How do I check who owns a fence?

[fireandlight]

I've checked all the paperwork when we moved to our house a year ago but no mention of it. Do I check with the council?

We live in an end of terrace and know that we own the fence to the left of our garden. There is also a passageway running to the side of our garden and round the back which allows side access to us and our two mid terrace neighbours. There are three more in the terrace which share a passageway the other side of the terrace.

However, to the left of this passageway there is a block of three maisonettes and they have a fence which divides their garden and driveway from this passageway. A couple of weeks ago one of these fence panels got damaged in the wind. I noticed but didn't get around to doing/saying anything. Today the landlady of one of these maisonettes came around and spoke to me very aggressively about replacing these fence panels, saying she had proof (but refusing to show me) that we were responsible for its upkeep and she was having new tenants. I would normally just replace it but as she was so rude I wanted to check it actually was our responsibility but not sure how to do this.

Do you have any maps/drawings with your house deeds? I thought a T sign on the boundary line means you were responsible for that fence- if the T shape projects into your land on the pic.

Sometimes it's on the land registry, but not always. Sometimes you can tell if it's on your land or attached to your house.

It's more likely to be yours if you have the 'bad side' with the posts but that's not foolproof either.

www.boundary-problems.co.uk/boundary-problems/fences.html#Obligation%20to%20fence%20one's%20land

Even if the boundary is yours you do not have to have a fence.

Even if it turns out to be your boundary there may not be a requirement to fence it off.

Can you put a picture on marking the layout as I can't quite envision where all the fences are

I've checked and the only drawing is from 1920 (our house was built in 1905) and the maisonettes were built in the 60s. No mention on the land register. On the original deeds it does say that upkeep of the passageway is the responsibility of us and our two mid terrace neighbours but no mention of a fence.

Here's a picture, sorry if it's not that clear!

Unless a fence is specifically mentioned, you don’t need to have one. It’s also perfectly legal and acceptable for a neighbour who is not responsible for the border to have their own fence/wall etc on their land.

If you are responsible for the boundary, then you can choose to put a fence in or not. If it’s just the boundary on your deeds (not fence) then take down the fence panel and leave a gap. If your neighbour has dogs or children it is their responsibility to keep them in your garden and not your responsibility to have a fence keeping them in.

@fireandlight that is her responsibility, its the fence between her rental and the passageway correct?

Yes that's correct

Is the squiggly bit the fence in question?
I dont see why you'd be responsible for it as its not part of your property

If your fences are all intact and surrounding your garden then in the absence of anything saying you are responsible for the other fence then I'd do nothing with it tbh

@fireandlight we had the exact same at our new build terrace except it was houses, it's definitely not your responsibility op!

Like this

Sorry the squiggly bit is me crossing out! There isn't a fence there. The fence in question separates landlady's garden from the passageway.

Not a great photo but the fence in the forefront is ours. Then there is a passageway and another fence separating the passageway from the garden of the maisonettes. That's the fence she says is also ours and claims it's in her deeds.

She needs to show you the deeds before you decide anything.

Without any proof I'd be doing nothing with the fence panel. Looks like there's lots of plants growing over the fence. They can't be helping

I asked her to and her response was - 'no you can look at your own deeds! Don't you have them?'

I think I'll ask my husband to speak to her as he's a lot calmer than me when spoken to so rudely.

Yes lots of bamboo in particular which has grown into our garden. Our house needed a lot of modernisation and we've only been here a year so still getting round to sorting everything but we were planning on asking her to sort out the overgrown bamboo.

Fences are not compulsory anyway. If she wants a fence there is down to her to provide one on her land.

Just say you do have the deeds and they do not show that you are responsible.

Just say your deeds show no fence. Just a boundary line. You are happy with no fence. If she want a fence she can erect one abs you won't object. Because you are nice like that!

How can it be your responsibility? It's not on your property at all is it? It's the other side of the passage.
I'm sure she's trying it on. Look through your conveyancing papers, I'm sure we were emailed a copy of the document showing the boundaries when we bought this house last year.

I'd call her bluff. 'Of course we have the deeds! Our solicitor has also checked the there is nothing on there about YOUR fence being OUR responsibility'. Please give me a copy of yours so we can have a good look'

I cannot see how you would be responsible given the drawing. UNLESS- her houses and deeds are also from 1905, and possibly back then, your boundary fence was indeed against her back garden and the passage way wasn't there??? That's all I could think of. Even so- surely it should be updated once the passage way was built and would no longer be your properties responsibility?

If this above fails, I would speak to the solicitor you used for to buy the house.

It looks like her garden fence.