Neighbours and fence

[Pandy37123]

Probably a very dull AIBU but me and dh are at a impasse and I’m not sure if I’m being unreasonable or if he is.

We live in a semi detached with fences separating our garden from neighbours each side. One side is detached and the other side is attached to us. Our deeds say that the fence between us and the detached neighbours belong to them. The fence is on their border and we don’t have a fence on our side. The fence between us and the house attached to us belongs to us. The fence at the bottom of the garden is ours too.

We have been in our home for 8 years and get on with neighbours on both sides. Detached neighbours are both retired and have raised their family in their home. They are very well known and respected in the street. They always ask after my children, check the house when we are away, take in packages etc.

Last week our neighbours (detached side) advised that the fence has failed on their side and that they have a contractor coming out to see it with a view to replace the whole thing. They gave us a knock when the contractor arrived and asked our opinion on fence height etc. as they planned on reducing the height and wanted to confirm we were happy with the level of privacy.

Anyway on Wednesday morning we awoke to find next door neighbours had pushed a copy of the quote through the door. It was broken down by the contractor to show two amounts - our contribution and the next door neighbour’s contribution. The price is £4,000 which doesn’t look too bad as it a 40m fence and includes VAT. I spoke to the neighbour and detailed that our deeds show that the fence is theirs however they say their deeds detail repairing fences are shared responsibility and the previous two owners have always gone halves. I believe them and don’t think they are trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

Now to the AIBU - dh says I am a complete idiot to even consider paying. He says ourdeeds clearly state they have responsibility and the fence is on their land. I understand his point of view but do not want to be arguing/jeopardise the relationship we have with our neighbours over £2,000. If the fence came down (it’s on its last legs) and the neighbours didn’t put one back up we would have to put a fence up so that the children were safe. We will have to take the money out of savings and I’d rather spend on it something else but this feels like general house wear and tear and not worth the potential damage to the relationship.

Who is being unreasonable and/or is there an approach where everyone wins?

That is a schedule of work, surely, not the deeds? Why are there no dates on that document? Consult a lawyer before agreeing to pay anything. If you are legally bound to pay half of all boundary fences, that would be in your deeds or the contract of sale, or it's not valid surely?

Is there a difference between maintaining and repairing a fence, and replacing it completely?

Maybe get the "Vendors' Architect" to adjudicate?

The post and the fence panels but just on the one side. Thankfully the sides I am responsible for are much shorter.

Check your deeds and get back to your conveyancer.

This is from next door’s Completion of Registration document from what appears to be the land registry. It is dated and addressed to them I just haven’t included that info in my photo.

I’m not sure how legally enforceable deeds are, and in any case it would cost them to persue you for not following the deeds. Definitely get some advice before paying up (CAB maybe?) and check your own deeds which may contradict theirs anyway.

I remember my solicitor clearing detailing our responsibility were two fences. He may have told us about some additional conditions but I’ve completely forgotten what they were. Dh says he is confident with what’s in the deeds but when he’s home from work I am going to ask him to get them out so we can see what the deeds actually say as I think we need to double check what is in our completion of registration form.

Then I might have to shove a note through the neighbours door that says ‘not my problem’ and then never go into the garden again - I know I’m a wimp.

I read that ad your neighbour is responsible for maintaining it but liability for the cost is on you both. Ie they arrange, you reimburse.

It's possible your solicitor has told you that you are responsible for the other two, which would be correct...... but what they possibly missed is that your other neighbour is responsible for reimbursing you equal costs.

This is how we’ve always done it in the houses we’ve lived in too.

I think you actually need to check your deeds. That does say you are liable for half. They are correct. So now you need to check yours. And not just rely on memory,

We three would be good neighbours 😬

Do the posts and gravel boards need replacing? Our garden is 100ft and we just replaced the side and back, our ad hoc gardener did it because the parts and gravel boards were solid so it was just replacing the panels. It cost about £1300 including his labour, we just had the panels delivered.

We had similar recently, we contacted our solicitor who dealt with the house sale who found documentation that showed that despite what the deeds said a more recent agreement was in place that meant responsibility for the fence was joint so we split with next door. I would personally pay it if you can afford it, it gives you control over the situation and you can't put a price on a good relationship with neighbours

I would do this too. In fact we do go halves annual on hedge management with our neighbour which strictly speaking they should pay.

The thing about her deeds (or completion of registration document, we are referring to the same thing) is that they reflect the terms she agreed with her vendor when she bought the house. That agreement may claim to place obligations on other people including you as neighbours, but so what - they and you weren’t parties to her agreement with her vendor.

That is why it is important to know what your equivalent document says. The way that reciprocal obligations are placed on everyone is that all the agreements between vendors and purchasers contain the same obligations and they are all binding on all subsequent purchasers even if not buying from the original vendor. Or not….depending on what your documents say.

I wouldn't be paying 2000£ for anything without doing due diligence first. Especially in current times, so on that basis yabu

No-one has to replace the fence- you dont have to have a fence.
You need at least 3 quotes.
If you haven't got £2k then you haven't got £2k.

I think there is a lot to be said for good neighbourly relations. I do the fences both sides of my house, despite technically only being responsible for one, because we have heavy duty electric cable down the side that isn't ours, and occasionally getting new fence panels is a perfectly acceptable tax for me on that.

I paid 1800GBP for 12M of rail fencing and a double gate about 10 years ago (and they had a hell of a time getting the posts in!) just outside the M25, and they did an excellent job, so the quote seems reasonable to me. I would recommend concrete baseboards and posts though, so if the panels get damaged you can just slide new ones in.

Plus if you were to put in your own fence it would cost you at least that, and she's been around to chat with you that the fence is acceptable, so honestly, I would do it personally.

Last week our neighbours (detached side) advised that the fence has failed on their side and that they have a contractor coming out to see it with a view to replace the whole thing.

Failed? Does that mean fallen down? Have you seen it? Can it be repaired? Does the whole thing really need replacing? That's a lot of money...

Is this a quote for all their fences or just the fence that separates your house from theirs?. Is your garden 40m long?

If that wording is not in YOUR deeds, then you (legally) don’t have to pay

Maybe compromise and ask for more quotes? I've just paid £1280 for a 16m Post and rail thats 6ft high.

Why would you even consider parting with £2000 for a fence that is not even on your property? Your neighbours lost the right to any one covering half the cost all those years back when they erected it soley on their property!

2K is an awful lot of money.

What kind of posts are there currently? If they are the concrete ones you slot panels into that is super easy to do yourself and would save you ££££.

I would be reluctant to pay out without seeing what the actual problem is on there side - it might be that just one panel needs changing or that the problem can be easily fixed.

*their not there