Sharing costs of a 'joint' fence- always 50-50?

[Greengrowtherushesoh]

Some neighbours have presented us with the style of a new fence they'd like on what appears to be a shared boundary. The style they want has a right and wrong side- like knitting! They appear to want the right side as it fronts their driveway- which means we would have the wrong side in our front garden. Ideally I think the fence should be the same each side- but the bonus of their choice ( yet to be discussed) is it would last longer. But what about share of the cost? It doesn't feel right to me that we pay half if we have the grotty side.

You need to check your deeds. Just because the fence is the marker between your properties doesn't mean it's 50:50 in terms of cost or maintenance. The last house I lived in came with sole responsibility for the fence to the left and back of the garden but the one to the right was the neighbours.

Havant's situation is very common. We have the same on our street, and you can see the "good side" of every fence points to the household that paid for it. Check your deeds... Your neighbour may be trying to diddle you (although you haven't said they've asked for money, so maybe this is just giving you fair warning) OR they may be offering to pay a contribution they don't need to on the proviso that you upgrade to their benefit. If the former, tell them you won't be paying. If the latter, maybe it's a fair deal... In either case, I think they would end up with the good side of the fence.

That's not what I asked!
The deeds or rather land registry docs are inconclusive. The fences are not marked as belonging to anyone. Historically we replaced the back fencing and the previous neighbour replaced the front and we each bore the cost. New neighbours think because there is nothing clear in the deeds, then it must be shared- though we are not convinced this is a 'default' position. They have presented us with a quote and a 50-50 payment, for a style with no previous consultation - so the whole issue is now open to an under discussion.

When the fence between us and our good neighbours needed replacing, we decided to do a double fence - ie 2 back-to-back so we both had the "nice" side and we have got a good-looking strong fence that has lasted for years. It was probably our responsibility as in Havant's post, but as they were getting their garden done, they wanted to replace.

Is this a possibility? It wasn't double the cost IYSWIM, and has been very strong.

Thanks.
I don't think that style would work at all in this situation.
The main concern is, whose fence is it anyway as the Land Registry advice says that if there is no clear ownership, historical agreements can count, which is what we had with the previous owner. The downside of arguing for this is that we would not have any choice of design etc.

Offer to pay half but only if you have a fence that has two good sides.

We have just replaced our back garden fence and we "gave" the neighbours the good side because the concrete supports for the fence posts and the posts were on our land. Thus the fence is on the exact boundary.

If you're contemplating having a fence like ours then the posts will intrude into your land. This doesn't bother us because were are going to put up trellis and grow climbing plants up and along the fence.

If you don't like this idea explain to your neighbours that you aren't happy with paying half and having the ugly side and ask what else they suggest that would please both parties.

The fence would be supported by posts that are at the end of each panel. Thanks- lots to think about.

You asked "sharing costs of a joint fence-always 50-50?" Answer:no. Maybe you meant something else, but with the original information, I think my, and Havant's, answer was perfectly valid.