpsAndTrampolines
why is it? Genuinely curoius

I've gone on the app version of MN and can see it so it's just not showing on web version. It looks great, why would they want a fence

He's a CF!
I would email the estate agent who's selling the property and tell him to forward your email to the CF saying you are not removing the fence and if he wants a wood fence he can put one up adjacent to your concrete one...but the concrete fence stays!!

I’d want to cover that too to be honest and if I owned it I’d be making plans to remove and replace it with something more aesthetically pleasing ASAP. It’s ugly as hell.

However, if it wasn’t mine I’d put a fence up in front of it to hide it. I wouldn’t expect my neighbour to care that I didn’t like it or do anything to it at my behest.

You need to find out who owns the boundary.

Wow, way to make friends and influence people, not!

Do check out what belongs to whom. If it’s not clear on the deeds, it seems to be a rule of who has maintained/changed fencing. I’d far rather have what you have than wooden fences.

"I'm thinking of buying...no forget that, I AM buying the place next door"

Sounds like the sort of pompous twat who just likes throwing his weight around for the sake of it.

It wouldn't surprise me if he hadn't even put an offer in on the house.

Forewarned is forearmed. Find out who owns the walls now, just in case. If the wall is yours, they can't change it. If they don't like it, they can put a wooden fence up on their side.

With any luck he'll fail to complete on the house sale and this won't happen. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Your fence is really secure OP. I hope you can confirm it is yours.
If he wants wooden fence panels, I would suggest he puts them up on his side - NOT attached to yours! He would have to actually drill into your fence to do that .

On my road, we all own the fence to the left if our back is facing our house wall - so it definitely is a mix

[quote Frazzled2207]@TreestumpsAndTrampolines
why is it? Genuinely curoius[/quote]
I suspect tree lives in a property similar to my least house. Side of a cliff, gale force winds in winter and fences that blow down in every storm.

The concrete isn’t to everyone’s taste but still easier than replacing panels and the plants the falling panels destroy every winter. A simple white wall like that with the right plants layered in front of it soon becomes invisible in its surroundings.

If the deeds don’t make it clear who owns the boundary then stand firm and say no, you don’t agree. Our OCD neighbour tried to do the same with us. Even hired the fencing contractors we’d just used to replace a fence the other side of the garden to try and replace the fence bordering his side. We said no. He sent a letter saying he had consulted a solicitor who said that side was his because he had an oil tank against it. My DP just ignored him and then covid arrived and it all simmered down.

If he really wants to change the aesthetic then he is perfectly entitled to place a screen on his side or a new fence inside his boundary. My advice would be to give those neighbours a very wide berth as you know the Cheeky Fuckery will continue.

@Sparticle

Wow, I hope it works out to be your fence!

(Btw, I can't see any picture apart from the one posted by nonetcurtains so not sure if your one posted correctly.)

Sorry OP, I can see your photo now on the mobile site version (not the app). I couldn’t on the normal web version earlier.

My advice would be to give those neighbours a very wide berth as you know the Cheeky Fuckery will continue

It’s not cheeky fuckery if he owns it, it was doing her a favour and giving her a heads up. It’s cheeky fuckery if she does, as yet she’s still to clarify.