Asking neighbours not to grow plants on our fence

[crunchiest]

We recently had to replace the retaining wall and fence between our garden and the neighbours garden. The retaining wall was on our property, and so was the fence. We asked the neighbours to contribute to the cost of the fence, and they refused, citing “works” they were saving up for.
Legally it was a grey area, with better argument that we should pay for the whole thing, so we did it. It was very expensive, and the neighbours now have a super nice fence to look at instead of the disgusting crumbly one from before. It was done last October and I’ve now seen that the neighbours are now growing all kinds of plants on our fence (on their side) including leaning polls on there for their tomatoes. Aibu to ask them not to do that? The fence is wood and will obviously be damaged by this.

@crunchiest is not dictating that the neighbours have a bare empty fence. They can grow what they like as long as they don't attach anything to the fence. Fences are not cheap and OP has forkecd out hundreds of £'s if not more to install a new fence and retaining wall. It is her property and she has every right to protect it. Neighbour CF should be told to.remove anything they have attached and repair any holes etc. How would they have managed if the fence had not been replaced?

I think I'd be a bit possessive of a fence that cost me a lot of money. I'd have no problem with a flower bed with tall delphiniums and the like disguising it. I would have a problem if they nailed a structure to my brand-new fence. They can still grow their toms but up a tepee-type arrangement of bamboo sticks. They need telling now, firmly and politely, your fondness for your new purchase.

Many years ago I used my side of next doors fence to pin up a backdrop for some photography. A purely temporary arrangement. It was 3 mapping pins holding up a light cotton sheet. I'd already had "words" with this neighbour over another matter. She told me it was HER fence and I had no right to be "using " it. I said "well I will need to see some proof of that. Have you got the receipts? Knowing that she wouldn't as the fence was old and shabby. Of course she couldn't produce any receipts so I continued to use it several times more just to wind her up. Many years later she had the cheek to ask me to go halves with her for a new fence but that's another story of her cheek and entitlement.

you are lucky. your claiming of the fence by using it without permission could have indicated that you owned it unless there was proof elsewhere eg "T" markings on the deeds.

I can’t find the post I wanted to respond to, but it was the person who has BBQs with their neighbours and can’t understand why you wouldn’t want to be friends with them.

Well bully for you. One quick scroll through MN would show you that some people have utter arseholes for neighbours. Mine have mentally tortured me for years. I will dance on their graves and celebrate when the fuckers die.

OP - tell them to stop growing stuff up your fence.

Thousands not hundreds, unfortunately.

In the many different houses I’ve lived in I have never heard of this attitude tosaying the fence facing your garden thatis the responsibility of the neighbours is not to be touched by any plant material. We have always justgrown what we want and let our neighbours do the same. What a very unneighbourly attitude.

Usually just one

Sorryusually only one house is responsible but if you know for certain it is a shared responsibility OP that does seem unfair that you had to pay for a new wall on your own.

Tomatoes will be over by autumn and come out and do not usually cause any damage against a fence (we have several).

As I said, this isn’t what I’d do. I’d just talk to them and not push things (unless, I guess, this is part of a much, much bigger issue) because life is too short and neighbor disputes have the potential to make selling very difficult.

But if you want to go the legal route, whether that’s suing for damages (and nailing or screwing into the fence does count as damage, as does making it impossible for you to maintain your fence properly and the lower lifespan associated with a wooden fence that’s been screwed into and can’t be regularly protected) or asking for an injunction, you will be more successful if you can show that you have tried to resolve things before you go to court.

did you fasten trellis or plant supports to the fence you did not own?

Interesting, ours have been there for 5 years and done no damage at all and are well pruned. We also have a good relationship with neighbours (he is a landscape gardener) and we don't sweat the small stuff. Quite a few on here are catastrophising.

Try to focus on a positive OP - assuming it's a decent fence, you'll orobably be ok with a few tomatoes. If it's just annoying you a bit, maybe focuson something else as wecan sometimes lose perspective (we're all guilty of that i'm sure). Good luck.

Understand you point they wouldn’t contribute half but you’ll look extremely petty if you do

"well pruned"
My neighbours both had high hedging in their gardens which has actually rubbed holes into the top of their fences. In both cases the hedges had been planted and left to grow by previous owners and removed by the current owners, Holly in one case, laurel in the other. Fortunately in both cases, they own both the hedges and the fences so no clash but I could see that if the fence had belonged to one neighbour and the hedge to another, it could have caused problems. I do think that sometimes its a good idea to remind some neighbours that they just can't do what they like, especially if there have been previous issues.

My Dad has nightmare neighbours so much so he made fencing and put it on his land. The original fence posts are still in situ so you can see the new fencing is not directly on the boundary. Neighbours sometimes lean various things on his fencing so my Dad just pushes it off.

You could always take the fence panels out and paint their side a really horrible colour. As it’s your fence on your land they can’t repaint it

Just spray lots of weed killer along your fence. See what happens

They own the fence so no the neighbours cannot do things to their fence

There are many, many examples where this isn’t the case. I’ve had cause to look into the deeds to check ownership of one of our fences. The T markings in our and our neighbour’s plan attached to the original conveyance and our plan completely contradict each other. This is more common than you’d think.

THIS

As the fence is on your land (both sides of the fence?) then if they want to put plants up I think they should put a fence up on their side.

I want to say you are not being unfair but I can’t. Didn’t you get it made from treated wood so their plants won’t do any damage?

We have the sane problem with our neighbours who grow roses up against our interwoven fencing. The briars feed there way through the laths and force the bearing timbers away from the interwoven. I heave replaced this fence twice now and the last time I told the neighbour that, that was the last time. Allowing anything to grow through the interwoven laths weakens the panels and then get a breeze thrown in and guess what its flat on the ground. Has somebody has said earlier it is an offence and there are grounds for redress. I have told my neighbour in no uncertain terms if it happens again he will be hearing from our solicitor.

As long as they don’t damage it they can grow what they like on their side. If they said no to contributing I’m guessing they knew they didn’t have to and you were just trying it on. Yes, they can let a tomato plant lean on it 😱

Well aren't you an absolute dick.

Exactly my issue. I had an enclosed garden, one wall and fence faced council property. The wall I repointed my side, council side wild virulent ivy that was eating my wooden fence and coming over into my garden, I kept cutting the ivy down my side, but it kept growing into my garden. One day I go in the council property garden and hack down the ivy plant as much as I could. I then paid £300 of my own money to tradesmen to repoint the wall from the other side and get rid of the ivy I couldn’t remove. The ivy was eating the wall.

On the left and right side are my neighbours fences on the wall. They are different types of fences and colours.

I then paid for lovely composite fences on my side, so that when I look out of my windows and sit in my garden I see the same fences on all the walls.

I agree with asking your neighbours not to grow tomatoes as they are killing the fence you paid for, plus seeing a lovely new fence.