Shouldn't they have said if not asked first?

[SugaredSocks]

I'm really not sure if I am being unreasonable or not. Next door are in the process of replacing our joining fence. We knew that her landlord (we both rent) had plans to do it but this was first mentioned at least two years ago so although we knew it was on the horizon we didn't know when. All of a sudden on Saturday her landlord ripped down the old one and then told my OH someone was coming out Thursday to put the new one up. He'd gone out to find out what was going on. This morning I hear voices outside and it's clearly them a day early. Fair enough it's is fairly awkward as our living room is garden facing and we only have a sliding door window so it feels like if we have our curtains up that we are very much on view so a day early isn't a problem. I just left the curtains closed and got on with what I needed to do. It's just gone quiet so I thought I'd take a look. They've drilled a support post attachment into the side of our house, made a mud slide in our garden (neither garden is flat ours worse than their's) and the posts that are in so far are much higher than before. I get that they'd prefer more privacy as before it was rather awkward but it will put our garden and living room into shade now. So aibu to think this should have been mentioned to us? Or am I living in a dream world and it's put up and shut up? Just to say I am dyslexic so I know I'll have spag errors and I apologise in advance before anyone feels the need to criticise but I would appreciate peoples opinions as I'm sat here baffled by it all.

Who cares you rent the home not own it, they may have gotten permission to do that. It could work in your favour too seeing that you will be getting more privacy once the fence is up 🙂

Their fence on their side, they can do what they want within the law.

Contact your landlord and let them know. The landlord may have given permission to attach to the house, or might not have and would appreciate the info.

If I'm honest I suspect it should have been my landlord that replaced it as I think it was our fence. Fair enough on the height but they have drilled into our (rented house) and turned our garden into a mud slide.

You definity need to report the drilling I to your house to your landlord/agency make it clear you didn't permit this.

Also, if it your fence (your landlord), you need to declare it. It's damage to their property.

As said, they might have agreed it with your landlord. If so, it would have been nice to I firm you.

I think they would have asked your landlords permission to do this, even so either your landlord or your neighbour should have informed you about the work. I would check if they have your landlord's permission if I was you because it is his property.

Definitely report to your LL - he might be quite cross about drilling into his property! In the house I used to rent, some new neighbours moved in and decided to install a lock to a door that led to the pathway between our two houses - it turned out that they had rights of access but the door belonged to the house we were in, and the LL was livid as he felt they'd damaged it. If we'd not told him he'd have presumably found out months if not years later.

Report to the landlord agency to inform the of the facts. You need to report it so they don't blame you for the fact the garden has been turned to mud or the house has been drilled into. Present it as you checking with them they are happy with the new fence and the drilling, then ask when the people will be back to fix the mess they made in the garden.

Decided to bite the bullet and speak to them as was worried before I'd say the wrong thing but figured I'd just say something and they were under the impression we knew so I'm guessing that maybe our landlords agency just didn't bother to let us know. He said they will try and clear up the mess at the end so that's something I suppose. I'll message the agency just so they know it wasn't us just to cover our backs. If they do clean it up properly it'll just take a bit of time for the grass to grow back so that won't be too terrible just so pop some seeds down. I still think next door should have mentioned it but there we go. Thanks all.

Hi! I think you should also take a few photos of the garden and where they’ve attached the posts, etc. and stick it in an email to the agency or landlord.

“Hi, you’re probably aware that the fence between our property and [next door] has been replaced. Just to let you know the contractors drilled holes in the property in order to attach the posts and also the garden/ grass was also left looking worse for wear after the work was completed.”

We once had a front garden fence replaced (one of those wrought iron ones) and had a few issues with it but the woman at our agency said it ohhh nothing to worry about, I’ll sort it, etc etc. Fine. When we were moving out the landlord started asking loads of questions and wanted to keep some of the deposit to fix issues and the woman at the agency was looong gone!

Luckily we had sent a similar email with photos and details of the issues and he left it in the end, very unhappy though!

Pressed post too soon!

Sorry to say, if the height of the new fence isn’t ideal, I don’t think there will be much you can do about it in a rented property. Unless it starts to really seriously impact the amount of light, then you’ll probably have to raise it as an issue with your agency/landlord. Hope it works out in the end.

I would tell your landlord and maybe he'll want to come and have a look.
Take some photos too to prove it wasn't you making any of the mess in the garden.
A higher fence might work in your favour ( I'd love a higher fence personally) but if it's cutting out your light that isn't good.

Take a few photos of the van too, of the side panel if there is a company name and of the licence plate, just in case the landlord needs to claim damages from them then there will be at least some chance of finding them again.

Are you sure they didn't ask permission from your landlord? As is is them they need to inform, not the tenant.

As for height, YABU - 2 meters is permitted by law, no consultation required. If it exceeds 2 meters in height (measure from the land the fence is on e.g. their fence, measure from their side) then YANBu.

Thanks all. I've taken photos at a midway point just to cover us as I'm sure the agency would try and pull something they are awful but what you know in hindsight though eh. The height is within the legal limits so there's nothing that can be done on that score and as it's not our house I'm not going to complain as what's the point.