Neighbour won't half in for fence

[thunderandbangs]

I spoke to my neighbour over the back from me about a year ago to see if she'd be willing to half in for the back fence (fence at back of her garden, fence at back of ours) and she said yes that would be fine and to give her a quote when we had it.

Then Covid happened so we have just gotten round to it. I went over to give her quote (150 each) the other night. She then said that actually the fence at the back was our priority to fix and pay for as the posts are on her side of the garden!

I said I don't think that's how it works and she said that the two fences at the left and right of her garden were her responsibility as the posts were in the neighbours garden therefore she gets the 'pretty' side of the fence meaning it's her responsibility. But as the fence at the back of the garden posts are in her garden and we get the 'pretty' side of the fence it is our responsibility.

She said she can't just go around halfing in for the upkeep of other peoples things and when the time comes she won't ask her neighbours to on either side either.

AIBU to think this is absolutely bonkers? Trying to find out if there's anything I can do to ensure she pays half as that is not how it works. She has a responsibility as well as we do.

YABU.

Your neighbour is correct.

Erm, that is usually how it works

Check your documents and find out who's responsibility that boundary is. If it's yours it's yours & you pay. If its hers/joint etc.

It should be clear in your documents

You need to check your deeds to see who actually owns the fence.

Look at your deeds, they will show who’s responsible for the border. On my parents back fence the neighbour has never contributed, on the deeds it’s parents border to put a fence up

One of you owns the fence, that person pays as far as I know. I think she’s right

It should show on your deeds which fences you are responsible for, which are your neighbours, and which (if any) are shared. Nothing to do with which side the posts are.

Cheek your house deeds to see if you own it, if you own you’re solely responsible

Nobody has any responsibility to pay for fences - you don’t have to define your boundary if you don’t want to.
What’s wrong with the existing fence? Maybe your neighbour thinks it’s perfectly adequate

That sounds about right re the posts. You can certainly check it out.

Whoever owns the fence pays for the fence. Check your deeds in relation to the boundary.

She's (more than likely) right. You can check the deeds of the house to be sure, but in most cases fences will be owned by one house, not shared, and you can usually tell which are which by the way the 'pretty' side faces

I think she’s right too. Worked out that way for us.

If the posts are on your neighbour's side, surely that means she also owns the fence?

Is there a problem with the fence already up?

Do you mean concrete posts btw?

I think it means the posts show on the neighbours side: no-one puts their nice, shiny new fence up with the posts on their own side.

She's most likely right. Fences are usually installed with the 'nicer' side facing the property of the owner.

It's actually the other way round. The presumption is the owner of the fence has the posts on their side. Presumptions can be challenged but that's how it usually works as the maintenance would usually be on the post side.

No the fence was falling down

Who owns the fence?

I kind of agree with her. I guess you’ll need to look at the deeds to see whose fence it is, but whoever originally built the fence would have built it so that they got the ‘nice’ side. Funnily enough I just watched an episode of judge Judy about the same issue I know that’s American law but she used the same reason as your neighbour as to why they shouldn’t be responsible for the fence. As it is, it’s not a legal requirement to have a fenced boundary, you can’t force her to fix or replace a fence even if you can prove it’s hers.

Sounds like it’s your fence. Check your deeds though. If it’s your fence you pay.

@Rollmopsrule

It's actually the other way round. The presumption is the owner of the fence has the posts on their side. Presumptions can be challenged but that's how it usually works as the maintenance would usually be on the post side.

Completely disagree with this