To think neighbours should pay for fence

[mrsbeeton999]

The garden boundary on the side we are responsible for is half the neighbours garage wall and half a fence which we have recently paid £800 to be replaced. Neighbours are now going to knock down garage and have asked how quickly we can put a fence up. I think if they’re taking down the existing boundary wall (actually their garage wall) they should replace it with a fence. Not sure what is correct legally does anyone know please?

I’d also add that just because there is a fence there, that doesn’t mean it’s the boundary line.

Boundaries are quite difficult to determine and often require a specialist (ie expensive) surveyor. Even the title plan provided by the Land Registry contains a note stating it does not represent the legal boundaries.

Please avoid getting into a boundary dispute if you can - they are very, very expensive and time consuming !

Owning the boundary does not mean you have to provide a fence. If they want a fence they can put one up. This whole idea that because you own a boundary line, you are obligated to provide a fence is a modern myth.
We once had a neighbour who bought a lunatic dog and demanded we provide a fence to contain it. Our solicitor eventually wrote to him explaining that the neighbour was responsible for controlling his dog.
He had a very nice fence installed. Incidentally, had he talked to us in a civilised manner, we would happily of offered 50% of the cost.

I’ll be honest if I was paying £800 for a fence I would’ve erected it just before the boundary line and run it past the garage and this would never be an issue. £800 for a fence seems absolutely ridiculous

You have benefitted from not having to maintain your boundary for some time. This is just restoring it to how it could have always been.

@TheOrigRights

Maintaining a boundary doesnt mean you have to maintain or have in place a physical boundary. She hasnt benefited from not having to do.it because of their garage. She doesnt have to have a fence or wall regardless.

I'd laugh at them and let them know if they would like a replacement then they can find it as they removed the original wall.

We had a similar problem, our neighbours took down a wall which was on the boundary that we are responsible for and then came round to tell us to put up a fence because they needed to stop their dogs coming into our garden. I explained that we didn't have the money at the moment and that it was their responsibility to keep their dogs out of my garden and to come in and clean up if their dogs fouled my garden. They put up a fence up within a week

@Lilac95

I’ll be honest if I was paying £800 for a fence I would’ve erected it just before the boundary line and run it past the garage and this would never be an issue. £800 for a fence seems absolutely ridiculous

I paid nearly £1500 for my boundary fence. They are expensive if done well. nb this was labour costs as well.

Ask them if they'd like their biolders to leave the outer garage wall as a boundary wall - saves costs of taking down the last 4ft and skip costs?

If you own the boundary feature then you own the wall. Tell them that if they want your permission to take it down they need to agree to fund a replacement fence.

They can knock it down as it’s there garage. You were just using it as the fence which makes sense but you don’t have to put anything up if you don’t want to.
Depends how much you want a open gap in your fence straight into theirs.

you could always do it on the cheap and do a basic two planks and a post or as its a brick wall, have a cheap row of breeze blocks to cover the gap, (assuming you are responsible for the wall)

Tell them if they want a fence they can fucking pay for it, arseholes

Gosh that’s so aggressive

Op as others have said, it’s up to you if you wish to put a fence up, there is no legal requirement, but they also do not have to. The bottom line is neither of you do.

The question then is do you want one, or are you happy to habe it open.

@Lilac95

I’ll be honest if I was paying £800 for a fence I would’ve erected it just before the boundary line and run it past the garage and this would never be an issue. £800 for a fence seems absolutely ridiculous

Really? Depends on your boundary. I paid £1500 for just one side of our boundary. That was with concrete posts and six foot fence panels though and ran from the front of the house to the bottom of the garden at the back.

We don’t know what size the OPs fence is.

Actually, from a legal perspective this will depend what is in your title deeds and whether you have given any positive covenants regarding erecting / maintaining a boundary fence. You may possibly be under a legal obligation with respect to this - no one here can advise without reviewing your (and your neighbours) title to the property.

Our last deeds did say something about having a chain fence between properties.

It didn't help us much at the time as it was unclear who owned the fence for that boundary - in end we put up our own our side and left the orginal in place -they were awkward sods for the sake of it though.

So might be worth having a look at the deeds just in case there's something there.

I would put in one post, some cheap chicken wire and plant something really prickly.

Just tell them you've not got the money to do so for the foreseeable future given that you spent £800 on doing the fencing up to the garage wall.

@Lilac95

I’ll be honest if I was paying £800 for a fence I would’ve erected it just before the boundary line and run it past the garage and this would never be an issue. £800 for a fence seems absolutely ridiculous

We have had a fence done and £800 was much lower than the quotes we got

I’ll be honest if I was paying £800 for a fence I would’ve erected it just before the boundary line and run it past the garage and this would never be an issue. £800 for a fence seems absolutely ridiculous

£800 seems reasonable. I paid £1800 for parts and labour on a seven foot fence that was around 42 feet in length.

They should be paying for the fence or at least half of it.

Can you check the deeds? I guess if you do end up paying for it all you get control of how it will look and you can have it matching the fence you have already put up.

Secretly I'd be quite pleased to losing the view of the side of someone else's garage in my back garden.

I don't think YABU, but in your position I would take the opportunity to seize control of the boundary - £800 is probably a small sum in the grand scale of things that go wrong with houses and disputes. It would probably make it harder for them to sneakily build anything on the boundary to replace it too.

It depends if that side is yours or not? Having said that I do not think you have to put anything up at all. You could just trail a piece of string to show the boundary.

If they leave that wall, or just take off the top (depending on how high it is) then they will save labour costs, skip costs and won't have to worry about whether you put a physical boundary in or what you use (very ugly prickly bushes!).

I'd at least suggest that they do that.

I agree with pp = prickly hedge on the boundary.

What are your neighbours planning to replace their garage with? An extension to the house?

I agree with pp. I would want to mark the boundary somehow so maybe just hammering in a few posts or something and then stringing a wire or rope or whatever you have across.
If they want to knock down their garage then they need to figure out what they'll put in it's place. Cheeky to say 'how quick can you install a new fence'.