Sorry for War and Peace...
I am not sure what to do, if anything…
We moved in 2 years ago, the fence at the bottom of our garden is the side fence of our neighbours – the houses are at right angles and the back of our house faces the side of theirs. The fence is mine. I introduced myself when we moved in, they were frosty so I left it at that.
In the spring storm of 2021 a fence panel (1) blew down. It was the one nearest their house, so when I sat in the living room I could see into their patio area, which they used for smoking, so it was a bit intrusive, however, it was spring and they weren’t out there for long.
I told them over the gap when I saw them, to reassure them, that I would get it replaced. It took me 2-3 weeks to getting round to ordering it. The earliest delivery slot was in 5 weeks, and I don’t have a car.
I told them the delivery date when I next saw them over the gap. His response was ‘well, they are in stock at (other supplier) in a hostile tone.” I was a bit on the back foot at his response as I was trying to be friendly, so I just said it was delivery, not stock that was taking so long.
When I next saw them (by now I am not going out of my way to update them) I tols them the fence panels had arrived, and I was waiting for the builders to come and fit them. He asked when that would be, and I said in the next couple of weeks. Then added, as it occurred to me, that I couldn’t do it on my own (I am a single mother), but if he helped we could slot the panels in now and then the builders could secure them (they are the wooden panels that slot into concrete posts with a groove. His reply was “no, it’s OK”.
I then had a random man ring my doorbell, saying he had been told that I needed someone to sort out my fence. I said I already had someone lined up. The builder I was using told me that he had been tackled by the man next door while working on another neighbour’s drive, so prioritised the fence.
By then I was quite pi**ed off, so said he could take as long as he liked, but fortunately the builder was the adult in the room who said it is best not to annoy neighbours, and his men came and dealt with in within a couple of days.
A few weeks ago I noticed that the new(ish) fence panel (2) behind the garden shed was bulging into my garden, as if something heavy have been leant against it or it had been knocked by next door. The damage seemed minimal so I noted it but nothing needed to be done.
This morning I was in the front garden doing some work. After a few minutes I realised I had heard a lot of (seemingly distant) barking, so went to see if it was DDog. Sometimes their cat sits on the garage roof and won’t move, and sometimes foxes sit the other side of the railway fence and won’t move. DDog is small and rather a scaredy cat, so does her best to protect the garden but without much success.
It turned out that the fence panel had broken down quite a bit, DDog had managed to get through, and the neighbour was standing in their back door and DDog in their garden barking at him. I called her back at once and he complained about the broken fence panel.
I said that it seemed to have been damaged from his side, he said it was my fence.
I then told him I have no legal responsibility to provide a fence, he responded “well, take it all down then”. Sadly, it didn’t occur to me to tell him to grow up, and anyway, I was still trying to be conciliatory.
He then said “Don’t take 6 months like you did last time” at which point I lost my temper and said “it’s my fence, I’ll take as long as I f*ing like”.
Now, it is my responsibility to make sure DDog can’t get into the garden. I hadn’t realised the fence had broken that much, and have secured it with chicken wire.
But I don’t want to have to replace a fence panel after 18 months, let alone when it looks as if it was damaged by next door. If they were friendly about it then I would probably replace it to keep on good terms, but I have tried to keep on good terms and had nothing but entitled pric*ery back.
AIBU to ensure DDog is secure in my garden, and not worry about how the panel looks from their side? It is behind my garden shed, so the view doesn’t bother me.
Surely the obvious thing would have been to come round and say "the panel is broken, and your dog is in our garden. Please retrieve your dog and make sure they can't get through again"?