AIBU to think the sellers information document holds some weight as allegedly it is a legally binding document?

[boundingaround]

We live in a terrace with a very very long narrow garden. We have always maintained the fence on our left in the back garden. The deeds don’t specify but the sellers information pack said we maintain the left so we carried on.
Our neighbours all agreed and have done this for years.
New people moved in next door last year. They want us to contribute half to the fence between us (it was falling down when they viewed the house). They say the sellers information pack isn’t relevant.
We only replaced our fence late two years ago and it was ££££ (very long garden) so a) we cant afford to pay towards “their” fence and b) we would then be maintaining all of one fence and half of the other which isn’t fair and I won’t want that to become the “norm” or something I have to tell future purchasers.
The neighbours the other side of them paid for a new fence when we did so our new neighbours shouldn’t have to discuss that side any time soon
Badly drawn pic attached we are B they are C. WWYD?

Talk to a solicitor about whether the sellers pack holds any weight.

I'd just calmly restate that you cannot contribute to the fence and that your street has traditionally maintained a particular side. According to the solicitor below, there's not much they can do about it.

The pertinent bit states that even if the fence were yours, there's no obligation to maintain it:

"To put it simply, there isn’t a law that states that fence repair is obligatory, even if it is falling apart. The reason here is largely due to the fact that there isn’t actually a legal obligation to have boundary walls and fences in the first place.

Some may opt to employ boundary demarcation and dispute experts to gather evidence and write a report. However, this often fails and the costs involved will usually outweigh the cost of replacing the wall itself.

Thus, if a neighbour is unwilling or unable to pay for their fence’s upkeep, you cannot force them to do so on a legal basis."

seymours-estates.co.uk/blog/which-boundary-fence-is-ours-understanding-what-youre-responsible-for#:~:text=Unsurprisingly%2C%20in%20most%20instances%2C%20the,fence%20is%20a%20joint%20responsibility.

It’s my understanding and I may be wrong, but regardless of who owns the boundary anyone can put a fence up, if you don’t own the boundary then you just have to make sure that all the parts of the fence are on your side of the property unless you get the boundary owners agreement and if you don’t want a fence (although unusual!) that’s ok too.

On this basis I would be telling your neighbours that they’re more than welcome to replace the fence but be very firm that you will not be contributing to it as regardless of the deeds and sellers form, custom of the road dictates that you are all responsible for the left boundary. Keep things friendly though as there is nothing worse than a neighbour dispute!

Thanks for the information, it’s very helpful. I really don’t want to end up maintaining “theirs” and “ours” so will stay firm with them. They “reminded” me that one of them works at law firm yesterday when they were saying we should pay half (they work in the finance team!!) so I wanted to know where I stood but solicitors are very expensive even for a quick question.
Since the neighbours moved in they have complained every time we do work (including carpets fitted, on a weekday) so it seems like they won’t be the friendliest neighbours we have had

They “reminded” me that one of them works at law firm yesterday when they were saying we should pay half

If they work in a law firm then they will no that there is no legal requirement for a fence whatsoever, and you have absolutely no obligation to contribute to their fence.

Word of advice though, if they do put up a new one, as they have paid in full for it you cannot attach anything to it, grow anything onto it or paint your side.

Other than that, ignore them. They want a fence, they pay.

Cheeky fuckers! Probably best just to stay serenely firm, 'Sorry, we cannot contribute to the fence', and treat them scrupulously politely every time you meet them. Fingers crossed they'll eventually get the message that you won't be bullied. Or develop a worse relationship with their neighbours on the other side. I try to convince myself that being so belligerent will take years off the lifespan of people like this.

Thanks again. We have a very “chatty” 9 year old so if the fence is left to fall down the neighbours might end up regretting it 😀

From what I remember from a similar incident with a neighbour, there is no legal requirement to have a fence between properties. If they want one, they can replace it. My neighbour was actually half way through replacing a fence when she turned up on my doorstep demanding £700 towards the cost. I laughed in her face and slammed the door.

The only time you could really argue a fence responsibility is if you had an animal, then it would be your job to contain it within your property, but even then you could string up 30ft of chicken wire should you wish.

I think it is normally marked on the deeds at the Land Registry as to whom is designated responsible. Do you have the paperwork from your purchase. You can also pay a small fee to check this online via their site

Not necessarily. I have whole swathes of fencing with no designation. Even if I am responsible for a boundary on deeds it does not mean I have to erect a fence.

Sorry to miss the point of the thread OP, but is it just me or are house E getting a really bad deal out of this system?

And you can get plenty of information and advice about boundaries and fences on the Garden Law forum.

Ah now this really IS a cheeky neighbour! I thought it was the left handside too, or detailed in your deeds.

If we look from the front of our property, we are responsible for the right-hand fence and the rear fence (we back onto a road). We know this because on our copy of the title deeds, there is a plan, and if we view the plan so that the front of the house is at the bottom, the both the back boundary and the right-hand boundary have a capital T jutting into our garden on the border line, while the fence on the other side has the capital T jutting into our left-hand neighbour’s garden.
Unfortunately for our neighbour on our left, the T’s on all of his boundary lines are all in his garden, so he’s responsible for all three sides…
Some properties, however, don’t have a clearly-defined boundary, and in these cases, it’s best to stick to what has been agreed in the past.
There is no “one rule” so it sounds like your new CF neighbour is throwing his “legal” weight around!

Thanks again everyone
@Roystonv we did download the title plan but it’s just a red box marking the boundary, for us it doesn’t detail who owns / maintains which boundary. The original documents are from 1930s and no one seems to have these.
@Anyotherdude The register does mention a T but doesn’t describe which side the T is. Unfortunately there were no Ts marked in the plan drawing
@GaspingGekko There is an f but our road is quite long so I just drew the ones a few doors either side of our neighbour. I think “z’s” right hand fence is also the back fence for three or four houses if you get my drift
@Abitofalark I will have a look Thankyou

Having read the register I’ve discovered we can’t have a caravan on our “land”. I’d better not tell next door or there are a few houses on the street they will be harassing

They do have a dog though so I might mention investigate the need to "contain it" in case they ask for us to pay towards the fence again

This. No arguments needed. Even if it was all on your land they have no right to get you to erect and maintain a fence.

Totally OT, but forgive my brain fart in that quote. Clearly they will 'know', not know.

Anyway, moving on.

@boundingaround the caravan issue will be a covenant. These are put in, usually by the builder or developer, when an area is constructed. It's basically to stop the estate looking scruffy whilst the houses are for sale and to keep it all a bit 'uniform'.
If your home is a new build, then it's something your daft neighbour could take up with the developer, but it's the developer/builder they'd need to argue covenants with and they who'd need to enforce.
Now, good chance in older houses the builders no longer exist and enforcing any covenant would be a complex and legally extremely expensive task.

I'd be half tempted to drop it into conversation, would keep them tying themselves in knots for months 😂

I wouldn't pay for half the fence but there are a few things you should consider.

First, as PP have said, you don't have to have a fence. If they want a new fence, they can erect one on their side of the boundary.

Second, if there was something on the deed or a covenant that means you have to pay, the neighbour needs to prove this is the case. In the absence of anything, you don't need to maintain a fence.

Third, whilst the seller's info document is legally binding, it's "to their best knowledge" therefore if the seller believed you a responsible for one fence and not another because that's what they were told, it doesn't in itself prove anything. The neighbour needs evidence to the contrary though because the seller's info doc is more evidence than nothing at all.

Lastly, bear in mind that if they can prove it's your responsibility to maintain the fence, and they've pointed out it needs repairing, you might end up on the receiving end of a civil case if they got injured. Obviously only you can assess whether the fence is safe or not. I wouldn't worry too much about this because they're only saying you're half-liable, therefore if they think it's unsafe they should pay for it to be repaired/replaced and then pursue you for half the cost.

TLDR, tell them to shove it.

Thanks for all of the detailed replies, seems like I'm fine to refuse and don't need to worry that I will have a legal team harassing me

TBH, if they work in that environment they might well send a 'chancing their arm' type letter in the hope you don't know the law, probably lots of legalese and designed to frighten you in to paying anyway.

If that happens, file in the bin.

People are cheeky aren't they, moving in and then telling the neighbours what to do and what to pay for.

I'd just say you maintain the other side and you're not maintaining both. We've had similar with neighbours and we've just said we're not doing everything, so a couple of have backed down and done it (with no argument or unpleasantness). The only thing I would say is that if you want a nice fence it can be worth doing it yourself because one neighbour did it on the cheap and it's already falling down again.

Our old neighbours didn't replace their broken and falling down fence when they moved out, despite assurances they would.
New neighbour comes round asking what WE are going to do about the fence. Told him that as it wasn't ours we weren't planning to do anything. He gave me a load of speil about how his solicitors said it was ours and that we might find his dog in our garden.
We should have realised what an arse he was just from that meeting. He ended up replacing the fence but his attitude never improved.