Fence Question

[Charlingspont]

We live in a terraced house. The fence between us and next door has never been replaced as long as we have lived here, however it is the fence that 'belongs' to next door.

Next door is rented - long-term rented, elderly tenant.

We would like to replace fence for privacy. We are happy to pay for it but would like it to go in its previous position, which is obvious by the mark on the wall of next door.

We have contacted the agent who handles the property next door, and asked them to contact the landlord.

Despite chasing it, it has now been 2 months, and no response from landlord.

Should we write to agent and tell them that we will be going ahead with replacing said fence and if the landlord objects they should do so by a certain date?

It seems unfair of this absent landlord to ignore us when I think our offer to pay is reasonable and we would actually like to be able to sit out in our garden in privacy. We find we don't use our garden because of this.

If you tear down a fence you know belongs to your neighbour without their consent you're committing criminal damage, no matter how much notice you give. You need to either get permission or put your new fence up beside the existing fence.

There is no fence - it collapsed and was gone before we moved here, but we can see where it used to be....

We just want to put a fence back there so we have some privacy.

Why can't you just put up a fence on your side of the boundary?

As pp said you can’t just replace/reinstall it. You can put up a fence wholly on your side of the boundary though, and yes some of your land will be lost to the fence.

Afaik, some and I do mean only some, not all, councils do enforce a law which basically says they will fine the landowner if a fence was there but it is not maintained or reinstated. I think the fine is around £500 - £1000. Environmental health department might be the place to ask within your local council/county council if they do this.

Thank you all, I will investigate the local council, but in the end I think you're right, I will need to put it up on my garden instead which is disappointing because we have a drainpipe in the way (we're the white house, next door is yellow). You can see where the fence post used to be against their house.

Quite frankly! Just do it. The council is irrelevant. It’s a private matter.

I’ve had this issue with a house I owned and rented out. Neighbour was lazy tenant with absent landlord and fence fell down. No action for months and months despite trying and my tenants, rightly, were fed up with looking at an unkempt mess and no security. So I replaced the fence. Exactly where it was. What are they realistically going to do? The owner doesn’t care. They are getting a free fence. My Agent wrote to the LL via next door and we heard nothing. So what repercussions could there be? Taking legal action will cost them so they won’t do it. You are giving them a fence. You aren’t land grabbing and to keep Dc safe, you need a fence.

There is no requirement to have a fence and no fine for not having one, that is nonsense. The only time a fence is legally required is to contain livestock. Nobody owns a boundary🙄. If you want a fence then just put one up on the boundary. As long as you are not intruding into their garden it is fine. The T marks on a plan merely show who was responsible for the initial fencing.

IANAL but yes I would do this too. If they can't be bothered to reply to your letters they won't bother getting in touch when you do put the fence up. As long as the tenants are happy with what you're doing.