Garden fence advice - can anyone help?

[katmarie]

I'm going round in circles a bit so I'm hoping you lovely people can point me in the right direction for getting some proper advice.

Bit of back story. My husband inherited our home from his parents, so all in all he's been here nearly 25 years, I've been here 5 years or so. Our next door neighbours bought their property about a year before I moved in with DH.

The previous owners of the next door property were quite happy to give permission for hanging basket hooks to be attached to what we believe are their fence posts. The deeds indicate it is their boundry to maintain, and we have no receipts or records of who put the original fence and posts in, so are assuming it is theirs anyway. DH's parents put up the hanging basket brackets, and they have been on the posts for at least 15 years from what I understand. Which means our current neighbours bought the house with these brackets in place and in use.

Here's my question - can the neighbour who lives there now dictate what I hang from those hanging basket brackets, given that they were put up before the neighbour bought the property? I currently have some bird feeders hanging there, because the kids love to watch the birds, as do I. Bird feeders are much lighter than hanging baskets, so the integrity of the fence isn't an issue here.

However the neighbour has asked (quite aggressively) that they be taken off his fence. For context he has recently replaced the fence panels as the old ones were falling apart, at his expense, and believes that having the bird feeders there is causing birds to sit on the fence and crap on it. He also believes that the bird seed dropping is attracting rats. We live on the edge of the countryside and I know rats can be attracted by bird seed, so I do accept that possiblity. However the bird feeders were hanging on the fence posts before he replaced the panels and he had no issue then. And he isn't asking us to remove the brackets, just the feeders themselves.

He's hassling us about taking down these bird feeders, and I want to be able to know exactly what my rights and responsibilities are before I go back to him one way or another. Ultimately I don't want to get into a huge dispute with him over bloody bird feeders, but equally I am uncomfortable about being dictated to in this way. I have searched and searched to find what I can on garden law, but all I can find seems to talk about putting new items up on a fence, not using previously installed hooks to hang things.

If there is anywhere I can go to get some proper advice, we have legal cover on our home insurance so I would happily pay. But, likewise, I don't want to waste a fortune on bird feeders.

Op try to employ some logic, of course he can decide what is and is not permitted to be hung from his property, the previous owners and what they permitted is irrelevant, you can’t possibly think because they allowed it all subsequent owners have lost all rights to their own property?

Just remove the feeders, you can attach them to a stand alone pole.

And if you’re being harassed to remove them it’s because you’ve not complied. Go and remove them this morning, you’ve no right to hang anything from his property unless he says so. And if he sells the house then the same applies to the next owner.

I would be exceptionally petty and move the bird feeders about 20cm to the left on a feeder pole and wait for the next problem.

Move them. Rats and mice are grim. Birdshit on new fencing is frustrating. You do not have to have them there.

I had to replace my fence at massive cost which I couldn't afford when it blew down in a storm last year. I told my neighbour that I didn't want plants growing up it on her side or anything hanging off it to reduce the chance of weakening it. One year on and she has sweet peas climbing all over it, hanging baskets hooked over the top of it. She had a washing airer hanging off it the other day and had the cheek to say it was okay because she was just drying her dozens of pairs of gardening gloves...

Ultimately, it's his fence, so I'd just move the bird feeders.

You can buy a soap dish with a suction cup and attach it to one of your windows. Bird feeders don't need to cost a lot.

I understand the neighbor isn't very nice, but he's in the right here.

The only correct response is "No problem, I'll move them."

Just hang them up somewhere else!

I understand your and your family's joy at watching the birds in your garden. I put out feeders (on my own fence) until neighbours on my other side told me they'd seen a huge rat appear from under my shed. Did I whine and insist on putting up feeders?? No. Feeders went. Less birds. But happy neighbours. And happy me.

To the people suggesting he is somehow upset because I've moved in and have changed things, only been there a year longer that me, he's got two kids of his own who get along pretty well with mine, and until very recently he had a collection of large bird feeders in his own garden, so if anything, it felt very much like we had similar values and were coexisting nicely.

In terms of searching for answers as I said in my op, all the info I found online was about whether I could or could not put something up on my neighbours fence, not whether they could dictate what I hung on hooks that were already there.

Anyway I have taken the feeders down in the short term, and I will get a post to hang them on in the long term. Hopefully that will be the end of it, until the next thing he wants to complain about.

Why not run a fence down the same side yourself, yes you'll lose a little garden space but then you can hang what you like.

You sound like hard work

@whatthejiggeries

You sound like hard work

Yep!

all the info I found online was about whether I could or could not put something up on my neighbours fence, not whether they could dictate what I hung on hooks that were already there.

Do you now understand that there is no right of occupation your feeders could possible acquire by being in place when the fence became his.

You are honestly lucky that he has not removed the hooks and thrown the feeders back into you garden.

Hope you can see that an apology is in order. Adjust your future behaviour and build better relationships with your neighbour. All the best.

OP am I being unreasonable? - posters YES!

OP Nahhhh

@Suzi888

OP am I being unreasonable? - posters YES!

OP Nahhhh

I think you missed this in your rush to trot out the classic line, and this is legal not AIBU.

Anyway I have taken the feeders down in the short term, and I will get a post to hang them on in the long term

@AdobeWankenobi no I saw it. 😆 I’m
only too aware of the legalities unfortunately!

No idea about the law but it's a reasonable request. Buy a freestanding bird table