My elderly dad's neighbours are demanding money

[BruhWhy]

About two months ago, some local kids set fire to my dad's fence that runs from the front of his house to the left, and joins onto his neighbour's fence that separates his and their back gardens.

It was terrifying for him, it spread and caught his wheelie bins alight and nearly set alight his mobility car and shed. The fire service had to attend to get it under control at 1am. Confirmed arson, the same kids had been doing it all week.

A few days after this happened he got a note through the door from his neighbour to the left asking him when he was going to replace their fence panel that was burned. He went to speak to them and told them that they'd have to wait a while because he's a disabled pensioner and he hasn't got fence panel money spare, they weren't happy but accepted it.

They've since come to speak to him three more times getting more irate each time because their dog keeps escaping through the damaged fence.

I don't think he should be replacing their fence panel AT ALL, it's their fence and it was damaged by arson, not my dad being careless, if it was my dad's fault I could understand but he didn't set it alight. This is all causing him massive anxiety.

I'm going to go round and speak to them Monday and tell them to piss off, but am AIBU? Is it his responsibility because the fire started on his property?

Definitely sounds like you need to speak to them. Key messages are that it’s their fence, not you DFs, and they need to leave him alone. Their behaviour is awful.

Not true. Fences are usually owned by one house or the other.

Does he have home insurance. That will cover it.

Just say they will need to claim on theirs as he doesn't have any funds to do his let alone theirs.

Also if they know who did it. The courts will award damages and the Costs should come from that

Have a read of rules on fences on gov.uk. It is all there.

You need to establish who owns the fence which the article on gov.uk will help with.

Insurance usually doesn't include fences.

No they’re not!

I'd go round and explain your Dad has got a crime ref number from the police and the housing association are dealing with the fence they own and for them to not contact him any more about this as he's very distressed by it.

Good advice about getting in touch with police customer service desk and getting a crime number to give to neighbours. I’d also mention to customer service that they are harassing your dad so it is noted
Then phone housing officer at HA outlining what has happened and advise them that neighbours as harassing your dad to replace the fence and they should then get involved - if only to write to the neighbours to tell them to stop with the harassment
Hope it’s sorted soon for dad’s peace of mind

🤨no they’re not “normally”

in most houses built before 1960s the deeds show clearly who has reponsisiblty of fences/hedges/walls on the boundary- these sit just on that persons side of the boundary. Usually you are responsible for one side, say the left, and then all other houses in that part of road are also responsible for the left - so everyone has one fence to maintain

idiots then come along and start demanding neighbours pay half of upkeep for the fence that belongs to them. Just because they don’t know it’s in the deeds or can’t be arsed to look it up. Just no. There is a clear ownership model that worked for years till this modern trend for shared boundaries that lead to all sorts of disagreements between neighbours

even when I bought a new house in 1990s we pushed developer to mark the fence we “owned” on our boundariries on the deeds rather than the loose “it’s shared”. In practice developers place the fence on someone’s land and not exactly in the middle on the exact boundaries so you can insist on this being added to your deeds they send to land registry

The little shits that started the fire should be paying. Who payed to replace his bin? We have to pay for our bin's now.

Definitely direct them towards the HA as they deal with such matters and towards the police to get a crime number so they can claim from their insurance. Your poor DF does not need this added stress.

Lots of great advice here. Stick to your guns and tell them that if they go round again yo will report them for harassment

Even if it was his fence, and even if he’d set fire to it himself, he still cannot be forced to pay for a new fence panel. If the neighbours don’t want their dog to escape, they can pay for their own panel!

If my dog escaped even once I'd already have at least put something temporary in, even if it wasn't me who owned the fence!
They're being massively unreasonable and YWNBU to tell them it's their issue and to leave your dad alone.

sound like dodgy bullies to be honest. Pity they're not so irate with the scumbags who started the fire

My dad had something similar, but in his case they were trying to get thousands out of him. Eventually after we got involved, and other neighbours and I think even the fire service, they backed off. Scum.
Hope your dad is ok.

He was the victim of a crime and so were they if their fence was burnt too. Why would he be paying for their fence? He didn't start the fire and the fence isn't even one he is responsible for. Tell them to do one and if they persist harassing him you will report them.

He should to replace the fences he is responsible for (although I don’t think there is a legal requirement to have a boundary fence, so this is more accepted etiquette) but fences that his neighbours are responsible for, they need to claim on insurance.

Their fence, not caused by your dad or his negligence. Tell them to take it up with their home insurance provider. Cheeky fuckers.

They need to fuck right off and stop harassing your dad. Harassment is a crime and they could be charged, particularly as this is causing distress to your dad. I'd make it very plain that this is the route you will be going if they even breathe in his direction again.

This is made me mad and I don't even know you or your dad. 😡

Their fence, their problem. And that's before you get to the harassment aspect of it. I personally don't understand how you've stopped yourself going round there with a cricket bat, but the best cause of action is to knock on the door, show them what the law says, and tell them that if they even so much as look at your dad again they'll be on the receiving end of a crime report

Going to play devils advocate here but why was the fire started? Is their an on going issue with youths targetting your dad? Was it retaliation for something he has said/done? True random attacks are incredibly rare if I was the neighbour I would be thinking it was a deliberate attack on your dad in response to something, so would be rather annoyed about having to pay to replace a fence panel if wasn't involved in the dispute at all.

It's worth going to speak to them and ask why they believe it's your dads responsibility. If it's a true random attack it's a good opportunity to explain the circumstances to them and say unfortunately your dad can't afford to pay for the fence but will allow access etc when they come to get it fixed.

Not here, they aren't. We're responsible for the fence on our left, and our neighbour is responsible for the fence on our right/his left. And so on down the street. That's normal here.

I'd pay for a cease and desist letter from your solicitor as well as reporting them to the police for harassment l. Don't speak to them now, straight to the police as they know what they're doing. They deliberately trying to scam an old man into replacing a fence that they know is theirs.

Also ignore the post that says fencing is usually split 50/50. It is not in the UK. It is the responsibility of the person who owns that part of the fencing so in this case the neighbours. Supply them with the crime reference number and it is their decision is they claim on their insurance or not. They will be pissed off but that is just how it goes sometimes.
Hope your dad is ok. Getting angry at an
elderly neighbour is not ok and they should be ashamed of themselves.