Neighbours have put cat spikes along fence - what are my rights?

[Sherridale71]

My next door neighbours, two spinster sisters, have put sharp plastic spikes intermittently along the fence surrounding their back garden. The spikes are in strips of about 5cm long and they’ve placed them on either side of the concrete posts holding the fence up with big gaps in between. The fence separating our gardens is about 4m high.
I’m so angry about this that I haven’t been able to approach them to find out why they’ve done it although I’m pretty sure it’s to deter cats from going into their garden (I’ve read that they can also be a pigeon deterrent). We have two beautiful cats so I’m disgusted about this and worried that they’re going to injure themselves. We live in a neighbourhood that has many cats roaming around so they’re a danger to them as well.
My neighbours have made comments in the past about cats “crapping in the garden” and also told me last year that if they saw my new kitten in their garden they would “boot it”.
I’ve phoned citizens’ advice but they said I’d need to contact my landlady to determine who owns the border of the garden and said I’d need to speak to a solicitor as they can’t give legal advice...the internet is coming up with all sorts of confusing information.
Does anyone know what my rights are before I go and speak to them about it? My 5 year old son could easily hurt himself on them.
TIA

• team spinster

And last time I looked I didn't have homeless people sitting on my fence and crapping in my garden
I might have to consider some homeless skies if they do turn up though

Op is complaining about an ndn who threatened to boot a kitten but she’s the worst one?

Op your mistake was to post in Aibu. You should have posted in the litter tray and discussed with cat lovers

OP I am more than worried about you. Please chill out and pet your cat. Chill OK

OK

Cats have a legal right to roam in the UK as I understand it and it’s also fair enough for people to use ways that don’t hurt cats to try to deter them from making a mess in their gardens. If the spikes are safe for your dc and cats and it’s their fence I wouldn’t be concerned.

@Onceuponatimethen this post is actually in Legal matters, not AIBU

Ah my mistake - shows how the aibu style has penetrated the forum

Ha ha ha.

And how stupid are you for digging cat crap into your garden. I am worried for your son.

I understand calmly telling people stuff is ok but not the nasty comments about cats roaming when cats have the legal right to do so.

Never knew about these spikes, they sound great, thanks OP! 👍 (my name is completely unrelated by the way)

Oh dear OP

Cats have legal rights?

They were the subject of special legislation I think - will look up and post

I think OP is referring to these Lovely/Not lovely spikes

who are these entitled fuckers who think their cats have a right to roam over everyone else's garden? Fuck that.

Cats do have a right to roam.

I would think it's unlikely your cat (or child) will be injured by the spikes, but if they are then your neighbours can be deemed liable.

Personally I prefer the rollers to the spikes. I've thought about getting some around our garden to keep our cat away from the road but due to being a corner house we are bordered by several gardens on one side (all of whom own cats) so I'd need a lot of permission.

As someone who has to check their garden for cat shit daily before my two young children can play in it, I find it really hard to be sympathetic to this I'm afraid. I think your neighbours have absolutely the right idea, and assuming they own the fence, I doubt there's a thing you can do about it.

The lady down our street with the most cats roaming into everyones gardens shouted at me when our dog did a wee up her fence..... Oh the irony....

Yes I'll stop him weeing on your fence... Now do you want to arrange a time each week to clear your cat mess out of my garden?

My garden seems to be a cat territory boarder so a fair bit of it is above ground and therefore ends up smeared all over the damn dog 😡 (and no just because it's above ground does not make it fox poo)

If your neighbours have put spikes around all the fences in their garden, the chances are that at least 2 of those would be 'owned' by neighbours. It's worth checking your deeds/with your LL.

This site has some info:

www.inbrief.co.uk/animal-law/cats-fouling/

No kind of an expert on this but seems cats were made exempt from the law on animal trespass (1971) so they are deemed to have right to roam

I wouldn’t be very happy if my ndn put sharp spikes - don’t think op has said what they are made of - into a 4 ft fence my dc could come into contact with

I would consider checking with the solicitor who did your house purchase op if you own

Wayward isn’t the difference that legally you are responsible for your dog’s wee but her cats have a legal right to roam?

OP serious answer. Check who owns the fence. If it's yours you can take them down, if it's theirs there's nothing that you can do about it.

I hate cats. My ndn used to have 6 and they would use our garden as a toilet. Luckily they've not been replaced over the years and we're down to one elderly cat now that knows better than to stop on its way through our garden.

These spikes sound just the job though, if you find out where they got them from please let me know. X

Wow thanks for the tips OP, these sound great as we have a problem not just with cats shitting in our garden and killing the birds, but also a problem with bratty kids hanging off our fence!

We're a young-ish married couple with a toddler though, are we allowed to use these or are they exclusively for spinsters?

Why don't you just contact your landlady as Citizen's Advice advised, then you would know who owns the fence.