Neighbour won’t agree fence line

[LondonNQT]

We are in a typical London terrace - both houses have extended the kitchen, however, when they neighbours extension was done (by a previous owner) the didn’t build up the party line. Their extension is stepped ‘in’ roughly a metre from the party fence line.

The fence between us was removed when our builders did our kitchen extension, however, for various reasons we now have no evidence, or measurements, of where the first fence post should go. We need to resolve this in order to wrap up the party wall side of things and our builder will soon finish snagging, so needs agreeing now.

Neighbour suggested (option C, which isn’t drawn quite right) - the fence line should go from the very last post at the ends of our garden to the corner end of our extension.

Husband went back and suggested option A) - follow the existing fence posts, as these will not all have moved, and then run from the last original fence post closest to the house to the party wall line on the original buildings. While our extension starts from the party wall line it begins to deviate from the party fence line quite quickly, as we preferred a right angle on the extension. He also suggested option B - that we take the average line from the fence post at the end of our garden through to the party wall line on the original houses.

Party wall surveyors are refusing to suggest what line this should take and the fence is jointly owned but neighbour is refusing to engage. Husband has previously asked neighbour if they could meet outside to agree and mark up the line, which has been refused.

What are our options? And what is the general consensus on what is most fair here? Neighbourly relations are poor.

Option c seems to make most sense

If the whole fence needs replacing then I would just go C. Otherwise it'll end up in dispute further down the line. Presumably it makes very little difference to either of your gardens? The value of a happy neighbourly relationship is far higher than a few cm of garden either side of a fence.

C

It will look ridiculous to have fencing between the 2 extensions and make it harder for you to maintain that tiny strip.

And it's just really petty.

what is on the deeds?
how do other houses line up

I can sale why you would like option A, but C is the one that makes sense

but C looks the best option

You’ll need to go to land registry and find out where your party line officially goes. Look at the deeds et.

What's on your docs from the land registry? If they show a straight line then squiffy fence posts are just an error from the past.

Option c makes most sense. Why would you want a zig zag fence?

Option C unless that means a window from your extension looks directly into their land with no option to block the view. That makes it awkward and may require frosted glass or some other solution so you don't feel 'watched'.

If there isn't a window there, then Option C is the cleanest/simplest.

Neughbour won't agree? But you don't agree with them either, you're being just as obtuse?

Thanks @AnotherAppleThief for your helpful, insightful comment.

Neighbour has suggested one option and then refused any discussion at all subsequently despite at least five attempts on our part. So no, we’re not being as obtuse.

Am assuming neighbours want the wiggly line rather than the more understandable straight one?

Thanks @Nocutenamesleft - the deeds clearly show that we own an obtuse triangle section alongside our extension.

This option C would mean giving them land belonging to our property - it would mean they technically own 10cm of our building on which our extractor fan is located. We presume they’ve suggested option C as it would be the simplest for the fencing contractors. But as they won’t engage in discussion we can’t be sure!

@MichelleScarn no - they want a straight line. However, the line they’ve proposed does not end on the party wall and gives them a pieces of our garden without them losing any of theirs.

Also, my drawings are for indicative purposes only. The fence is more straight than that.

Your drawings make it look like the wiggleyness is the issue. If that's not then what is?

We had been in discussions about replacing the fence entirely, as it’s quite rotten but we’ve not heard back from them in two months on that so we’ve given up.

For now we need to replace the final panel between the extensions. Agree that camel is just likely to get in the way, however, they have insisted.

Two issues I guess. We were also discussing replacing the entire fence but they’ve gone quiet on that now.

The most pressing, current issue is that we can’t get them to agree what line the replacement fence panel should follow. We’ve suggested that this runs from the existing fence post closest to the houses to the party wall line. But they’re refusing to answer.

We think they want this to run from the existing fence post closest to the houses to the end of our extension. But can’t be sure.

Could you do a drawing without the wrigglyness as I'm confused as will the fence line be straight? Does the inevitable you want run parralel to the red one, just in a different place 10cm in?

I can't see any difference between the drawings for C and for A, so I don't really understand where you're disagreeing? I think you may have labelled A and B the wrong way round? But the red line on all the drawings seems to be the same between the houses?

How big is the gap between the houses and what do your deeds look like?

Is this even a discussion? How is option C viable?

You need to fence as per deeds or you'll both hit issues later on when you try to sell. To straighten a non straight boundary line would require a transfer of land process to keep it legit. I bet your neighbors don't want that agro after building disruption. Keep it simple and just replace the last panel.

Nobody says you have to put up panels. In option A the fence could go to where the extensions end, and a piece of string going from the fence panel to the wall!

I'd go with option B now just to annoy them!

I can't quite follow this OP. The fence should follow the boundary, as closely as you are able.

On your land registry title plan, is the boundary a straight line? If so, the fence should be reinstated as a straight line.

If it's not a straight line, you should try to follow the angles of the boundary line as closely as possible.

If there's an obvious deviation from the boundary eg the boundary is a straight line, but the fence is not straight, this could cause issues when you try to sell.