They’ve attached a GIANT fence… to MY fence !!

[Finetoday]

Exactly that !

Neighbour behind has a 6 foot old wooden fence.
I have a 6 foot fairly new 6 foot fence of the concrete posts and board variety.
There is a 2 foot ‘No man’s land’ in between that the builders of my house/estate left when they erected this perimeter fence (we are on edge of development).

Came home today to find neighbours erecting a fence with 12 foot posts and 10 foot panels ! It’s flipping huge !

On Inspection, I can see he’s attached said monstrosity to my nice fence by drilling holes in my concrete posts, and attaching wooden battens which form a framework with metal brackets that bridge the 2 foot gap !

I asked him to take it off my nice fence - he turned his drill on and turned his back to me and carried on. It’s now fully installed.

I’ll try and upload photos for you all to appreciate his workmanship.

AIBU to contact Council ?
AIBU to saw the metal brackets half way ?

Did you contact the council? Realise it may be a while before they reply!

So you'd be happy that the CF damaged your fence by attaching his hideous fence to the concrete posts? Even if the fence itself isn't illegal he has damaged OP's property.

Well, first I'd be concerned that he actually needed planning permission for that fence, and effwit just decided rules don't apply to him! You'd have received a letter through the post if he had, so I'd definitely check that out.

OP any update?

@doodleZ1 yes he’s installed fairly lights attached to said monstrosity 😩 I’ve reported to Council and have had comms with legal rep but everything is soooo slow. I’ve have to come out for the night to save me snipping through their lights after a drink 💆🏼‍♀️

Sorry the fairy lights made me laugh, the daintiness juxtaposed with the massive massive fence.

I really hope it isn’t as someone else said and he’s planning on putting in a hot tub. People can be so selfish. I hope you get a resolution soon, OP.

Thanks for the update OP. A lot of us are very invested in this and wishing you well. 😘🤗

Oh, if only you could have snipped through the fairy lights OP, I'd have loved to see his face!😂

Op, you don’t have to just work through council. Absolutely keep following up on the planning, but hes also damaged your fence, your property. Get a lawyer and ask your options there.

😂

The other fence post (heh) reminded me of this one. What happened in the end @Finetoday?

What other fence post?

It got deleted as was a banned poster. Some weirdo who had a story about a fence being installed wrong. She / Her had caused the problem by 'teating' the fence posts were solid before concrete had cured
Was amusing

I wonder if your buildings insurance has legal cover and you could ask them to handle the issues for you.

Ahh I missed the other post darn it !

Fence is still in situ and has additional crappy plastic flowers on it and fairy lights 😭

I have pursued it via the council with multiple (and I mean loads!) of emails - they finally went to site in November but couldn’t get an answer so have still not actually assessed it from their side. They’ve written to them but no response.
They said it’s higher ground that side, which I agree it is, but only 1 foot at most, nowhere near enough to justify the 13 foot fence. Plus they’ve added decking which is discarded for this purpose.

I reported the criminal damage to the police which they initially took seriously - they went round there and he agreed to take it off my fence - he didn’t - now they can’t get a response from him so here we are !

I would pay cold hard cash for someone to come and cut through the attachments now. Its crazy that private property can be treated like this with essentially zero come back 😭

I remember this post it’s been a good while now! House insurance legal cover? Citizens advice? I would certainly follow it up again with the police though. Going above local level as well. Same with the Council, bullet point all your contacts with them with dates shown in a long list and say you are no further forward and what are they going to do about it. Send it to your named Councillor and the paid head of the local authority. They will delegate it to someone. Your councillor will have regular surgeries. Visit them. Be a pain in the bum. My experience is if a councillor contacts the police on your behalf they tend to act to get them off their back and it does go higher up the chain. I assume someone lives there as it’s odd that neither the police nor the council can talk to them?

If you are willing to pay cash for someone to cut the connection between the fences I would first see a lawyer and see exactly what you can do. Do you have any form of legal cover with your employer or trade union?

Apologies if you’ve done all this. It would infuriate me. I know there are a few garden websites where people discuss rights. That may be of help.

The police need to do more though as they have said it’s criminal damage. Not being at home doesn’t mean that’s the end of it.

How would you feel about getting a fencer to remove it all? Making sure you take loads of pictures before and after, then taking the moron to the small claims court to pay your bill and costs? Get a few quotes to show you have proof of average cost. If the house owner sees you doing it, he will know he has to do something or else it’s out of his control.

Just a thought OP, have you looked at the planning application documents for whichever houses were built last and what they state about the strip of land that was between the two original fences? Can you find out who owns that land? It's clearly a land grab/attempt at adverse possession by the stalag fence building neighbour to make his garden bigger. For environmental reasons these days things like "wildlife corridors" are left between developments. You might find that the environmental aspect or potential value of the land he has nicked are more of a driver for the council or landowner to do something.

Have you contacted your local councillor or MP? The guy has potentially committed a number of criminal offences, not just criminal damage to your fence, and some acts of civil infringement.

Sorry to hear your update op. Very annoying. We overlook and eyesore at the back of us. If I could have a superpower it would be lasers coming from my eyes to get rid of annoying stuff.

I wondered this...

You need planning permission for anything over 6 feet

It’s wayyyy over 6 foot.
Clearly people can do as they like and when it actually comes to it no one really cares !

@Needtosoundoffandbreathe Great advice and you’re right about the MP thing - I did this a few years ago over a police issue - things definitely progressed !
The police were so stroppy with me but ai didn’t care by that point !