To remove the fence

[NoTreadingHere]

We have a fence that sits about 7cm from the neighbour's wall. It's a huge wall covering the entire length of their property. They never see into our side.

Our relations have been amicable but I've been keen to entirely remove the fence. It's rotting and decrepit, but the issue is that they demand the existing fence replaced (at shared cost) by a new and very expensive new fence to protect their precious 7cm.

They're now moving and are in the process of selling the property. They're not living in the property and I'm keen to have a helper come in and quietly pull out and remove the fencing. DH is totally absolutely against it, mainly because he's timid and conflict averse. I'm fuming as neither the existing owners or new owners would ever know about the fence removal and this is a golden opportunity to solve the fence problem forever. The new owners are unlikely to be any more forgiving (it's that kind of area).

Basically I'm raging that the solution can't be implemented

Take it down. Half of it fell down/was damaged in Storm Henk anyway, wasn't it?
Is the 7cm yours and the fence has been put inside your boundary (by 7cm), as the wall is the boundary? Or is the fence the boundary? Check on the deeds perhaps?

Ah just seen it IS the boundary, so leave it till the new neighbours are in and consider a nice slow growing low hedge in the gap perhaps?

My guess is that they built the wall because the fence wasn't being maintained to their liking - that is the reason people usually do stuff like this.

They want the fence kept for maybe three reasons, one to mark the boundary and not devalue their property and two to keep a barrier between their neighbours and their wall so their neighbours don't do stuff like drilling into it, hanging stuff on it, building against it etc, and finally possibly because they object to seeing someone profit from their inaction in being unwilling to co-operate in maintaining the boundary.

What you can do with the existing fence really depends on who owns it and this is unclear from your original post. If it is your fence and you own it I think you can remove it any time you want. Your deeds may say you have an obligation to maintain the boundary, if so then you can put up a low cost wire fence/simple boundary markers in its place. If it is shared then I don't think you can remove it without agreement from them. If it is theirs then I think you cannot remove it without consequence. Just because their is a wall in between it and their greater garden doesn't make it any less their property if they own it. The flip side of this is that if they allow their fence to fall into ruin and it damages your property or you in any way then you have the potential to claim against them for that.

As something to think about, you might wonder about the consequences of what the world would be like if anyone was allowed to go around and remove/dispose of things that didn't belong to them but they didn't like the look of without consequence. I think you would reach the conclusion pretty quickly that that world would not be a great place to live in.

The TLDR of all this is if you own it you can do what you want with it. And if you don't you can't. IANAL, you should check with a property expert.

Regardless of what you do with the fence, I would strongly recommend a boundary marker. It may seem irrelevant and petty to you but for any future works that require planning or neighbours co operation you need exact measurements. It is legally their land.

Take the fence down and put a very low border edging, or row of edging tiles to show the true boundary for the future.

I’m presuming you want to remove the fence so you can utilise their “precious 7cm”. As others have said it’s potentially opening a can of worms legally, especially if the new owners accuse you of trying to steal it.
Maybe remove the fence and put up something like this to mark the boundary. You could get metal stakes rather than fence poles as well.

https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/site-safety/flexible-fencing/barrier-mesh-fencing-plastic-green-1-x-10m/p/RTL5235300K?msclkid=e93bb075066515a440aed5eb70be12a2&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=(GB:Whoop!)%20All%20Products&utm_term=4587437398127578&utm_content=(GB:Whoop!)%20Site%20Safety

Have the fence removed and have your timid husband go on a learn to be assertive course. I'm imagining him as looking and behaving like Timothy Lumsden.

If they've build a brick wall 7cm away from the boundary then that's a pretty silly thing for them to do.

I second the idea of removing the fence (as long as you own it) but placing tiles down so there's an obvious boundary marker. However, I'd talk to someone who know about this stuff. I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before!

Why haven't they built on the boundary? Line of window box type pots along your property not trespassing on their 7cm...
Imagine they took legal action against you taking down your own fence?!

Good point - if it was their fence then why didn't they take it down to build the wall?

The wall might be in from the boundary because of the foundations.

We are about to start a building project and intend to do exactly what the OP’s neighbours have done.

Why? Because we don’t want our neighbour being tempted to hang stuff off the wall, growing plants up it, or erect lean to garden buildings against it.

The fence provides a clear indication that the wall on the other side of it is on our property and shouldn’t be tampered with.

If it's your fence then they cannot demand that you replace it, unless it is in the deeds that you have to maintain a fence.
If not I would remove it purely on their insistence that you replace it.

Who owns the actual fence? (As per deeds, not any crazy mn 'the one with the front facing them' or 'the one on the left'). If they do, you can't touch it. Once it falls down, (whoops), just give it to them. They can pay for a replacement if they want to.

If you own it, just take it down.

The storm blew it down didn't it?

Unless you own the fence you cannot touch it.

When our old neighbour replaced his fence, for convenience part way down the garden, he took the line of his garden shed inside his boundary, "gifting" us a strip of land about 50 cm x 300 cm. We're aware this land doesn't belong to us, so we've laid paving stones on sand, to accommodate a bench and which can be lifted at any point when the new neighbours want to construct a new fence along the boundary. Whilst not so generous, a 7cm strip could keep you in tomatoes and courgettes for a whole summer, but it wouldn't be your land to use.

You should be clear on who the fence belongs to. If it's your neighbours, they shouldn't ask you to contribute, unless you wanted to ensure it was something better than a bog standard fence. If it's your responsibility, you can do what you like, and you might like a contribution from them towards your costs if you put a fence up.

Both you and the neighbours are pathetic.

If he's timid and conflict adverse he won't make a fuss so just pull the fence out if you are certain it's yours

Who is responsible for maintaining that side of the boundary?

If they are moving out why don’t you just ask them again can you take the fence down. Maybe with the house being sold they won’t care. It all seems so annoying they can’t see the fence but you can and there is a perfectly good wall separating the houses.

You can remove your fence if you wish. You cannot start using their 7cm though and should keep the boundary marked.

You also can’t suddenly decide to paint nail or screw anything onto their wall. Probably the reason they want the fence so stop anyone deciding their wall is up for decoration.

Don't sit on the fence, say what you mean

This was exactly my thought! You would build a wall on the boundary especially coz walls are not cheap.
I would check your deeds

After ( or during a violent rainstorm) Go out there with a Hammer and give it a good bashing ,to sevely damage it.
Then in the morning go out and pretend to look SHOCKED at the state of the demolished fence.

** This was exactly my thought! You would build a wall on the boundary especially coz walls are not cheap.
I would check your deeds **

Well you wouldn't if you have a gutter which needs to overhang your own land, or a window you want to open outwards, as a couple of examples.