Its a fence one .

[pavillion1]

We are having our garden landscaped the fence between our neighbours and ours was falling apart so even though it is actually neighbours fence we let them know that we are willing to replace . They said fine but can we make sure its like for like we said yes no problem.

I admit i didn't specify to our landscaper the fence had to be exactly the same i just said same height and we have chosen to replace the wooden post with concrete.
This hasnt come cheap . Upshot is the neighbours have gone mad about the new fence and demanded they at least get the better side of the fence which we have agreed to but im now feeling abit hard done by as yes ok its not exactly the same fence panel but it is a. stronger panel with concrete foundations .

THAT THEY DIDN'T WANT OR ASK FOR!!

It wasn't up to you to change it.

Um. The new fence would have to be moved first

They didn't ask for the fence to be changed so if the OP tried that one, they'd be entitled to tell her to do one.

So by a lot of posters logic on here, if the neighbours had planted a hedge between and the OP didn't like it, she'd have been perfectly entitled to dig it up and replace with a fence? Or whatever she preferred?

Giving the neighbours who don’t own the fence the ‘good’ side isn’t a courtesy or favour to them.
It’s done for security, so that it can’t be climbed and because the posts and horizontal supports need to be in the owners garden. If the neighbour has the ‘bad’ side the fence posts still need to be in your garden, so you lose 4” or so of your garden.

I agree with them. concrete posts are ghastly. they didn't want them, so they shouldn't have them.

Hi OP. I’m afraid legally you are in trouble here. It doesn’t really matter what your neighbours reasoning is, but you have built something they don’t like and it is now their say as to what happens. You can have put up the best safest fence in the world but they can get it taken down and you can’t do anything about it.
Imo you need to limit the damage, apologise with a present and ask what they want you to do. Then do it.

The 'rule' is that on a boundary that is yours you get the 'good side' so they are well within their rights to expect the 'good side'

They’ve actually given them a better fence than the original one 😩

there is no rule.

That really doesn't matter, though. It wasn't their fence to take down and replace to begin with.

You can't just destroy someone's property and expect them to be happy with a totally random replacement that they never agreed to.

If it was their fence, haven't you essentially just given them a brand new fence that they now own and can do what they like with?

I think I'd be trying hard to smooth things over to try and avoid them tearing up their shiny new fence and replacing it with something that suits them better.

Well Definitely a lot to take away from this. Everyone is civil and nobody is going to destroy the new fence . We will not be replacing it again so it will have to fall on to them when the time comes .
I really do wish i had made absolutely clear to our workman that they needed to change the fence to a near on replica but we didnt even realise until the first 2 panels had gone up and by that point the neighbour was annoyed.
Not much more to add now just didnt want you all to think id done a runner .

But that's not what they wanted. We might not understand why, but they were clear what they wanted and the OP agreed. Then did something different.

I'd be grateful of the new fence and agree it is nicer than the old (not a fan of concrete posts myself though) BUT the issue is it'll make their garden look really mismatched if their other side is like their old fence and it'll force them to replace it with your preference if they want it to match. You shouldn't feel hard done by, you've taken a huge liberty here, you need to get out of your head that you've done them a favour because you think it's an upgrade. @pavillion1 how would you feel if your neighbour the otherside replaced your other fence with a horizontal one?

@Northernladdette but it'll make their garden look dreadful if their otherside matches the old one, which it likely does. Whether it's a better fence or not, it's not in keeping with their garden

@Northernladdette but it'll make their garden look dreadful if their otherside matches the old one, which it likely does. Whether it's a better fence or not, it's not in keeping with their garden

No im sorry im not having that . It will not make their garden look dreadful. i would bet that more the half the country has mix match fences as everyone has a side that they do the up keep on . Unless you live in new builds it's probably very likely that fence panels do vary .

It’s their fence - ie they own it, it is not just a random boundary marker. You need permission and you need to stick to the ‘like for like’ that you discussed - ie you should not have put concrete posts without their express permission, as these are a more permanent stricture and do not match what they already have, and you absolutely should have got a horizontal style that matched their existing fence panels along that boundary. What you’ve done is no different than spray painting their car a different colour and then saying that it looks better, so why are they complaining?

They are legally within their rights to insist you remove the fence and replace it. If I were you I’d get your fencer to replace the panels with matching panels and apologise for using concrete posts/baseboards and hope that they don’t push it by getting a legal enforcement order for you to redo it. (And difficult neighbours will.)

Apart from the panels being different I would also be annoyed at the concrete posts if I’d been told like for like. .

I think you need to replace everything as you originally agreed ‘like for like’

However
I wouldn’t have permitted someone to replace a fence I own on my boundary anyway,
As an aside I don’t think OP you can know whether your neighbours think the new panels in a now mismatched garden of panels is better, most people like things to match.

You’re being extremely blasé about unilaterally destroying someone’s property, replacing it with something of your choosing and then complaining they should be grateful they get the ugly side of whatever you’ve chosen!

You’re completely in the wrong here. By rights, you should take down whatever you’ve destroyed and replace it with exactly what was there before. Put your fence of your choosing in front of it, if you don’t like look of the back of theirs.

@BusyMummy001 I agree. It's their fence. It could look a million times better or could have saved them hundreds of pounds but they could tear it down next year if you piss them off because it's not your fence!

On your boundary you have the structural side. Which means you can maintain it easily.
So for vertical panels there will be horizontal supports, the support side is yours. On OPs image the new fence in the pic is the non structural side for example.

@pavillion1 Clearly that wasn't the case here or you'd have said their otherside didn't match before we took it down. When our neighbour put a new one in, we did the same the other side because it looked awful. Just because lots of other people have mismatched fences, they only do because of you. Sorry but that's the truth. I personally would be happy to follow suit and buy a new one the other side but if they can't or don't want to prioritise that out of their own budget then of course they will be annoyed.

Clearly that wasn't the case here or you'd have said their otherside didn't match

No again you're wrong their opposite side is a hedge with a mesh fence onto fields.

The fence that our builder has bought is actually in keeping with the panels that run along the back . They just dont like it .