We’re all used to seeing fences around gardens of individual houses but in most cases there’s actually no legal obligation to fence off the boundaries of your home. The exception is:
- Around building sites adjacent to highways, both road and path: Highways Act 1980;
- Around disused mines: Mines and Quarries Act 1954;
- To prevent livestock from straying from their fields: Animals Act 1971;
- Alongside railways: Railways Consolidation Act 1845.
These regulations are in place for safety reasons but generally, a fence is erected to give a homeowner a bit of privacy.
After we first posted on fence ownership, we received lots of comments about issues people were having with sorting their fences. We’ve answered the most common ones below to help you make sense of all things concerning fences, including who’s responsible for repairing them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who owns a fence, me or my neighbour?
Contrary to popular belief, there’s no rule that says the fences on the left side of your home belong to you. The transfer or conveyance deed might state who owns it, but if it’s not in writing, then look out for any T-mark to the boundaries. The stalk of the ‘T’ will sit on the boundary and come out into your garden or property, which means that fence is your responsibility. If responsibility for the boundary is shared, like in the case of a party fence wall, for instance, then a H-mark (two T-marks mirrored on the boundary line) is the symbol conventionally used and it’ll indicate that any repair bills should be split 50/50.
If the deeds don’t make it clear who owns a fence, then you may need to dig out the Seller’s Property Information Form which you can find at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk.
It’s sometimes possible to establish who’s responsible for a fence by working out who owns which fence along the same side of the street.
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Can I make my neighbour repair their fence?
There’s no law which says your neighbour has to repair their fence, even if it’s rotting away and making the side of your property look bad. While you could opt for a boundary demarcation and hire a disputes expert to write a report, you could end up wasting your money as it’s unlikely they’d change their mind. What you could do instead is leave the old fence where it is and erect another one right next to it. The boundary would then be a thin line that runs between the two fences, even if they’re touching each other.
How high can a fence be?
Fences in back gardens can be up to 2 metres high. If you’re wanting it to be higher, you’ll need to get planning permission. For the latest information, head to the Planning Portal.
Is my neighbour allowed to have the “good” side of the fence facing towards them?
There’s no law that says the “good” side (for example, the side with the smoother wood) of the fence should face your neighbour.
Can I attach something to my neighbour’s fence?
You can only hang things on your neighbour’s fence, paint it, or use it to support your plants with their permission. Leaning or hanging things on the fence or using it as a makeshift retaining wall will result in a much heavier burden on the supporting posts and panels of the fence than it was designed to bear. This might cause damage and you’d be liable for the cost of any repairs. What’s more, you’ll still have to get the work done and pay for it, so it could cost more than you bargained for. If you need help repairing the fence, a professional gardener can lend a hand.
Anything you do to your neighbour’s fence without permission, including staining or applying preservative to your side of the fence, is tantamount to criminal damage.
Can my neighbour put up, replace or remove a fence without my permission?
If the boundary for the front of the property is less than 4 inches high, then planning permission isn’t required. However, if your neighbour has decided to put up a fence, they need to put this in writing and give you 30 days’ notice ahead of the work going ahead, otherwise you can take them to court. If they’ve given you notice and you’ve failed to respond, a civil court can rule that you have to pay for half of the fence. The same thing applies if it’s you wanting to put up the fence.
When it comes to replacing an old fence, they can alter the height and material (but they’d need to get planning permission if it was over 2 metres). They can also decide to get it taken down and they wouldn’t need to install a new one. If the old fence is made of wood, and your neighbour wants to replace it with a concrete one, you can insist the new concrete posts and base slabs be erected entirely on their side of the boundary line, so you can erect your own wooden fence with new posts later on. Also, it doesn’t matter who had the “good side” of the old fence.
How close can I build to my neighbour’s fence?
You can build up to a boundary line as long as you get planning permission for it (see 4-inch rule above). If your neighbour is the one planning on the build and you’re concerned that it might block the light coming into a window, the best thing to do is to voice your concerns and try to persuade them to build in a way that reduces the impact on you.
If that isn’t possible, you should check the local building regulations. Perhaps the plans would be a fire hazard or breach other safety laws. Of course, this also applies to you if you plan on building close to their fence, so it’s worth checking the Planning Portal to see what’s possible before you start planning work.
Read more: our top tips for shed construction and how to build a patio.
My house is next to alleyway from the right side and the back. Therefore i have 3 fences; one on right, back and the middle one which joins the neighbour.Wjth repairs, ny previous neighbours and we always shared.The new neighbour however is backing off saying it is our fence and we should repair it.We are now in a pickle.We have 3 fences and repairing all 3 would be costly.If i do repair middle one,who repairs/maintains the right side and back side fence which joins no neighbour but just next to alley way. The middle fence does need repairing. Please advise as to what we should do.
Hi Naila, your best bet would be to dig out the deeds for your home. As the article states, ownership of boundaries on the deeds to your home will be designated with a small ‘T’ that sits inside the land of the owner. I hope this helps!
I live in a terraced type house which i own and my neighbours are council tenants. i erected a fence in the back garden on my boundary however i would like to know if its right that my neighbour can fix hanging basket brackets etc to my fence which i bought and payed for.
Hi Robert, I’d recommend asking your local council for help with this one. This link and other links on the page may help: https://www.gov.uk/your-property-boundaries
I live in a semi-detached house and there is a fence between me and my neighbour on the right hand side. The previous owner of the property erected the fence and did so with good side facing me. New neighbours moved in about a year ago and are denying it’s their fence. It’s an old fence and the winter weather has blown down four panels. My neighbours keep throwing the panels into my driveway and back garden, despite me telling them on numerous occasions it’s not my fence. The fence also goes around the back of their property and I’m at a loss as to how to get them tonrealise it belongs to them. Any advice?
Hi Jo, Sorry to hear you’re having issues with fence ownership. The best way to resolve this is to dig out the deeds for your home. As Iain explains in his piece, ownership of boundaries on the deeds to your home will be designated with a small ‘T’ that sits inside the land of the owner. The stalk of the ‘T’ will sit on the boundary and come out into your garden or property, which means that fence is your responsibility. If two ‘T’s’ come together to form a ‘H’ shape, that indicates a shared boundary, in which case the fairest thing to do would be to split upkeep and repair bills 50/50. If you can’t find these deeds and your neighbour has no deeds to prove that the fence isn’t theirs, it might be a good idea to try to come to an agreement on a 50/50 split. Best of luck!
The fence on the right as you look at my house has fallen down. I went to my neighbor to find out whose fence It was, as I was told the left hand side was mine. He told me the previous owner of my house made a community agreement to take ownership of the fence, so my neighbor says it’s my fence. So my question is why should that fence belong to me because the previous owner did a community agreement. I didn’t make the agreement.
No one has the right to attached anything to your fence if it is yours. that includes plants painting leaning stuff up against it. that is the law. also there is no rule who has the good side,if you own the fence you dont have to give your neighbour the good side. this forum information is not correct.
Hi Casey, yes – what you say is true. As Iain says in the article, your neighbour would tend to have the ‘good’ side of your fence but that’s not the law and not everyone would be so generous as to give their neighbour the good side!
Our neighbours agree that the fence between our property is their responsibility. They removed it last year after they piled building materials against it and it fell down. Up to now, several months later, they have still not replaced it and the only thing giving us any privacy are our 2 sheds, which we want to remove to give more space. However, their back garden looks like a scrap yard and we do not want to sit in the summer and look at it with no privacy either. We had to put our own temporary chicken wire fence up to stop their cats from pooing in our garden. Do they have to replace the fence as soon as possible or are they allowed to just leave it for so long? We are prepared to go to a solicitor to get them to replace it but want to know what our rights are
I have a different problem- one of my fences the posts are set into a wall which was either built by the builder in 1976 or by the then next door neighbours when the small estate was first under construction next door to them- I currently share all repairs with my neighbours but they have just moved and the post wall is looking quite shabby and the repair costs approach £3000 I cannot see the wall from my garden as next doors garden is lower than mine and I have assumed that there was a fence or wall there before the houses were built but the repair date ever looms
There are two sewers on the boundary line of my property and
next door. After making enquiries I have been told by Anglian Water they are shared sewers between these two properties. The occupants next door have put a small brick wall on this side of the sewers on my property. although you can get to these sewers I feel they are encroaching on my garden.
I was never told about this work only when the workman came the same day, they, then told me.
They took my plants out threw them on the skip.
They also left a lot of cement on this side of the garden.
We have always repaired and replaced fencing to our left including concrete posts and bases, our neighbour to the right has always done that side. Whilst we were out our neighbour has replaced the fencing on the left and has taken the good side even though we only replaced it 6 months ago and we only had it painted 3 months ago. I do feel annoyed they’ve done this especially as we paid for the posts eto.
i know the fence on the left is my fence and the right side is nect door,what about the fence at the bottom of the garden?
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Hi, I just bought my 1st semi detached house and having read all the above and gone through my deed (from 1953) , it does not have the “T” or “H” on it.
Is there another way to find out who has the ownership?
I get along with the neighbors quite well and could speak with them, sort out the fence, but you never know in the future.
Regarding left side boundaries, My neighbour about 12 years ago erected a concrete paneled fence, consisting of concrete posts with
6′ x 1′ panels slotted in, they are 7 panels high the center post and one other have always had a slight lean to them,
About 4 years ago new neighbours moved in and have gradually leveled there garden using the concrete panels as walling which has accentuated the lean slightly more, they have leveled there garden to about 4 feet up the height of the fence. when I talked to him he said it was my wall and my responsibility, how can that be?
Hi Janice, did you get any help with your problem? I am now in a similar situation to you. Any help would be a great start – thanks.
If it’s your fence your neighbour cannot pile soil or anything else up against it. They are legally liable for any damages.
If it’s your fence your neighbour cannot pile soil or anything else up against it. They are legally liable for any damages. They must build a retaining wall when levelling their garden. We’re going through the same issue.
Hi I own a semi, the left side it is next to a children’s playground owned by the housing association. My deeds say this is my fence, and I have a fence there a few inches inside the boundary line. The housing association had a 6 foot chain link fence on the boundary line, which they have recently removed, meaning their park got just a tad bigger! But leaving my fence open to the abuse of the kids and teenagers in the park, kicking a ball at it all day, amongest other things. Can anyone tell me if they can really do this, or can I insist they put it back.
Bill, had you got this sorted? Check the feeds.
Unless I am misunderstood there are now two issues here the fence and the privacy factor. If he had raised his garden 4 feet out of the 6 he will be able to look down into your space right? This is a substantial change and he should have consulted you and even planning. You just need to ring up the council as is in breach of the law. They should sort it, they could ask him to lower the ground and repair the fence. Or they could ask him to build s suitable retaining wall at a height agreed by you.
let’s say the fence is yours, the panel style fencing is not suitable as a retaining wall thus the raising garden works your new neighbor has done will have undermined the concrete fence thus he is reliable to repair and make good at all his costs as by law you can’t use a neighbours boundary fence to even grow a climber on without permission let alone retain a few feet of soil. If the fence is his he doesn’t have to repair or replace unless it’s seen as dangerous? Which over time it will become worse. You can submit an application for an unsafe wall and he will have to cover the cost regardless of the ownership.
Tricky situation and probably the best scenario would be that it’s your fence and he had damaged it and is now liable, he picks up the bill, if it’s his it’s a lengthy process to prove unsafe fence etc..
Your fence is inside the boundary line and thus completely your property.. they have to put it back by law. I would get into them and don’t stop. They will need to pick up any repairs to your fence as well.
I had a look of the law society for a link for the sellers property information form you mentioned but cannot find where on the site I could look to get this?
Hi Louise, if you do a quick Google search and type ‘law society property information form’, the downloadable PDF will be one of the top results from the Law Society site. I hope this helps.
Hi Natalie, i cant see how i get a copy of the form? Im looking for the one my seller completed as cant find it amongst my paperwork . .
Hi , my neighbour took over responsibility for our fence but has now built an eyesore of a concrete wall ,does he now own the boundary or is it still ours?thank you
Hi Stuart, I’d recommend getting further advice on this one.
Hi Stuart. You need to check your deeds, if the deeds show the T as belonging to your property, then you still own the land. However, who gave permission for him to take over responsibility and allowed him too erect the wall ? If the boundary is not on your deeds ( silent) then nobody owns the land. By erecting the wall he as assumed responsibility and therefore, his property and may claim adverse possessor. Beware.
My neighbors took away there garden and demolished their side of a Drystone wall without any consolation with me, as far i know we are jointly responsible for the fence separating our homes, they didn’t cap of my wall and then months later attached a brick wall to the stonewall with loads of cement a total botch job, after nearly a year of them not putting the fence back or sorting the wall, I told them i was going to sort the wall and put new fence up, within 36 hours they got there before me and erected a 6ft one between us at the back nice side to them, it was only 4ft before with wide slats that let the light though now it total shut my garden off, should of i had a say in shat type it is as we are jointly responsible, or like they say we can do what ever we want, I am now left looking at a crap high fence with no light, and what they have down at the front is totally out of character with the street and hasnt got a drop side yet to park in front of there lounge window, I also have the problem that there now tiled surface is lower than my soil boarder, the new fence floats above this so every time i cut my grass or doing any wedding etc debris will fall under the fence on to their side, this is through no fault of mine they change the height between the garden with what they have done thanks Joanne
hi
I have a brick wall that my back garden is enclosed on – the T is the other side of the boundary on my deed – the wall is in a terrible state and the owners are not doing anything to remedy this – someone reversed into it – I feel it is a H&S issue as I have 2 children or it could fall onto a car – can I ask the council to come and look at this or is it entirely up to the owners
Hi Clare, I’d recommend asking tradespeople their thoughts on this as they’ll be best placed to help you: https://www.ratedpeople.com/diy-advice/
I am responsible for all three boundaries at my semi detached property. On one side a neighbour allows their dog to jump at the fence and I expect it will very soon be damaged, can I decide not to replace my fence? Will it be the neighbours responsibility to ensure their dog stays in their garden?
I have a situation where the fence on my left is the responsibility of my neighbours as stated in the TP1. We don’t speak and the fence panel has fallen down – I’ve erected some bamboo screening so I have some privacy within my boundary. It states in the Covenant that the fence must be either repaired or replaced should it become necessary. Even with this information and a solicitors letter can my neighbours refuse to replace it?
Hi, two years ago my previous neighbour removed their garage adjacent to mine and erected a fence on the boundary line between my garage and their garden.The new neighbour wants a new fence there and wants me to pay for it. I think they bought the house like that and why should I pay the full cost. It’s not falling down or anything and I didn’t erect it
One section of the fence on our left hand side has blown down. Now we are at loggerheads with a neighbour due to their new, intrusive conservatory. Therefore I want to resist any attempt to replace the fence, to see how they like intrusion. It’s on the left side, so can i do this?
Please help me, could you tell me if I’m in the wrong by painting my side of the fence? I got a very abusive letter from my neighbour, who has never spoken two words to me in 10 months, followed by abuse over the fence. I apologised as I honestly never knew you had to ask permission. Is that right?! She’s very nasty, all she had to do was talk to me. I’m not a nasty person, I hate confrontation!! I’m waiting to hear back from my landlord. But I just want to know where I stand plz?! Many thanks.
Hi, our neighbour put up a fence long time ago, inside her boundry, now she has decided to remove anything we put in the few inches between her boundry and our lawn edging. She pokes it with a stick and reaches underneath to remove it. Her cats can crawl underneath as she has made dips, but I have small dogs and can’t block them off! Is it her fault that she has put up a wire fence within her boundry? She even threw off our small hanging baskets off her post and chucked it on our flowerbed. Any advice please? Thankyou. Debby
I am not sure if you actually put plants in her land , beyond the boundary line. If this is the case , she might be annoyed ,in fact, the fence erected by her within her land is hers not yours and the land between her fence and the boundary line is hers. You should not hang anything on her wall without her permission . If you want to hang anything ,you can built your own fence and plant anything you like within your own land .
Hi, Many years ago my neighbours fence, (I assumed it was theirs as they had the nice side!), started to fall apart, largely because they had planted a Leylandi hedge next to it, which is now 7 to 8 feet tall and about four feet thick. As the fence deteriorated further, I had no option but to push the broken parts through the hedge for them to dispose of which they duly did. There are some concrete posts left and I wondered wether I had the right to use them by attaching a fence on my side of those posts?
Hello i live in a detached house but have a fence seperating me to my neighbours house on the right hand side. Would the fence on the right be my responsibility?
We own the fence it’s on our boundary attached to our garage,and it shows on our deeds it’s ours.
Next door she had screwed two 7 foot kitchen unit panels to the back.
I’m waiting for the council to come down.
Please advise
If I replaced an old fence with permission of my neighbour even though it was his responsibility, once he sold his house who is responsible for repairs.
I live at an end corner house. Left of the property is a street and right is my neighbours house, there’s been on going dispute with my neighbour so talking to them as a reasonable adult is out of the question.
I just want to know who is responsible for fixing the right side fence?
I own my house and my neighbour is council property. My deed doesnt clearly mark any ‘T’ or ‘H’. Both of our houses used to be a joined flat before council decided to separate it and make it into two houses.
I’ve tried seeking help from the council to see if they’ll assist me to find out who is responsible but they’re useless
Hoping someone can help me
Hi have my problem in my new neighbour in our fence…in my property information say my responsibility fence is right side.look at from the road. That’s why i always fixed is right side even the previous owner of my neighbour he said our fence here is right side even the whole of the street or village they fixing the right side but when i look at land title deeds the T sign is on my left side..my neighbour now is asking me to fix my left side.. do i need to fix both side? Because i spent money on right side when it was broken..pls. can u give me advice…
“If the boundary for the front of the property is less than 4 inches high” is this a typo? who has 4inch high fence??!!!!!
I have a shared fence between my garden and the neighbours garden I want to replace the fence at my own cost if I do replace it at my own cost and it is within the height law etc can my neighbour remove or damage the fence if I have already fitted it
I want the fence to be the same as the fence on the other side of my garden which is also a shared fence but I have paid to have it put up with no objection from that neighbour
We own a terraced property in a row of 8 one neighbor on 1 side front way has erected a 2m fence all around his property it looks like a fort everybody else’s fence is 1mt high is this legal
I have a property with my fence between me and my neibogh the soil both sides is the same level now he has lowered the soil to 2ft down on his side, right up to the fence it is my fence , now the fence is unstable and soil is collapsing into onto to his side he has dug soil away with a JCB along the whole fence.
my mum has a fence on her side of the boundary line the owners next door erected a fence and gate from their house wall and screwed it to my mum’s concrete post her fence is 3 inches from the boundary line can she make them unscrew their fence from her post
Yes. They gave come across the boundary and broken the law. If it fails they will be responsible for all repairs to your mums..
can my neighbour take a fence away and build a big shed there and use a shed wall (made of wood) as the fence?
A fence can be string annoyingly… if it’s his boundary he can do what he wants… as long as it’s safe..
Hi I live in a detached house but have neibours either side so fence either side which is my fence to replace left or right I have fencing along the back of my garden which I know is ours can ups help please thank you
I have a retaining wall on my property which faces a neighbours property.
When the property was built I made the housing company attach a safety fence to this as I had a small child and there is a 4 foot drop to the other side.
The property that faces the wall have made no effort to erect a boundary fence to there property and have installed a raised decking area fixed to the retaining wall and because there is a slope when they stand on the decking they can look directly into my living room.
I have contacted the owner of the property as they rent the property out now about erecting a boundary fence and removing the decking from the retaining wall but they have refused and said it is the boundary to their property and I will hear from their solicitor.
I have heard nothing from anyone and in the meantime I have checked my boundary and purchased the ground plan for their property and on both plans it clearly shows the boundary of their property along a straight line with other adjoining properties which runs on the inside of the retaining wall.
I want to know if I can remove the fence that I have built on my side of the retaining wall and what help I can get to get the owners of the adjoining property to remove the decking and construct a suitable boundary fence for their property.
hi im in a council house neighbour bought there council house now problem is there is a 3ft fence that was built over 20years ago between both houses.So 16 years ago we built our own fence on our side of the 3ft fence,Now the neighbour is saying she owns both the fences?,But her deeds show a T mark to her left so shouldn’t that be the 3ft fence is hers because the 1 we built is on the other side of the 3ft fence,We have asked the council if they sold both fences with the property to them,But got no reply
Hi please can you help. We share a fence with my neighbour next door on the left. We thought that the fence to the left was theirs. The reason being is when we brought our house many moons ago and the site office at the time said depended on which way the slates of the fence was facing it would be your fence so we thought it was next doors. So anyway we got in contact with owner of the house next door asking that would they like to go 50/50 on a new fence as the one we shared thinking it was there’s at the time was heavily damaged with age, rot, weather damage and their tenants kicking the football against it. I have text messages WhatsApp messages between me and the owner of next door agreeing to go 50/50 with the fence. When we got someone to come and do the quote for the fence we even invited the owner of next door to come and meet the people that would be doing the work and add their input which they did. So both my neighbour and I are happy with the quote we give the go ahead for the fence to be replaced on a date that we both agree on. The fence is replaced my neighbour on the day has seen the fence and is happy with the the work that was done they even pay for their half there and then. I have a WhatsApp message telling me that they have paid for their half because they’ve made a bacs payment. The next day my neighbour revisit their property saying their not happy with fence that it seems a little more over their side than it was before. At the side of our garden theirs a bit that sticks out which is the bottom of my neighbour’s garden they’ve actually gained a small amount of land which is owes we don’t mind because the fence would look wonky otherwise. It’s now straight as a dye. Three weeks have now gone pasted now and the owner of next door approach me yesterday saying that they sent off to land registry for the deeds to their house and it shows that the fence is ours. I have had a look at the documentation and it’s right. Please help where do I stand I have prove of the owner wanting to help pay for the fence and confirming that they’ve paid for there half. Even on the day of the fence being replaced the owner was happy. What do I do. Thank you.
Hi, if I asked next door neighbour if she minded that I replaced her fencing incl concrete posts as I was re-laying a new patio and needed concrete plinths at bottom, she said go ahead, she has just had a load of work done and her garden is now completely shut off, so foxes are now using my garden to get through to front, so I have just put some trellis up to stop them jumping over from hers to mine,( did not ask her) if I paid for fences who legally owns fences me or her. Its her left hand side my right.
Me and my neighbour jointly own a fence I would like to change it and put a new 6ft fence in my neighbour has disagreed to it . So I am thinking of just putting another fence on my side but do I need to notify my neighbour about this?
Hi,
My neighbour has a fence which separate my land from his land and he come in my front garden to paint the fence while I was gone without to ask me something. My question is if he has any right to come and paint my side which is on my land?? Even if is his fence…. Now I have half fence a colour and the other half another colour.
We have just bought a house and we got fencing and turf as an incentive when buying the house. Next year we want to remove the fencing because it has gaps and replace it with a better fence. Next door said they will be adding panels of wood to the fence to fill in the gaps but because we want to take it down we are unsure what to do. We have checked the deeds and it does not state we own the fence but because we got the fence as an incentive we are unsure if we have any legal rights. If we didn’t get any fencing in our deal then there wouldn’t be any fencing up at all. Does anyone know if we have any say in what happens?
My garage is detached from my house and is situated across the road. The boundary is mine but the adjoining property owner put a robust fence on my boundary.
His fence is now leaning to within a quarter of an inch of my garage.
I have spoken to him and written to him regarding repair but to no avail. Is it within my rights to remove dangerous fence before it pushes against my elderly garage?
my neighbour has removed the boundary fence at the bottom of our garden and removed soil from my garden to make it the same level as his drive. He said my tenant gave him permission to do this. Can I now replace the fence with a wall on the boundary line..
Hi
My fence with my neighbour is their responsibility to maintain. The problem is the post at the bottom of the garden which belongs to them
has my bottom garden gate hinged to it. During the last three years this post rotted and my neighbour replaced the post and re-attached my garden gate. Recently my neighbour installed new fence to all his boundary’s using concrete posts to replace old wooden ones. They left the old wooden gate post and installed 2 more concrete posts directly
adjacent to it and planked it off. Effectively trying to make the gate post my responsibility. I think the fence looks a bad job with 3 posts in one corner of the garden. Can I make them legally change the design to replace my wood gate post by moving one of the concrete posts and rehang my gate to the same ??????
Who has responsibility for my gate as its attached their their post ??
My fence in back garden on right side has blown down and beyond repair I spoke to my landlord he claims he is responsible for the left side looking down into garden and the posts on right side are on my neighbours side who needs to fix the fence
Hi. There is agreement that I own a boundary fence. My property stands 1 metre higher than my neighbour’s with the posts slotted into a concrete retaining wall. from my side of the fence, I cannot see or access the bottom metre of the posts all of which have rotted because he has not bothered to put any preservative on them. Is it my responsibility to replace them or his, bearing in mind his lack of action has caused the damage. many thanks
Hi my situation is a bit odd, my house is detached and I have a fence in between the gardens but the posts are in next doors drive and she is telling me that we should pay half for the posts, the posts were damaged in the wind and the fence was bashing on our car, she said the fence was hers and then got it fixed for 180 for 3 post to be put back in her drive, she has now said that I pay half but my issue is the post are defiantly on her drive not mine, I pointed this out and she said it’s because you side doesn’t have the room. Can anyone shed any light on this
My neighbours Erected a wooden panelled Fence between our two semidetached houses. the two last panels (facing our houses) – my Conservatory wall & my neighbours end of their Kitchen wall – encroaching from straight line inch by inch further into my garden- way over the boundary line (nearly 1 foot). Obviously the panel was too long .They nailed the wooden post on their side wall end attached the panel to it & as the base (they dismantled part of my flower bed)
they cemented 4 big Breeze Blocks. The site looks awful . what can I do ? they are v. vengeful. Dana
According to my land registry papers l am responsible for erecting & maintaining a fence on our boundary.
It was missing in parts so with my neighbours permission 12 years ago l extended it in line with the original fence. I have repaired the fence over the years. My neighbor has just removed some panels without consulting me saying it’s not my fence because l would have need to come into here garden to have erected it. I have shown her my land registry papers but she refuses to discus it. I fear more of the fence will be taken down.
Hi I’ve bought a new build semi detached house. If standing at the patio doors looking out on the garden, the fence to the right and rear of the property have the cross beams facing my property “the ugly side” which I’ve now double panelled for privacy, meaning I’ve now got the smooth side as well as my neighbors. I was advised this would be perfectly fine as the wind can still travel through.
The fence to the left dividing my neighbor’s property from mine, the smooth side is on my side and the posts/beams are on his side. I would like to double panel this fence too on the smooth side, so my garden looks uniform and has a bit more privacy.
I recently spoke with the fencing company who originally erected the fences on the full estate for all the properties and the advice they gave me was to just put half slats covering the gaps between the fence panels so my neighbors can’t see through, that way there wouldn’t be to much stress on the fence on a windy day despite the gas being completely closed and the wind can’t travel through the fence.
I’ve had numerous conversations with my neighbor about double panelling the fence. For some reason we both believe the fence to be his with the posts and beams being on his side, how true this is I’m not sure?
Anyway, he’s slightly reluctant on having the fence double panelled and said ” I can’t stop you from doing anything on your side of the property but if anything were to go wrong with the fence i.e. the wind blows it down due to me double panelling it, then he will hold me responsible.”
Can he actually do that if neither of us know who the fence belongs to?
We have a fence at the bottom of our garden. Does it belong to us or my neighbour. It is on the left side of my neighbours garden. Many thanks.
Hi, me and my neighbour shares the alleyway between the houses, also my neighbours side has their own fence with a door to the alleyway. so I put my bike right beside their fence but did not block their entrance and later my neighbour called me out. They asked me to move my bike because outside of the fence of their house is still their property. i am not sure how much space is my side? pretty much every time he complains to me that I cannot put anything outside of his fence.
The end of my garden backs onto the garden of a house around the corner of me as does my neighbours garden. Who owns the hedge at the end of my garden?
My neighbour says that the boundary fence is shared but on the title deeds there is no markings at all. No T or H indicated. I have never contributed to it and neither has the previous owners. My neighbour has repaired it and painted it and now years later says that we own half of it. Now this is after it needs to be replaced.
Thanks to sharing the information about the benefit of the security fence for our properties.
I wondered what the noise was on Wednesday morning. Went to the shower and when I got out I heard someone at the door. Answered the door at circa 8am to be faced with next door saying that he was having a fence erected. The boundary fence at this point had been removed without any discussion or my permission. He has erected new posts directly where the old fence was and the style of fence is certainly not what I would of erected and looked awful. There was a vague discussion 2 yeas ago about replacing the fence but he has never spoken to me about it again. The old fence was not falling down, there was one post that needed attention but that has been like that for 5 years now. I now have a 2m fence from the back of my property past my garage and ha,f way down the side of my drive way which is half way down the length on my house and his. I am unsure what the last bit of the fence is going to look like as the old posts remain. What rights / what can I do about this situation. I don’t want to have to pay thousands of pounds for something I don’t like or want. There are no gaps between the wooden slats. I live in Scotland if that makes any difference
I’m an end of terrace house (4 in terrace). I have a detached house on the side of me that I’m not attached to., which part of their standalone garage has some of their right and back garage brick wall in my garden. The fences in my back garden have posts facing my garden on the left and rear. On the right, it is just panels with no posts showing. My title plan from my solicitor shows my plot outline in red. There are no T marks or H marks at all. The junior conveyancer said that this means they are “shared responsibility”. I assume the left and rear were mine as they posts face me. (If this is the case, I assume I can affix something to the brick wall of my neighbours garage which protrudes into my garden?). Can I get some clarification please?
Can the reference be shared to this info?
Ie which legislation?
Hi, we have just had major renovation work done including and extension.
We have just replaced our fence which is on the left had side. There is a old fence post attached to both our properties which our Builder has left as it is not affecting us. The wall of the extension is well within our boundary, but now the neighbour is expecting us to remove the post and expects us to pay her builder to pebbledash repair and waterproof behind the post.
And we have received our completion certificate from the council, she wants to call the third part wall surveyor only after the post has been taken out and repairs have been made.
The post in question is not in anyone’s way but I am assuming she is being awkward and wants us to pay for the ‘upkeep’ on her property.
The owner of next door rents his house. He has planted leylandii trees few yrs back. Too close to my house but on his garden, which has broken the fence. Should he pay
It is my fence apparently
Hi. I live in terraced house sharing 1m high fence in my back garden with one neighbour.
I wanted to raise a fence to 1.80m but my deeds are saying that fences cannot be increased in height without written consent of our foresaids. Can deeds be amended by the Land Register of Scotland somehow?
Regards
Dawid
My new neighbour has built fence six inches in front of the original fence which is hers, the fence my side is falling apart which we put up. With agreement with previous tenant . not sure what to do as behind her fence is all her electric wires and weeds in the gap on her side of the garden. Can I use her fence or can I replace with a new fence on the boundary .
Hi, we are responsible for the boundary line, however the neighbour erected a fence when the old one was falling down. We now have redone our house and are planning to do up our driveway and garden and wish to change the fences (we will pay for it completely). The neighbour is disagree stating they own that part of the boundary line but our deeds are clear that we own it.
Do we have the right to remove the fence that they have put up and erect a new one on the boundary line?
Hi I need some advice. My neighbor has put a wooden shade in her front garden and stuck out beyond the building line. My question is I want her to remove it. Thank you
My fence is jointly owned with my neighbour, they would like to replace it with a new fence going from 5 foot to 6 foot, There is nothing structurally wrong with the current fence, they just want more privacy. They want me to pay half, do I have to is my question, my deeds say a reasonable proportion towards repair or maintenance., which this isn’t
Any advice would be great.
Excellent article Iain Aitch! I recently started a fencing company in Camden – Greater London, UK. I was surprised that some of my new clients were all asking for fences that were higher than 2 meters, without permission. The reason was robbery, annoying neighbors, train stations, or highways. I want your advice, we lost some clients because we told them, we couldn’t work on their fence without permission. I feel sorry not to help them, but is was ok not to accept the projects? Thanks a lot for sharing this information. Wish you all the best!
Bumping into this article, I felt so naive and thought to myself that there are plenty of things to learn, and definitely fencing law is one of them! I could definitely say lesson learned!
Our neighbours decided they would change our fences on our side without permission. The job is shocking. Any advice on where to go? The company are not picking up calls to come and fix the poor workmanship
A great share on how to handle fence concerns with the neighbors. And fence design also varies from person to person depends on what they prefer.