Fussy, unpleasant neighbours - we have painted our side of the dividing fence with wood preservative....

[PhoenixRising]

...but it turns out that the fence is 'theirs' (I'm not very up on the deeds etc) and they are peturbed that we have done this. They can't see the wood preservative on their side of 'their' fence as it borders our property and faces onto our garden.

Can they sue us or something? (they are that petty that they would consider it if they had legal grounds). What could they sue us for - wilfully maintaining their fence at our cost

@Sunflowergirl1 - contrary to popular belief, which side the posts are on doesn't make any difference. If the deeds say it is their fence, that would normally be the answer. However, it sounds like the previous owner of your property may have become responsible for maintenance when they put up the new fence, so you are right that it may not be clear cut who owns what. If the neighbours are happy to go 50/50 with you, I would go for that.

@prh47bridge
Many thanks for that. I think it is clear we own the fence and the posts are definitely on our land. Just that the slats are "trespassing" mid air above their pavement. I'm not sure whether we we have possessory tittle as I think the law changed early 2000?

In any event, last think I want is an argument about boundaries.

We have the same situation as you sunflower girl, but we are the other property.
Our neighbours put in a fence all the way round theirs, because the previous owner of our house didn't want to pay for a new fence. They put it on their side very slightly but since we moved in, the new neighbours asked us to repair it and mentioned it's our fence a few times.
I still believe it's their fence,i don't like it and would replace it in due course with something nicer if i thought it was ours, but it matches the rest of their fences, so it's a tricky situation. Also they lash it with lots of wood stain every year which comes through to our side.
We just generally smile and nod and do minor repairs, but honestly I'm not sure what we'll do when it collapses, maybe just build another slightly on our side!