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Gardening

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Original poster

I put lights on the fence posts on my side of the garden.... my neighbor has smashed them off

29 replies

Emz2019 · 30/08/2018 19:01

We don’t get along with the neighbor.... so the fence is 6ft high and the posts are on my side, we put some solar lights on the fence posts at the top, the neighbor would see maybe 5mm of the top of the light as the posts are quite a lot shorter than the fence boards. Anyways she’s leant over into my garden and smashed them all off. Is this criminal damage? Or is it ok for her to do that if this is her fence? Even though the lights are in my garden and not at all in hers

OP posts:
Bubblemagic11 · 30/08/2018 19:06

Technically you’re not allowed to attach anything to her fence , if it’s definitely theirs but she shouldn’t have smashed them off. That’s just rude and uncalled for! It is
Criminal damage though police might say it’s a civil matter. Keep a diary of incidents. You could have asked for permission to put them on but from you say I presume you’re not on speaking terms.

Why are the posts on your side and therefore on your land if it’s her fence??

RedPill · 30/08/2018 19:06

It is not right she has smashed them off. Can you put them back on but slightly lower so no light bleeds into her garden?

Original poster
Emz2019 · 30/08/2018 19:09

I can’t put them lower they sit on top of the fence posts. I doubt she would notice any light coming from them she’s in bed by 8pm and it’s still light outside. I have no idea why th posts are in my side of the garden it’s just where they got put when the man came to put the fence in

OP posts:
Maybugger · 30/08/2018 19:09

Surely it isn't her fence if the posts are on your land?

loveka · 30/08/2018 19:11

You are not allowed to attach anything to the fence if it is her fence.

The gov.uk website has the rules for fences.

BigBlueBubble · 30/08/2018 19:13

Who owns the fence? Who paid for it and what do your deeds say about who owns the boundary?

If it’s her fence then you’re not allowed to attach anything to it. But she should have removed the lights and put them in your garden. Not smashed them. Smashing them is criminal damage.

olderthanyouthink · 30/08/2018 19:24

Wtf? Who goes "the neighbours have put some lights on the fence, don't think I like them... I know I'll smash them off, that'll learn 'em"???? Why not just pop a snarky note thru the door or come and tell you to remove them? (Regardless of who owns the fence going straight to smashing is crazy)

Bluntness100 · 30/08/2018 19:27

Normally the posts face the person who doesn't own the fence and rhe nice side faces the owner. The fence should be on the boundary. Legally you cannot put anything on her fence.

If you're saying rhe fence is on your land and not the boundary that's a different argument, but if it's her fence you don't get to attach shit to it.

She's behaved unreasonably but she was within her rights.

tickingthebox · 30/08/2018 19:32

no @bluntness - the nice side faces the neighbour - the posts face the owner of the fence (normally)

WrongKindOfFace · 30/08/2018 19:33

Surely she’s not within her rights to actually smash them though? Remove them or ask you to remove them, yes. But not smash your property.

Bluntness100 · 30/08/2018 19:35

Ticking I don't think that's right, and logicllly as the owner why would you not want the nice side to face you?

MaisyPops · 30/08/2018 19:38

Bluntness100 because otherwise they're putting posts up in their neighbours land.
The fence panel usually goes right along the boundary so the posts go inside the garden of the person who owns the fence. At least that's how it's been in our houses.

Bluntness100 · 30/08/2018 19:42

Weird as mine have been the opposite. I just googled it and it seems there is no law, it's up to thr owner, many people put the nice side to thr neighbours as a gesture of good will. Many don't. It's the owners choice but clearly it needs to be positioned appropriately on the boundary.

dementedpixie · 30/08/2018 19:42

It's not the case where I am as I have 2 nice sides of the fence due to how they were put in (posts are on the neighbours side on the right and the left). We tend to share upkeep as the deeds don't specify who owns which one

MaisyPops · 30/08/2018 19:45

So it would seem everyone comes to the conclusion of what is 'Right' based on custom in their area.

Either way the neighbour sounds nuts.

Bluntness100 · 30/08/2018 19:47

I'd agree, there seems to be no one rule on which way the fence faces, but the neighbour sounds nuts, however as the op stated they don't get on, I suspect more to this,

Either way you can't attach stuff to her fence without permission.

yellownut · 30/08/2018 19:56

I would just not bother interfering with anything on the boundary if I were you. I’m sure there are plenty of other places in your garden you can put the lights. I accidentally cut my neighbours herbs the other day because she thought it was clever to attach some short of grow shelves right up to top the wall. I mistook them for the weeds growing out of wallBlush

TheOrigFV45 · 30/08/2018 20:00

Not the point but apparently solar lights are not good for nocturnal animals.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 30/08/2018 20:02

My understanding is that the person who is responsible for the fence gets the side with the posts, so they can access them easily, for the purposes of maintenance, so I’d assume that the fence posts in the OP belong to the OP, and they can put things on them if they want.

I think that, regardless of who ‘owns’ the fence, the neighbour was wrong to smash them off - they could have asked the OP to remove them first - instead of going straight to Defcon 1.

@Emz2019 - could you replace them with the solar lights on stakes, so they were on your own land - then she wouldn’t be able to see them, and shouldn’t have any objection to them.

Magnussen · 30/08/2018 20:16

Did you see her do it op?

Racecardriver · 30/08/2018 20:19

Are you sure it wasn't a cat?

spottybetty · 30/08/2018 20:20

I wouldn't like visible lights on top of my fence. But she should have come to speak to you about it. I'd buy solar lights you can push into the ground.

gamerchick · 30/08/2018 20:21

You could always erect your own fence that goes alongside hers. She can't do anything then.

NotTheWayISeeIt · 30/08/2018 22:14

I think you were daft to fix something to her fence without asking especially as you don't get on with her. I wonder if she thought you were doing it to deliberately piss her off.

She was totally out of order to smash the lights though. Take photos.

I'm not sure if it's something the police would deal with or not though.

EmmaJR1 · 31/08/2018 08:10

It was deliberate destruction of property not belonging to them - that's criminal damage.

The placing of the lights on a fence not belonging to you is if no interest to the police. Report her for cd. She's a loon!