Gardener fixed the wrong side of the fence

[ZoobyZoobyZoo]

The gardener has replaced the fence on the right side of my garden looking out, which I think is not mine, but not the left, which I know is. He did it whilst I was away for the weekend. I'd given him clear instructions beforehand and I've paid him. He's not a cowboy, he's been used by many friends. But he fixed the wrong side.

In the meantime there's still the rotten fence on the left side of my garden. It's not as bad as the one that's been fixed which was like sponge, falling down and a strong wind would have blown it over.

I've spoken to him and he feels silly but of course he needs paying. He's suggested I talk to the owner and ask him to reimburse seeing as he is actually responsible. He's happy to confirm the state of the fence with him

The guy who owns next door is tighter than Ebenezer Scrooge however and he may just refuse. AIBU to ask?

On you I’m afraid, you should have been there and you cant make a neighbour pay for something you (inadvertently) arranged.

you can of course ask but if he’s never fixed it, it’s because he doesn’t care. And won’t care now.

He's a landlord, so he's not maintaining the property properly for the tenant.

It’s unfortunate … but you can’t expect the neighbour to pay. Perhaps ask gardener for discount on the other bit of fence?

If your instructions were explicit, and you clearly explained that you wanted the left fence sorted out, then it is his mistake so I don't really understand why you would pay for that. It's not rocket science between left and right and really he should have come over to see exactly what you wanted done. Presumably he didn't do this?

He did beforehand. That's not the question though really. I'm wanting to try to get the owner of next door to contribute.

No harm in asking the neighbour, you have nothing to lose. It sounds like he's unlikely to pay or contribute to the cost though, especially since you're asking after the work has been done and he hasn't had a say in the price or materials used.

All you can do is ask the owner. If they decline to contribute then that's that.

What a pain.

The gardener needs to eat this cost. Dh works in a trade. If he fixed the wrong bloody side of something that didn’t even belong to his client, he’d be fixing the correct one at no cost and possibly end up having to reimburse for damages depending on what was done. Left and right is not hard! If you actually told him the correct bit and he didn’t confirm with you before commencing work, that is on him. I would not be paying anything until the work is completed and only for the agreed original cost.

Why should they pay for you interfering with their property (albeit inadvertently)?

You won’t be able to. In fact he’s be within his rights to take legal action against you for your tampering with his fence/property, sadly.

I assume the fence panels the gardener removed have been disposed of, as the answer would be to reinstate the old fence as was and use the new fence panels on the correct side of the fence? Are your ’old’ panels of a similar condition to the ones he removed and could he simply swap them so that the fence looks as it was?

How much are we talking about? If the fence he fixed is in a worse state than the one you wanted him to fix, I would just swallow the extra cost. Seems preferable to having to look at a rotten, wobbly fence just because it isn’t your responsibility.

You can ask but it's not his responsibility, there is no law saying you must have a fence, the contractor made an error so he should write off the bill.

So if he came and looked at the job how on earth did he manage to fix the wrong side. That IS the question. But no, you can't ask the neighbours to contribute, that's not fair at all. I imagine if they wanted their fence sorted and could afford it, they would have done it.

If i was your neighbour i wouldn't pay you a penny you either talk to your Gardner or take the loss.

Because they're not maintaining the property in a fit state for their tenants. It would have fallen down very soon anyway. @Dozycuntlaters They absolutely can afford it. He's got several buy to let properties around here. He's a millionaire. A lazy one it seems! The gardener knew both sides were damaged and I did tell him which was which. Unfortunately I've paid him.

There is ambiguity in specifying which side to remove, is it the RHS looking towards the rear of the house from the garden or the RHS looking from the house into the garden for example ?

I don't know what the solution is re your neighbour, but I would tread very carefully as technically you have removed/damaged his property if the original fence belonged to him.

If I were your neighbour I would be thanking you, but I wouldn't be coming up with any contribution. Unless the fence was in a really bad state before in which case I might make some contribution to materials (I would fix a fence myself and not pay anyone else to do it).

Ah ok, understand. Bloody annoying but it is the gardeners mistake and it's a shame you paid him. All you can do is ask the neighbour, but if they say no I think you'll just have to suck it up and get the other side fixed when you can. At least one side looks good, even if it's not the side you wanted.

I'm unable to fix it myself for a range of reasons. It's the right side looking out of the back door. I'm in a mid terrace. The woman on the other side of my house recently moved in and showed me the deeds.

The owner will be laughing his head off at a pair of chumps!

I can't see them contributing - they don't even have to have a fence if they don't want one. I'd say thanks and move on if I were the neighbour. However, they may be annoyed that you've removed their property if they want to get arsey.

You shouldn't have paid. He has not done the work that he was asked to do!
You also should not ask the neighbour for money to cover someone else mistake. If you wanted him to share costs that should have been discussed before the fence went in.
Nothing to do with you if the landlord is not maintaining the property - it's not yours.

They'd have been more annoyed if the spongy fence had blown down and damaged their rotting shed!

Don’t think any of this is relevant !

Time to ask for a refund and if he refuses to to the small claims court. His mistake, he did not fulfill your contract, he gives you your money back.

He might not even know or care who owns it by the sounds of things.

Unless you have some sort of clear evidence that you gave the gardener the correct instructions I think you just have to suck it up.

Oh and be glad that you at least have a nice new fence to look at rather than a rotting one down one side that he wouldn't probably have replaced anyway.

If the gardener did a good job maybe you can persuade him to give you a hefty discount on the other side. You'd probably have more chance of this than getting money out of the landlord.

There is no way the landlord will pay. He sounds like a bit of a scumbag already but you may be able to convince him to cough up a bit if you tell him you will provide him with a tax invoice so he can offset the expense against taxes. If he refuses, I would gently steer this back onto the gardener and ask for a discount for your side. It is the gardener’s fault. It just depends on how much you need them to come back for other work.

IMHO it is also sort of pointless of only having one side of your garden looking nice while the other side is bordered with a rotting, tumbling down fence. At least it will look more even now and enhance the enjoyment of your property.