Nightmare neighbour and new fence panel!

[Northernlass1234]

Background: elderly lady 70s, lives alone, rarely goes out, has two adult sons, one nice, one not - we were previously friendly but had loft extension and neighbour got very upset about lots of things - that was two years ago and i thought things were de-frosting

anyway she texted saying she was repairing fence post but got home from work to find this - see pic.

anything i can do as she clearly did this to wind me up?

What precisely do you imagine would happen if OP paints the side of the fence in her garden?

Nothing.Nothing at all. Millions of people do it and nothing ever happens.

You could put some ivy and a couple of plants near it to draw the eye away and further along the fence, low round one near the fence panel (hydrangea maybe) and a tall thin one just past it (a Cyprus would look nice).

Yes, I realise you can buy treated panels that are that colour, but most posters are suggesting that's just the colour of all new panels. It's not. It's the colour of the preservative used on that particular one.

You could plant some bushes and something that might sustain wildlife, pollinators and in some way support nature, rather than an empty patch of barren garden. You do some good for the environment, you don't need to see a panel that is winding you up. Win win.

It doesn't belong to op. She can't attach anything to it, grow anything up it, or paint it any colour, without permission from the person it does belong to. That would be the person who paid for it.

This might be the letter of the law but God Alive.

All over this country people are growing plants up trellises on fences that shock belong to their neighbours!

watch out. Trellis police!

There's quite a few threads that pop up on here about neighbours painting their side of the fence, when they don't own it, and the absolute patchy mess of running and stained paint it leaves on the other side. I'd really advise against painting it if it's not your fence, as it's classed as damage to property and does cause issues.

There's quite a few threads that pop up on here about neighbours painting their side of the fence, when they don't own it, and the absolute patchy mess of running and stained paint it leaves on the other side. I'd really advise against painting it if it's not your fence, as it's classed as damage to property and does cause issues.

Clumsy painting aside.

Photo is too blurred. I mean, obviously I can see it's a different colour, but impossible to make out what you mean by it being a different design and if it really is just a case of it needing to weather or if it's totally off.

If you planted IVY at the base - that would crawl up without an illegal trellis.

Ultimately OP I think this is pretty basic job, done without a massive amount of thought, as millions do.

I don't think it's done to spite. After all your neighbour will be looking at the other side.

You can get freestanding trellis attached to a planter at the bottom.

It would also ruin the fence and make it look even worse. Before DH killed the ivy next door we bought a weed killer that you paint on the leaves so we did that regularly. It worked but too slowly unfortunately.

I agree it does stand out but there is no way I would replace all panels so they match cost a fortune
and another could go at any time what would u do then replace them all again
there between £35 and £50 each

the fact you think she’s done this to piss you off is beyond strange

who’s fence is it

You wanted her to buy pre-weathered panels???

The photo is ridiculously bad, but I can't see any glaring difference in design?
The entire fence would have been that colour originally, they're bog standard cheap panels.

Just to reiterate the law on fences bordering your garden but bought and paid for by your neighbours:

Legally, you cannot paint, grow anything up or attach anything to a fence that is not yours.

All those suggesting OP paints the fence and grows things up it could land her in hot water.

There are a few ways around it:

1. Ask neighbour if you can stain the fence and agree a colour.
2. Construct a freestanding trellis/support and grow plants up that instead.
3. Erect your own fence, entirely within your boundary that you can do as you please with.
4. Ignore it.

I recall a tale I read on a legal forum years ago from a guy who installed a fence at great expense and came home to find drips all down the fence from the neighbour who'd taken it upon themselves to paint what they deemed 'their side'.
He waited until neighbour was out and turned round every fence panel so neighbour now had the drips.
It did end well IIRC and neighbour apologised and painted the other side of the fence to match.

Fence wars indeed.

Have you ever read about a 'trellis' dispute out of interest?

Presumably it's her fence?

If you want a uniform fence (understandable) then erect another fence just inside your boundary so that you have total control over what happens to that fence and the colour etc.

Or ask her permission to paint the side of her fence that faces your garden.

and the nightmare neighbour is who ??? appears to be YOU !!.

Some people do not know how lucky they are with their neighbours.

@mum11970 - steady on, can’t be having rational reasoning when it comes to fencing! I mean, surely the neighbour should have predicted this a couple of years ago, bought a panel and left it in her garden to weather in time for installation 🤣

Apologies for the hijack, but how did he kill it, please?

My garden gets overgrown with sodding ivy in no time, and I swear that the more I pull out and dig up, the more the fucking stuff grows.

I'd love to kill it, but fear it would require spraybombing the entire neighbourhood with Agent Orange.

I'll double check but I believe he chopped it down (it was completely attached to the fence) and dug out as much as he could. Anything that couldn't be dug out he split the root and put weedkiller in the split.

Thank you.

I might give that a try on the biggest bits.

Fair play, Ivy can grow into a nightmare.

Got rid of loads last year by digging out the roots.