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
?

Just seem a bit strange you went above and beyond to put temp fence up for there benefit
you could of just taken it down and there dogs there problem

has there been an incident ?

Unless I’ve missed something, it sounds like you left it up to your builder to come to an arrangement with your neighbours and he didn’t fully explain to them what it would entail. As the property owner and resident, you really should have spoke to them yourself to avoid any misunderstanding.

You’ve pushed a fence onto their property, sound like you’ve left it there indefinitely or without an explanation and you’re annoyed that they’ve chucked it back into your property? Bet they’ve had a nightmare with your building work if this is your attitude.

If someone shoved something on my garden they would def be getting it back and not in a friendly way

Why wasn’t the fence removed from their side once the extension had been built? Should have been removed there and then. Very inconsiderate. Whether work is still being done or not, you’re at fault here, not your neighbours. You’re moaning over a few damaged pots when they’ve had to put up with your entitlement.

This! You can't ever believe what a tradie says. You should have discussed/agreed it all with the neighbour yourself. You can't leave neighbour discussions/negotiations to your builder etc.

You've received a fair amount of conflicting advice about party wall agreement, the link provided earlier is the place to look and understand the act and what your responsibilities are. You did need one if I'm understanding your sketch properly you have built on the shared boundary and extended from your and your neighbours rear wall. If that's right you 100% needed one and should have appointed a party wall surveyor yourself and written to your neighbour who should also have had one.

The reason you need it is to firstly document your agreed conditions for the work to be carried out, to prevent dispute during work. Howrver you seem to have nearly navigated the work and not fallen out other than the fence, don't push it, you are in the wrong.

The next reason you needed it is to ensure you are covered that you have not caused any damage during construction to your neighbour. The party wall surveyor wpuld have carried out a condition report on the rear wall abutting your new extension to make sure that you both know if Amy damage occurred
Now you do not know the starting point so your neighbour could blame you for any damage now or in the future to their external wall.

As for indemnity insurance, you can to protect against future disputes and cover yourself for that, you as the person who carried out the work will remain responsible for future damage regardless of selling. But be careful, there is a right time to do that to ensure you were neglectful / ignorant of not following the right party wall procedure rather than just decided not to. You can not indemnify against an intended outcome.

It's not clever to not follow rules around extensions, did you not have an architect, who drew your plans? An architect would have advised you of all of your obligations.

This!!!

Absolutely this. You sound like my ex neighbours who thought they could cut down well established trees amd a lovely garden just so they could get more parking

I think it was very rude if you to act that way, simply
The fact that they might have said yes to your builder when he essentially informed them that they were to be inconvenienced for your convenience, said nothing about them being happy

Most people will resent the intrusion without flaring up.
But then you pushed it further with your builder invading their property with crap because, you know, your precious property needs to look immaculate through the whole process, and they need to suck it up.

I have neighbours just like you. They have a huge driveway, as in 6 cars capacity, and still they will use for any work a fence door which faces the narrow path to our detached garden
Days of having to literally jump over construction material to get to our garden... Another occasion, I kid you not, their builders mixed cement for a weekend on the footpath leading to the street, we needed to jump over their crap to get out. Everything left overnight for days.

The neighbour's justification when I complained was that be told them to remove stuff overnight but they did not.

If it was me, I would have talked to neighbours in person well in advance, I would have the builders do stuff in my driveway, and if they left stuff in the way, I would tell them off the next morning and remove it with my own hands.

I don't doubt that you, like my neighbours, imagine to be a respectful person.

And that is a mystery to me. Do not encroach on other people's right to enjoy their property. Properties in the UK are small enough as it is, without neighbours taking advantage.

I don’t think are being unreasonable. You left the fence up because of their dogs after a conversation with them. When the fence was moved (and kept presumably for their benefit) they acted like children and threw it into your property, damaging your pots. Even if the fence hadn’t been left up for their benefit, the adult thing to do would be to come round and ask you to move it if they didn’t like it where it was. Ridiculous behaviour.

Exactly this.

For all you know the dogs knocked it over accidentally. Or it was poorly balanced and blew down. You are just assuming they threw it into your stuff. I’d let it go either way since living next door to construction is a nightmare.

A varient of the 'dog ate my homework' excuse.

You should not have left the discussion between your builder and neighbour but taken on that role yourself.

it sounds like they’re pissed off and have had enough, and assumed you weren’t bothering to remove the fence yourself.

@Marchitectmummy gives some good advice.

I would find out what wine they like to drink and buy them a bottle. It will save you such a headache, the last thing you want is to get into a massive war, it will make life so miserable. Just say sorry, it doesn't really matter whose right/wrong do it for you, so you don't get into it with them.

Yes. But not worth a boundary dispute. These go on for years and are always acrimonious.

You need to get out of the mindset that your builder did anything to benefit them. He didn’t, and nor did you. The fence that was already there was serving its purpose so it is irrelevant that your builder replaced it with something sturdier because it was only necessary because of work you wanted done. There is no benefit to your neighbour anywhere.

You also need to stop thinking that you and your builder were doing nothing wrong because you would have moved all the rubbish at the end of the build. Why should your neighbour have to wait until the end? It should have been removed straight away. If the rubbish hadn’t been left on their property, there would have been no opportunity for them to return it and damage your stuff.

I’d urgently get some advice on Party Walls if I was you to see if you’ve unlawfully built this extension. You may find it very hard to sell your house in the future and your neighbour can sue you.

Why leave it to your builder to communicate with them?

Is it beneath you to talk to your neighbour?

The builder just wants to get on with work and isn't remotely concerned about the niceties between neighbours.

The correct thing to do would have been at the start to get your neighbours outside, with the builder there in order for him to say what he plans to do and for the neighbours to have their input on any kind of interference with their land or their boundary being compromised and for how long.

Yes. This!

Talk to the neighbours first and then you can tell your builder what has been agreed.

Never leave it to the builders as they have a tendency not to be honest, and to use "stealth" to get things done the way they want to.

Letting builders do the communicating is just asking for trouble.

Why would they sue? The fence was rubbish and would blow over constantly in its place now is a beautiful tumbled brick wall which matches the exterior boundary wall
if anything they now have more stability and more privacy. Their light isn’t cut out at the wall is only slightly higher. They were super happy because they had ear marked the space to put a little gazebo

They told me they were happy and they didn’t oppose our plans when they had an opportunity to do so

None as blind as those who refuse to see. There is history to this.

I think once the wall was high enough to secure the dogs in their garden your builder should have removed said fence and unneeded posts.
I was on your side until you said it had been there ‘a few weeks’…
I do think they should’ve called over though and just asked you to remove… how big is it if they were able to ‘throw it over?’

I wouldn’t wait till the work is finished to take flowers along unless this is going to be within the next couple days… I would take flowers along and say you’re grateful for their patience and it’s going to be another x days/weeks then all finished…. Keep them on side while the work is happening, especially as they’re clearly annoyed enough to throw fences over!