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How do you find out if you or ndn own a fence/wall between properties in garden?

18 replies

TomHardysMySpacePhotos · 13/03/2019 18:20

It's not clear in the property deeds for our house. Ndn are flats we are house and own whole property. Worried this is going to be a ball ache to resolve Confused

OP posts:
PinkBuffalo · 13/03/2019 18:23

With mine as I look towards the house from the road, I am responsible for Ming in the left of the property front & back.
Fence behind me came down int eh strong wind, but that belongs to the people living behind me and is their left fence iyswim.
Not sure if this helps you!

PinkOboe · 13/03/2019 18:25

Look at your deeds. One side will have little T shapes along it. That donotes your side (the boundary along the top bit of the T)

TomHardysMySpacePhotos · 13/03/2019 18:26

Thanks for your reply. That's what my mum said, that generally you own the fence/wall on the left but DH disagrees. Says it's a 'party wall' whatever the heck that means (am sure it's not as exciting as it sounds). But I don't understand why it doesn't show on the deeds?

OP posts:
1tisILeClerc · 13/03/2019 18:27

It should be on Land registry deeds I think, you can access them for about a fiver IIRC.
Other than that it may be solicitors time.

PinkBuffalo · 13/03/2019 18:28

I'm glad your mum agrees, as I'm always a little bit unsure when things happen. Feel bad for my neighbours who need to replace the whole damn fence which came down!

NotGenerationAlpha · 13/03/2019 18:31

I don’t know about the right side and back rule. But our deeds have T marks on it and our solicitor told us which one are ours. Just happened that we do own the right and back fence. In our old house we own all three sides because we don’t have a neighbour on the left side. So maybe there is some truth in that?

PinkOboe · 13/03/2019 18:31

Whoops I had my Ts the wrong way round.

Do you have marks like this?

How do you find out if you or ndn own a fence/wall between properties in garden?
NotGenerationAlpha · 13/03/2019 18:32

Sorry I mean own I the left side!

kizkiz · 13/03/2019 18:54

It's also not that simple.
Which boundary you have responsibility for maintaining is not the same as who owns the fence.
You can put a fence up an inch your side of a boundary that next door maintain. It's still your fence and they cannot touch it

TomHardysMySpacePhotos · 13/03/2019 19:42

Thanks for your replies. We've moved in to a new house and part of the fence between our drive and next door is really rickety and in the wind part of it has come down. Part of it is loose and blowing around and the car is parked with the drivers side next to it and it's the side I get the baby in and out of. So every time I get in the car with baby I have to deal with a half-collapsed fence flapping around potentially injuring me or baby. Next door are doing nothing about it. We want to just get it replaced but do we try to get them to pay half? Or do we just get on with replacing it? It really is not fit for purpose as it is. I've been through all the deeds dating back to 1870 and there's nothing to indicate who is responsible for what boundary. So I'm very confused and annoyed!

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dementedpixie · 13/03/2019 19:47

Our deeds don't specify so we're just share with our neighbours on each side. When our right hand fence came down we shared the cost of fixing with the neighbour on that side

tenapenny2018 · 13/03/2019 20:02

If it is not marked/stated on the deed, it is supposed to be shared; but many people falsely believe that it is only left/right hand side.

In the end, it is whether you want to take your neighbour to the small claim court. My neightbour refused to share the cost despite the deed stating it is shared, and we couldn't be bothered with taking them to the court over £250.

Breakfastattiffanys2014 · 13/03/2019 20:05

If there is no T then it is generally classed as a joint boundary and the responsibility is shared with the neighbour. As some have said, even when there is a T this isn't clear cut, especially with older properties where responsibility of boundaries can change over time without the deeds being updated I.e with people putting up their own fences. If you still have it, dig out the property information form from when you purchased the property and the seller at the time would have put what they believed were the boundaries. Failing this, even though it is a pain in the bum, if your not sure who owns the fence, you will need to speak to ndn. TBH in any event it would be wise to speak to the ndn to make sure their opinion with regard to ownership is the same as yours before undertaking any work to avoid any disputes.

TomHardysMySpacePhotos · 13/03/2019 20:31

Thanks for the further replies. Seems like the responsibility must be shared with ndn as nothing is on the deeds. The issue is next door is split into 3 flats so we have no idea who we need to speak to! One of the ndn is reasonable but not sure about the others as they're renting but we don't know who the landlords are so I've got no idea how to go about resolving this. At this point I just want it fixed and happy to risk paying for all of it if they won't pay up. Just sick of fighting with the fence every time I put the baby in the car!

OP posts:
Kleptronic · 13/03/2019 20:37

If it's new flats they are possibly leasehold not freehold, i.e someone else will own the ground the flats stand on, so the freeholders are responsible for fences. If they are responsible, or jointly responsible, by the deeds.

tenapenny2018 · 13/03/2019 21:12

TomHardysMySpacePhotos

Yea, we tried to reason with our neighbour for over 6 months. In the end they were saying that there is no legal requirement there must be a fence, so if we are the ones who want it, then we should pay for it. We gave up.

MinnieMountain · 13/03/2019 22:06

Ask the reasonable neighbour for contact details of who they pay their service charge to. Then ask that person about paying.

You could check the Land Registry but the contact address on that might be out of date.

Spickle · 14/03/2019 23:17

If your title plan doesn't show "T" marks and neither do any old conveyancing documents indicate who owns the fence, then Land Registry will state that the boundary is shared. It is then entirely up to you how you approach the neighbour (freeholder) in order to share the costs of replacement/maintenance. They are under no obligation however to agree to share the costs. Ultimately it will depend on how willing your neighbours to share costs or not.

Legally there doesn't have to be a fence at all. You could take it down and not replace it, providing you do not have animals that could roam onto neighbouring land as it is your responsibility to keep your pets under control on your own land (same as your neighbour).

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