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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Neighbour CF

53 replies

Lagomtransplant · 03/12/2021 17:56

So Arwen did away with our garden fences on both sides of the garden. We live in a semidetached house and the neighbours on the adjacent side were as cooperative about fixing that side as humanly possible. On that side we decided to split the cost of repair 50/50.

On the other, detached side, our neighbour is an absolute madwoman, who was previously a topic of my AIBUs. Unemployed, kids in dad's custody/ss involved, drink and weed on a regular basis. DH and I decided to sort out the fence on that side on our own, for the benefit of our own mental health. We politely let her know we'd get it sorted, just to have patience as handymen were few and far between, as they are thin on the ground trying to repair all the storm damage.

We took time to go through quotes, WFH for 2 viewings and paid £££ to get it fixed. The workmen took about 3 hours today. Once they left, she had the absolute cheek to complain to my DH, who was tidying up our garden, that the workmen left mud prints in her garden (which is nothing but weeds and rat-enticing junk she can't be bothered to clean up).

It took ALL, and I mean ALL, of my self-control not to go over and give her an earful. AIBU?

OP posts:
Gretaburley · 03/12/2021 20:29

No good deed goes unpunished OP.

Wellyscooterwalk · 03/12/2021 20:29

Just to throw in that the boundary ownership will not necessarily be shown on your title plan if you have bought your house recently- it should be detailed within your Transfer though.

Justheretoaskaquestion91 · 03/12/2021 20:33

The plans we have don't make it clear which side of the boundary the fence is on. Have ordered from land registry. Thanks guys

ArtfulScreamer · 03/12/2021 20:33

You've more restraint than me as I'd have apologised and offered to refund her contribution Grin

McKesson · 03/12/2021 20:42

@Justheretoaskaquestion91
Make sure you order your neighbour's too.
There may well be no Ts on either plan, in which case the fences are assumed to be shared.

godmum56 · 03/12/2021 20:43

[quote Justheretoaskaquestion91]@SoupDragon

What? In England you are responsible for your right fence only.[/quote]
that is plain old not true

godmum56 · 03/12/2021 20:44

[quote McKesson]@Justheretoaskaquestion91
Make sure you order your neighbour's too.
There may well be no Ts on either plan, in which case the fences are assumed to be shared. [/quote]
no they aren't

Justheretoaskaquestion91 · 03/12/2021 20:44

Honestly I am just what the fucking over here. I mean we are naive idiots for just blindly believing without checking but my god what if we paid for all the fucking fence work and it was both?! I don’t really want to pay for hers without seeing mine first as it cost 30£ total not the 2£ suggested! I’ve emailed our architect though who also did her house so should know re boundaries…

Justheretoaskaquestion91 · 03/12/2021 20:46

@godmum56

What happens if there are no Ts on either plan?!

Sometimeswinning · 03/12/2021 20:51

How, when all of the internet is available for you to learn that this is patently bollocks, do you go around believing this to be true?

In fairness this would only come up as an issue if you had to look into it. Luckily my neighbours and I live by that rule. It wasn't just made up. I'm surprised you didn't know about this well known assumption.

Original poster
Lagomtransplant · 03/12/2021 20:55

If we went to the registry and the fence turned out to be hers, it would never get fixed anyway and she'd still let her kids play in there when they visit. She's already not bothered by nettles or rusty metal pokes, this would have been no different. DH and I agreed it's best if we remove the risk of six foot fence falling on a child if we possibly could.

OP posts:
godmum56 · 03/12/2021 21:05

[quote Justheretoaskaquestion91]@godmum56

What happens if there are no Ts on either plan?![/quote]
Well in England so far as selling goes, the question is asked if the seller has ever repaired or replaced any fence as this is considered "assuming responsibilty for" and therefore in the absence of any other evidence, assuming ownership. BUT if you own a fence unless there is a either a local by-law requiring a fence or a covenant on the property, it doesn't mean that the owner has to do anything apart from keep the fence in a safe condition. They can choose to do this by removing the fence and not replacing it if they wish. Its the actual landowner or leaser's responsibility to keep animals and children secure so if I own a fence and don't have animals or kids, I can just remove the fence.

How do I know this? My garden backs onto SEVEN other gardens. I am sure of the one piece of fence that I own, two of the other owners have replaced fences and one has done repairs....so far as the other three runs of fence goes, its all a bit wait and see. We did our fence law due diligence before we moved in because of the weird garden shape and periodically I check that the law hasn't changed. My piece of fence and one of the pieces that has been replaced are "T" marked on the deeds but none of the others are.

so no its not "always the left" (or right), not always T marked and ownership does not equal responsibility for maintenance or replacement.

godmum56 · 03/12/2021 21:07

@Justheretoaskaquestion91

Honestly I am just what the fucking over here. I mean we are naive idiots for just blindly believing without checking but my god what if we paid for all the fucking fence work and it was both?! I don’t really want to pay for hers without seeing mine first as it cost 30£ total not the 2£ suggested! I’ve emailed our architect though who also did her house so should know re boundaries…
boundaries are not fences. A fence might mark a boundary but if you remove the fence, the boundary is not changed or removed. Where I live, out front boundaries are imaginary lines but they are shown on the deeds
SoupDragon · 03/12/2021 22:10

[quote Justheretoaskaquestion91]@SoupDragon

What? In England you are responsible for your right fence only.[/quote]
That isn't true at all.

EsmeSusanOgg · 03/12/2021 22:14

@Justheretoaskaquestion91 are you on a newish build estate? My dad said it was quite common to have what you're describing on estates he was a site manager for in the 80s/90s. My first home was a 90s new build and had this agreement. But it really depends what your deed says. Current house is older, and our wall/fence is subject to party wall rules.

HaaaaaveyoumetTed · 03/12/2021 23:07

[quote Justheretoaskaquestion91]@SoupDragon

What? In England you are responsible for your right fence only.[/quote]
Not true. In England you aren't responsible for ANY fence. You may be responsible for maintaining a boundary (some, all of them or none of them) depending on what your deeds say. Maintaining a boundary does not mean maintaining the fence wall or hedge, it means ensuring the boundary doesn't move.

Duckrace · 04/12/2021 09:16

RTFT!

godmum56 · 04/12/2021 09:43

@HaaaaaveyoumetTed

"Not true. In England you aren't responsible for ANY fence. You may be responsible for maintaining a boundary (some, all of them or none of them) depending on what your deeds say. Maintaining a boundary does not mean maintaining the fence wall or hedge, it means ensuring the boundary doesn't move."

Not true either. you may own the fence as part of your purchase and in that case you are as responsible for it as anything else that you own. If it falls and damages a neighbour's property then you may be responsible for recompense; if it is in a dangerous state then you will be responsible for making it safe and so on.

Justheretoaskaquestion91 · 04/12/2021 16:38

Just to ask if this clears up at all the fence issue? I’m not sure if the dotted lines outside the red are the fences? I’m getting quite mixed messages from this thread

Neighbour CF
MumW · 04/12/2021 17:07

What? In England you are responsible for your right fence only

Not true, we're responsible for both left, right & end.

dementedpixie · 04/12/2021 17:09

[quote Justheretoaskaquestion91]@SoupDragon

What? In England you are responsible for your right fence only.[/quote]
Bollocks

Nanasueathome · 04/12/2021 17:11

[quote Justheretoaskaquestion91]@SoupDragon

What? In England you are responsible for your right fence only.[/quote]
I’m in England. My fence is left hand side

Hoppinggreen · 04/12/2021 17:12

[quote Justheretoaskaquestion91]@SoupDragon

What? In England you are responsible for your right fence only.[/quote]
Not true
You are responsible for the fence you own, which could be on either side

dementedpixie · 04/12/2021 17:13

@Justheretoaskaquestion91

Just to ask if this clears up at all the fence issue? I’m not sure if the dotted lines outside the red are the fences? I’m getting quite mixed messages from this thread
There are no Ts on that which suggests they are shared.
Justheretoaskaquestion91 · 04/12/2021 17:18

Again - sorry, not trying to hijack thread but it’s run it’s course and not worth another thread but everyone on here seems to know about this - what should I do? When we bought this house 2 years ago a few fence panels blew off into neighbours garden and she, very nasty property lawyer neighbour, sent us a lot of bullying messages demanding we get it fixed. Which we did. We paid for several new panels (she expected us to pay for a whole new fence). We just blindly believed her like the idiots we apparently are. Can we/should we do anything about this now? Even just to ask them why they assumed we were responsible for the fence/what proof they have?