Neighbours fence issue

[Lavender14]

Hi all, my neighbours fence has broken in a storm about 4 months ago. It's hanging into my garden but hasn't fully come down yet.

I've spoken to the neighbour and they've said 'it'll be fixed' and I know they rent but they won't say when the work will be done or who their landlord is so I can chase it up.

I have a small child who now can't use their own garden in the nice weather because if it came down on top of them it could really hurt them.

My landlord obviously won't fix it since it's not his fence and I can't afford to fix a fence that's not mine either.

What do I do here?

I completely get this - obviously In a reasonable person but she has no way to know that so i do get why she may worry about me contacting the landlord. Outside of this she's a quiet neighbour who keeps to herself so I appreciate that. @Tortephant also makes a good point that they may own or it be a relatives home and are trying to fob me off, I hadn't even considered that being the case.

Not in my experience, I found out the name and address of the landlord who bought the house next door to me, turned out he lives in another city) his details are on the Land Registry because he is the owner of the property not the resident/tenant

The house to the left of mine has had no fence for almost 4 years, it is one of the many issues I have with it (unofficial very noisy HMO, lots of anti social behaviour, suspected drug dealing, yard full of rubbish) and as I live in a Selective Licensing area I contacted them. Four years later nothing has been done and Selective Licensing has told me that there is no legal obligation to have a fence so they have no powers to compel the landlord to erect one. They can't even seem to make him do any repairs and the place is in a real state. Good luck, I have given up trying to get anything done now

This is AI but it tallies with what I was told when I complained about the house next door to me not having a fence:

A property does not legally have to have a fence, wall, or any physical boundary. There is no general law requiring homeowners to install fencing unless a covenant in the property deeds specifically requires it or it is necessary for safety reasons, such as near railways or livestock.

Key considerations regarding fences:
Deeds are Key: Always check your property deeds to determine boundary responsibilities.
Maintenance: There is no legal obligation to repair a fence, even if it is in poor condition, unless it poses a safety hazard.

Maybe the fact that a lack of a fence is placing your child at risk might sway things, good luck

The letting agents might be right. Are you certain the fence is not your responsibility?

Your title deeds should indicate who is responsible for maintaining the fence (usually little T symbols along the boundary).

If it's just one fencepost that is wobbling you might be able to shore it up quite cheaply e.g. with a metal bracket that drives into the soil.

Get their landlords details and ask your landlord to contact them .
If its not fixed and you can't use the garden why should you pay full rent .

I think you need to push harder on your agent/landlord. The garden isn't safe to use and therefore you don't have use of it. They need to rectify this for you so that you have amenity use of the garden.

It wouldnt BUT if you have legal expenses insurance added on to a comprehensive policy it would. Thry a causing a nusiamce tp yout property.
they prob pay the land registry fee for you and chase theor landlord.
id slso write to letting sgency saying that due to the property being dangeous to a child you hold them fully responsible in event of an accident.

There’s some really bad advice on this thread. Letting dogs run into next doors’ garden: it’s the dog owners responsibility to keep dogs contained.
Also I don’t think there’s any rule that says you’ll have to have a fence so if the landlord doesn’t want to replace it, I’d buy some stakes and chicken wire and put something up to keep the children in.

Push the panels/posts back so they’re leaning into the neighbour’s garden.

Get a roll of cheap wire fencing - only needs to be 1m high - and 10 bamboo poles and erect your own fence 10 cm inside the border line.

I tried contacting the council to see if they'd be able to help under the remit of a dangerous/unstable structure but they've come back to say its not something they can help with as it doesn't fall under the building regulations act.

I went out and tried to push it back over to their side but it's very heavy and the post seems to have shifted in the ground so I couldn't get it to lean in that way.

If they see me pushing it could they argue I've damaged it further was something I was wondering? Could that come back on me in any way?

I know I probably sound really cheap not paying for things to shore it up etc or put another fence on my side but I'm a lone parent and I'm saving every penny to get ready to buy at the minute and I have already sunk more than I wanted to into this house as it was in a state when I moved in. So I just really begrudge paying any more when my landlord is rubbish at repairs and I've had to already cover things I shouldn't have had to pay for.

Will have another look into lps registry today.

This take down any dangerous bit and put some cheap green mesh over the holes. 15 minutes and a fiver would make the garden safe.

I looked into LPS but it seems to be costing £40 to get the information I need. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong or maybe it's due to the area I live in as I'm not mainland UK.

I've also emailed the landlord registration service for my area and used their public search tool and I could see the property is registered, but no name for the landlord. Hopefully they can advise.

I genuinely don't know how I would go about dismantling the fence at the risk of sounding really stupid. I have no tools to break it apart and it's all joined together but split in one part and the main post is no longer secured in the ground but is still attached to the rest of the fence so weighs a ton to try to even push. I also am worried about taking it apart and them then trying to claim the cost of the repair against me because I created further damage. I absolutely cannot afford to pay for something like that.

Don't dismantle it, it's not yours.

Have you got a BBQ that you could put in front of fence to prop up / block any bits.
Or something else ie a small movable shed, a garden sofa etc to fit the bit that is hanging over yours.

Hi OP, just posting in solidarity with you, sadly nothing to offer to help you. As I said in my previous comments I have been putting up with a fence (or lack of one) for almost four years and have tried the following all to no avail

1. contacted Public Health because the rubbish from the unfenced back yard was spreading to the communal alley, they did nothing
2. Wrote to the landlord 5 times, no response
3. Ongoing contact with Selective Licensing (a council department, big cities have them and their remit is to ensure that privately rented properities met health and safety standard). They have done nothing and say that there are no legal remedies that compel the property owner to install or maintain fencing
4. Things were so bad with my neighbours that the police were involved and this led to a Community Trigger meeting. The police, the council's Anti-social behaviour team and Selective Licensing drew up an action plan to address all the issues including the lack of fencing. That was over 5 months ago and to date and despite me chasing them not one single action has been started let alone completed.

Sorry to be so negative but I feel as if I have tried everything, I feel for you, it must be worse for you as you have a young child who can't play safely. Would you consider going to see your local councillor, that is what I am planning to do now but I don't hold out much hope.

No we're not that long moved in so I have literally only indoor items. I have nothing for the garden yet as I've been prioritising sorting the inside.

Checked public registry and the address is listed but not the name of the landlord and I emailed to ask and they've said due to gdpr they can only provide the details they have consent to share on public record. They signposted back to the council again who've already said they can't help.

It's definitely a possibility to speak to a local Councillor. If my estate agents come back to say they've hit a dead end I will try that. They've agreed to contact council and try to track down the landlord so maybe they'll have a different contact they can use. Here's hoping anyway. As long as it gets sorted for summer is the main thing. It was so frustrating to not be able to let my child play freely in their own garden over the nice weather we've had recently. I will be so annoyed if that's what our summer ends up like.

Are you sure they don’t own the property and are just saying they’re renting it so they don’t have to fix it?
I wonder if you can seek legal advice.. you get half an hour I think free.. it might be possible that you can tell your letting agent that you will pay for the fence to be fixed, and deduct it from next months rent, telling them that as the letting agent / landlord they can sue whoever owns the house next door for the cost!

I checked the landlord registry and the property is listed so there's definitely a landlord it just doesn't say who. I'm guessing it's similar to ex directory where you'll only be listed by name if you give permission for that.

I don't think I can hold back on my rent without jeopardising my own tenancy as I'd be in breach of my own contract then.

This. They can issue a notice to the landlord to fix within a certain number of days.

Building control have said its nothing to do with them. I will try environmental health.

The difficulty in all these cases is that powers usually exist to get things done, its just a question of getting those who have the powers to do something

If you have chased this three times use the Community Trigger again - and again

I thought that too - they’ve lived there for years, all their family lives locally, they probably own. And just don’t want to cough up.

The Land Registry entry might be very illuminating.