Can anybody please advise on garden boundaries?

[JollyGolightly]

Our garden shares a boundary with a holiday cottage, the owners keep it for their own own use and are hardly ever there. Recently the fence fell down, and I'm not sure whose responsibility it is to replace it. It's the fence on the left as you look down the garden, away from the house. It wouldn't matter except that they allow our local neighbourhood pest to do odd jobs in their absence and I'm tired of him leering in and attempting to engage me in conversation. They are currently here and I'd like to talk to them about it but would rather know who needs to sort it before I start the discussion. Thanks in advance.

You'll have to refer to your deeds

Who originally erected the fence?

A lot of people make incorrect assumptions about this sort of thing. My neighbour did. As it happens, ours was a fence in the same position as the one you describe. The deeds showed it was our neighbour's responsibility; until I checked he'd brushed me off saying it was ours.

But it could be different in this case, so you need to look at the deeds.

Many boundary fences and walls in Scotland are a joint responsibility - unless your title deeds say otherwise.

As above, you need to check your deeds / land registry entry. We are responsible for our front and rear boundaries, but the side boundaries are shared.