Neighbours have thrown my fence into my garden and caused damage

[RedLollyYellowLolly0]

Obviously I’m not happy.
we’ve been having work done and converted the garage- extending it at single storey- this bit will now be what replaces the fence that was there (which they have thrown over damaging some pots which are on the other side)

the wooden fence that was the boundry was pushed back onto their property so my my builder could make the wall

AIBU to ask them to reimburse me for the damaged pots? From my POV the only thing I can see is that maybe they were unhappy about the surplus to requirements fence being there for a couple of weeks
?

Why would you do all that and then sell?

And because lack of a pwa could cause problems

You do not need a Party Wall Agreement as there is no party wall. However, if a wall is now replacing a fence but the wall is completely within (not on) your boundary you should notify your neighbours with a New Line of Junction Notice.

@RedLollyYellowLolly0 don’t let it drag on. Pop over and clear the air. I don’t think you are at fault (because the fence move was with their agreement although to facilitate your building and keep their pets safe). Just say it won’t be long and ask if there’s any reason they threw it over because you thought it was going to stay until work complete when you’d have removed it. You could then say it broke some pots … but I’d be taking a judgement call based on how the chat went initially.

It's tricky and not as straightforward as PPs have suggested.

"...the garage- extending it at single storey- this bit will now be what replaces the fence that was there"

No one here can advise you about party wall issues without knowing exactly where the outer wall of the garage is with respect to the boundary.

If the garage is entirely on your boundary (and does not share a wall with your neighbour's garage etc) and you are extending it entirely on your own property then the Party Wall Act does not come into it. In this case you can build what you like on your own property subject to planning and/or permitted development etc

In contrast, if your garage is linked to your neighbours garage and they share a wall then that wall is a party wall. If you then extend the garage backwards from that party wall along the line of the boundary then the Party Wall Act does come into effect

I always opt to escalate the dispute if neighbours are arseholes as then i have the satisfaction of luxuriating in my righteous indignation whilst also enjoying the peace of no contact.

this is going to depend on whether the OP was actually the arsehole though. In our case it was definitely the neighbour 🤣

I’d do it now. They are clearly unhappy and best not to let it fester

But later on you describe it as “their crappy rickety fence which was wobbly”

so is it your fence or theirs?

At 11.25 you say that it is your wall and your boundary.

AT 11.55 you say 'their crappy rickety fence'. And you say that their fence was pushed out ... which benefitted them. You also mention that the fence was moved 2 feet into their garden.

So whose fence is it? Is it actually your 'crappy rickety fence' that you've decided to shove into their garden? And how is you taking 2 feet of their garden benefitting them?

Obviously you need to make arrangements to keep their dogs in their garden while you remove the boundary for your convenience, but you should have discussed and agreed a solution beforehand. Instead it seems you have decided to grab the amount of their land that suits you, allow your builder to enter and work in their land and leave them with your 'rickety crap' on their land while you have your work done.

And then you complain when they push back!

This is not strictly true either. The PWA applies to more than 'just' party walls. It depends how far from the neighbouring building you are building, depth of foundations (new and neighbours existing) etc. Works do not need to be attached to teh neighbouring property to require a PWA agreement.

Honestly just talk to your neighbour and apologise for any inconvenience you have caused as it sounds like you and your builders have not handled this very well.

Sorry for the bad sketch

So it IS right up to the boundary?

Why are you having big building work if you're selling anyway? Just curious not particularly relevant to the post

Damaged pots? You're going to try and bill them for £20?

Some this isn’t adding up here at all.

So it looks like your builder erected a temporary fence while he was building that boundary wall attached the garage extension. Now the wall is complete your neighbour chucked that temporary fence into your garden as they were done with it. In the process they damaged your plants.

Well what sort of relationship did you have with the neighbours before this? I wouldn’t consider that behaviour usual or reasonable as I have young kids that could have been hurt by a fence being tossed over.

If the garage is entirely on your boundary (and does not share a wall with your neighbour's garage etc) and you are extending it entirely on your own property then the Party Wall Act does not come into it
Any building work within 3 metres of next door's boundary requires a party wall agreement.

Is this real ? You pushed the fence onto their property and left it there for two weeks and were surprised when they threw it back ?

or....you could read the thread properly. The neighbours had agreed to and were happy with the fence being built on their property to keep the dogs safe.
So yes she was surprised

This is not true. Any building work within three meters of a neighbouring struture (and therefore foundations) does, not a general boundary line.

You've no right to put anything on their property for any time period. Minutes or months. They will put it back rightly where it belongs, on your land.
I think you're the unreasonable one here!
The work would have been disruptive to them anyway, without you dumping fences in their garden.

"Any building work within 3 metres of next door's boundary requires a party wall agreement."

This isn't correct. The 3 metre thing comes into play if you are digging foundations within 3m of an adjoining property (not the boundary, unless the boundary is a party wall) AND your foundations will be deeper than the foundations of the adjoining property.

I voted you are not being unreasonable because you had their agreement on the temporary fence and all they simply had to do was ask you to remove it if they felt their dogs were now safe.
Having said that, if that wall is garage height all the way to the bottom of their garden as your drawing suggests I suspect that they underestimated the intrusion of your extension on their outlook and are understandably very p**sed off.

Don’t react, don’t ask for compensation, thank your lucky stars that they allowed your builder access onto their land to build your extension and do everything you can to keep them onside.

It’s my understanding that they were under no obligation to allow access for an extension, any more than they are to allow access for any repairs to the extension.

You need a good relationship to keep their goodwill. Oh and make sure your builder doesn’t allow any part of the extension such as roof or guttering to overhang their airspace.

So, you built a garage-height wall all along that boundary, and in the process had a two week period of having a fence reducing your neighbours' garden... Yeah, I can understand why they'd be keen to give you the fence bits back. You've caused them inconvenience and depending on garden orientation a wall like the one you've built could adversely affect their options for enjoying their garden or who would be willing to buy their house (that wall could block out a load of light and impact upon gardening options). Rather than billing them for some pots that were damaged accidentally in the process of your neighbours returning your items which had been (inappropriately) left on their land, you should be taking them something to say thank you and apologise for the inconvenience you've caused.

You're not happy??? How do you think they feel?

Apologies if the following questions have been asked and answered since the OP put their opening message up.

It's not their job as your neighbour to accommodate your fence while you have building work done. Why didn't your builder remove the fence if he needed to build? Did you approach the neighbour prior to the build to let them know that you were getting work done?