Fence question - will HA have to replace fence or will I?

[neuroticmumof3]

Sorry, I know fence questions are dull. I live in a HA property, my neighbour's property is also the same HA. They have recently moved out and the void team have been in doing repairs etc. We have a 4 ft fence, then there was a 6ft hedge kind of in a no man's land between our gardens. We trimmed our side, they massively neglected theirs (for about 5 yrs lol). Because it was so overgrown the workmen have ripped the entire hedge out which now means in my back garden there is only a 4 ft fence which my dog could easily jump over. Next door's garden is not enclosed so if the dog got in there she could potentially get onto the road.

Do you think I'll have to fork out for higher fence panels or should the HA do it? The rest of the road is HA and they all have 6 ft panels between the gardens, the workmen today told me the HA had installed them at some point.

Any opinions?

I think you should write to the HA and tell them you would have appreciated it if you had been consulted about the hedge since the removal has substantially changed the enclosure of your garden.

Tell them as your dog can now get over the fence this is bound to cause a problem for your new neighbours, especially if they have children - and that the existing fence will need to be replaced with 6' panels.

Obviously you'll have to keep your dog indoors until this is resolved.

Alternatively, you could get a dog run for your garden.

They told me that they used to provide higher fences but due to cutbacks they now only provide 4 ft chain link fencing. So it looks like I'll have to fork out for fencing which I really can't afford. My back garden is tiny so dog run wouldn't work I'm afraid. Every time I let her out for a wee I have to go with her atm!

Why don't you attach trelliss to the top of your fence? You could get an extra couple of feet that way.

As long as the existing posts will support the additional weight - otherwise you might end up forking out for a new fence anyway!

I spoke to my ex neighbours the other night and they told me that the hedge had originally been planted by a previous tenant in my property. Presumably that means it was 'my' hedge all along. Does this change things? If the HA took out the hedge without warning me or asking me to make it good on both sides then should they really be paying to replace the boundary at that height? It's going to cost me about £300 in total, which isn't huge I know but will be coming out of the OD as I just don't have that kind of money without saving for a few months.

It will depend on your tenancy agreement. Most HAs give you a book/folder that outlines what you and they can or should do to the property. If the hedge was damaging the property or a neighbouring property or it was costing them to maintain it they could argue that it needed removing. Each HA will have a different set of rules so I would recommend asking why they removed it and would it be possible to increase the boundry height.