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

@LumiB

she said the fence is the boundary & predates both them & the neighbours.

im taking the OP on what she says!!

turf & a couple if rise bushes isn't going to cause her 'legal issues'. Less than half hour to remove them should the need ever arise.

If I'd put up a wall, with 7cm abandoned on the other side it, I'm not pathetic enough to care if they make their side look nice

So what? Op acknowledges the boundary is where the fence is, so the 7cm strip is her neighbours land she can't take it.

the fence predating them just means neither neighbour installed it but the title plan in the deeds will tell you who is legally owner of the boundary and hence the fence. Christ, when I bought my house I dont know who put up the fence on the left side but I know I am the legal owner of it and that boundary as my title plan tells me.

She cannot touch that land its illegal of her its classed as trespassing even it its just 7cm. What part of its not her land she has no right to do anything to it do you not understand?

If OP is the owner of the fence she can take it down mark the boundary how she likes but she is not allowed to make that 7cm look nice unless she has permission from the owner.

And just because you might not care about 7cm the new owners might. If she starts using it and whatever she does then damages the wall is OP prepared to pay the costs? They are at the end of the day buying a property that is clearly marked what is theirs and they are paying for that 7cm strip of land.

I feel your pain..

We would love to remove a boundary post from our front drive as the neighbours tree line was apparently put just within the boundary and he regularly walks the length of our drive to strip any stray grass and maintain his rights. Trouble is it’s a hazard in the dark for reversing /manoeuvring vehicles, and has been bent by delivery Lorrie’s, but he won’t let us replace it with a stone which could get moved.

The worst thing though was when we had a side gate installed between our houses and he made us saw the top of the coping stone off as it protruded 2cm inside his boundary for the whole 20-30 cm of the brick gate post we had built up to the boundary line. This was in case one day he wants to put a wall up, even though we promised that we would remove it if he did ever want to build, and 23 years later he still has not.

Who puts a wall up that isn't up to the boundary of the property then moans about the neighbour wanting to remove a decrepit fence

Plenty of very good reasons as to why you have to leave a gap and the neighbours proposed a solution, op didn't like it and she us the one moaning about the fence.

If only Op would simply respond saying whats on the title plan in terms of legal ownership of that boundary and thus the fence and it would all be rather simple then

Don't touch the fence!

We once bought a house that when we viewed it had a 6ft, wooden fence. Perfect for our dog.

Possession date, we arrive to a 4 ft chain link fence. It wasn't even nice chain link, more like the rough stuff from construction sites. Husband is like don't complain, it's a fence. I phoned the guy we bought from. He left a wood fence and the house was empty for three days.

Turns out the neighbour had been badgering him for a couple of years to put in chain link. He refused as the wood was in great shape, blocked views of the back garden and was good for his dog.

The neighbour hated dogs, would spray our poor boy through the fence with his garden hose and then complain about the dog barking.

I should have stuck to my guns and demanded the fence be restored. Worst three years of our lives was living there.

Because the legal ownership is irreverent? If it’s not ours we’ll remove anyway with the view that the new neighbours will have better things to do than investigate a fence they never knew existed? I don’t really have much more to add to this conversation.

(were you traumatised by a fence as a child?)

Legal ownership is irreverent?

Assuming you meant irrelevant. The fact that you won't confirm the fence to be yours does suggest that it isn't.

People here are trying to give you helpful advice, and you're saying things like "traumatised by a fence", very childish.

If you didn't want to be told that you are being unreasonable then maybe you shouldn't have asked aibu, and you definitely shouldn't be removing or damaging things you do not own

The deeds will still specify who owns It.

It’s not irrelevant.

if they own it and you remove it they can take you to court and you would have to pay to have the whole thing replaced and any costs associated with court, including their legal fees.

It’s also a destruction of property. You can no more rip down their fence than they could rip up your driveway.

Fgs don't be that neighbour. Talk to your neighbour.

Why is that so hard?

She has talked to them. It says so in her very first post.

I'm factoring in potential future costs - legal and or fence/land rehabilitation – and it seems logical to remove given the benefits (vs living with an awful fence for decades). I'm not upset with the comments I've received here and, aside from a few weird and persistent obsessives, mostly they've been supportive and I feel validated.

It might have been irrelevant up to this point but they are literally selling the property at the moment and therefore all this stuff will be reviewed for “land registry legal reasons” (the exact language used I am not familiar with as I am not a conveyancing solicitor).

It might turn out you own the fence and then you can do what you want.

On the flip side if I bought a new house and moved in to find my new neighbour had taken down a fence I owned I would be fuming. Even if it is falling down. When you move in to a new home you have enough going on without any additional complications (which could be avoided) to sort. I also wouldn’t want to piss them off the day they move in and start the relationship in bad taste.

Obsessive and weird for what telling you what your legal rights and dont be an arsehole of a neighbour.

I have a neighbour like resorts to childish name calling becuase thats all they can do cos they know they aren't doing the right thing.

If you don't like looking at an ugly fence and its not your fence you can do what other people do and I have had to do and put up your own fence inside your property boundary. But you just don't want to spend the money lets be honest here. You want something for free.

You don't want to confirm becuase I bet the fence isn't yours that's why.

And if you are going to go ahead and do what you please why bothering to come and ask.

At least your husband is a decent person

Why not just go halves on a nice new fence?
mor at the very least erect a concrete post (3ft tall at eaxh end of the garden just so their boundary has a marker!
you say you’re not ‘stealing’ the 7cm, but actually that is exactly what you’re intending to do … you intend to plant YOUR own plants in it… you can’t assume what the new neighbours will want or whether they’ll also want to protect their 7cm of land….
Take down the fence by all means .. but 100% put a concrete post each end .. even if you grow clematis or something up it…. It only needs to be 2 ft high, but will serve as a marker.
Goodluck.. I’ll look forward to the ‘my new neighbours are suing me post!’ 😂😂

So you don’t own it. You have no right to remove in that case.

when factoring in costs consider any damage to their property including foundations and the fact that when they come to sell if it’s noted (it will be) associated costs and when you sell it will again be noted and at that point it will have to be dealt with. It isn’t something that no one will notice. Boundaries are always checked as part of surveys.

Why put a wall up if they don't want it to mark the boundary? Try talking to the new neighbours; try apologising about the state of the fence and say, "I've been meaning to remove it - I'll get straight on it." You won't be lying. If they demand that the fence stays, you will know that they are the type of people that will cause trouble if you take it down and don't replace it. We had a dispute over a 2" strip of soil with our neighbour; some people are just born awkward.

Its nobodies business what someone does inside their property boundary build a wall , a fence, a pergola, whatever it is noone else has any right to question why they did it. It has zero impact on the boundary issues. The boundary is where the fence is that is clarified by OP. That is all the issue ahoukd be about is the ugly fence OP doesn't like looking at.

Op hasn't clarified who owns the fence so you cant say she can take it down. She will be lying if that fence isn't hers.

Despite lots of people asking OP refuses to answer this basic question

Why put a wall up if they don't want it to mark the boundary?

Perhaps the same reasons, mentioned earlier in the thread, that I am doing the same.