Who owns the fence?

[Linnet]

two groundfloor flats, one bought one rented. There is a fence dividing the back gardens. The landlord of the rented flat maintains the fence on rented side, painting it etc. the owners next door have put up fence panels on their side.

if the rented flat occupents were to buy their flat would the fence be theirs? if they wanted to take it down and replace it with another fence could they do that?

or does it all depend on what title deeds would say?

thanks

It's all in the deeds. It would state whether it is a party wall or who owned it afaik

It does largely depend on what the title deeds say. They will generally deal with who owns which boundary. You could put anything you liked up on your side of the boundary - the rules only apply to the line up the middle.

It all depends on the title deeds - but if the landlord definitely owns the fence then of course ownership passes to the purchaser of the property.

There are widespread misconceptions about fences - for example if there is nothing specific in the deeds then there is no legal requirement to erect one (or in fact to mark a boundary in any way) except to contain livestock or dogs.

There is no legal right for you to enter your neighbour's property to maintain your fence - whereas you have the right to enter their grounds (giving 'reasonable' notice) to maintain your property.

There are planning regs re: fences - eg you cannot erect a fence above a certain height (I think 6') without planning permission. When the fence fronts a public highway it needs planning permission at a lower height - I think 1 metre.

Why are you asking?

I'm just asking out of sheer nosyness (sp?) really, my friends and I were discusing it the other day as it's a flat nearby to where we stay.

The landlord used to own both flats, he erected the fence. One flat was then bought but other flat still rented out. the landlord paints the fence on the renters side and if broken would fix it, but does nothing on owners side, obviously.

The owned flat is up for sale and as I said they've put up fence panels, attached to the original fence, just wondered what would happen to the fence if the renters bought. If they did and also put up fence panels would the original fence just be left in the middle? Or would the renters, once bought, be able to take down the fence and replace it with something else? Or would they not be able to since the owner next door has attached the fence panels to this exsisting fence?

I sometimes think my friends and I need to get out more, lol

'attached to the original fence' - that's one thing you can't do without the permission of the owner of the fence! Believe it or not if your neighbour owns the fence you are even supposed to ask their permission to grow plants up it! I don't suppose anyone ever does, though. I've got a climbing Hydrangea growing up the fence at the end of my garden and I screwed eyelets in and attached wires to train the plant along - all without consulting my neighbours as I didn't know I was supposed to! Luckily they're very nice and don't mind my rampant plant.

ooh that's interesting fortyplus. I think my noseyness has been curtailed for now, thanks

if its a council or housing association house then standing at the back door looking into your garden the wall on the right would be your wall.

according to my housing officer anyway

That's certainly true of every house I've owned, but not one that my mum and dad bought new in the 1960s.

Presumably the house at one end of the street would own both sides if you think about it!

I definitely need to get out more!

If you really want to know you can download the deeds online for a fee .