New Fence - Neighbours

Lord Tyrion

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When you sell a house now you have to fill in a form advising if you have had any disputes with your neighbours. You can't just pull a flanker on the new buyers.
 

road2ruin

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Our neighbour is an elderly lady who constantly complained about the state of our fence from the day that we moved in. She was right, it did need doing and so, 6 months after we moved in we got the whole fence removed and a solid 6ft job put in instead.

She lost the plot, claimed that her plants attached to the fence had been destroyed, dust was in her house due to the concrete posts and one of her cats almost fell in a hole. I had her daughter on the phone telling me that she was hope I was satisfied and that I'd made her mum feel like a prisoner in her own home due to the 'new' look of the fence and the height.

I agreed to meet with the daughter and took along my measuring take and proved that it was exactly the same height as the fence her mum had put in a couple of years back. Got lots of huffing and puffing etc etc but couldn't be bothered with them. It's a shame as she was a nice lady for a short period of time. I also ensured I had the 'nice' side of the fence.

The hypocrisy of the old bat came to light a few months later when I was talking to some of the other neighbours. Our house is in a small row of terrace homes that used of have 'gossip fences', apparently these are high at the house however go lower down the garden so people could talk over them. This old lady moved in and was the first to stick a 6ft fence up and people have just followed suit.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Our neighbour is an elderly lady who constantly complained about the state of our fence from the day that we moved in. She was right, it did need doing and so, 6 months after we moved in we got the whole fence removed and a solid 6ft job put in instead.

She lost the plot, claimed that her plants attached to the fence had been destroyed, dust was in her house due to the concrete posts and one of her cats almost fell in a hole. I had her daughter on the phone telling me that she was hope I was satisfied and that I'd made her mum feel like a prisoner in her own home due to the 'new' look of the fence and the height.

I agreed to meet with the daughter and took along my measuring take and proved that it was exactly the same height as the fence her mum had put in a couple of years back. Got lots of huffing and puffing etc etc but couldn't be bothered with them. It's a shame as she was a nice lady for a short period of time. I also ensured I had the 'nice' side of the fence.

The hypocrisy of the old bat came to light a few months later when I was talking to some of the other neighbours. Our house is in a small row of terrace homes that used of have 'gossip fences', apparently these are high at the house however go lower down the garden so people could talk over them. This old lady moved in and was the first to stick a 6ft fence up and people have just followed suit.

She sounds just like our Mrs N. First few years - nae bather at a' - chitty chatty; home made Christmas wreaths for the front door; Christmas cards etc. It has gone downhill - a lot - since then. And we've had Mr N coming to us and telling us we were responsible for Mrs N being very poorly due to stress caused my us - and when we moved in there wa an 8ft leylandii the length of the garden between us - and they moaned when we took it down :) They also wonder why we are so obsessed with privacy...."yer a nosey miserable auld bat - that's why..." But I like Mr N :)
 

richart

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We were lucky that we heard what our new neighbours were like from some friends that lived next door to them at their previous house. Saved wasting time getting to know them, and we could just take an instant dislike to them.:thup: Property developers with friends on the council, that made out they were just your ordinary family. True to form they have doubled the size of the property, by building in the roof for which they didn't need planning permission.
 

sawtooth

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I skimmed the whole thread so apologies if I missed any details but I would be cautious about erecting a new fence inside your boundary. It may cause issues and confusion over land ownership further down the road even after you or the neighbour from hell moves on.

Surely if you are building up the fence to the same height as before or to a sensible, legal height then the neighbour must see sense in that. Appease them by having the presentation face the way that they want it, if you think that will help.

As been said before the "T" symbol on your deeds should be there to show fence ownership. If its not there then the side where the fence struts are showing is normally the side that is responsible for/owns the fence. Its a common courtesy to erect a fence so that the best side is facing your neighbour but I dont think you are obliged to.

Some people are funny about owning a fence and having the obigation to maintain it and some would happily say that you own it so they dont need to worry about it. Are any of you precious about who owns it?
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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I skimmed the whole thread so apologies if I missed any details but I would be cautious about erecting a new fence inside your boundary. It may cause issues and confusion over land ownership further down the road even after you or the neighbour from hell moves on.

Surely if you are building up the fence to the same height as before or to a sensible, legal height then the neighbour must see sense in that. Appease them by having the presentation face the way that they want it, if you think that will help.

As been said before the "T" symbol on your deeds should be there to show fence ownership. If its not there then the side where the fence struts are showing is normally the side that is responsible for/owns the fence. Its a common courtesy to erect a fence so that the best side is facing your neighbour but I dont think you are obliged to.

Some people are funny about owning a fence and having the obigation to maintain it and some would happily say that you own it so they dont need to worry about it. Are any of you precious about who owns it?

Thanks sawtooth. I'll check our deeds again for the T. The panels are between the posts so that doesn't help - and we were planning to have the presentation side their side. The new fence would be the same height as the existing fence the difference being that the top 24" would be solid rather than trellis. And I too am wary about building insoide the boundary line.

I think I'll just say that they can get on with fixing the fence as they want - but don't come to us for a contribution.
 

moogie

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Wow
I honestly didn't know that these type of people really existed
Find the whole thing astounding
Makes me feel blessed I've got, ( always had ) , great neighbours.
Granted, I've only ever owned 2 houses, but have had 5 sets of neighbours, without a single quarrel

Maybe we're just more friendly oop North ;)
 

Rooter

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Wow
I honestly didn't know that these type of people really existed
Find the whole thing astounding
Makes me feel blessed I've got, ( always had ) , great neighbours.
Granted, I've only ever owned 2 houses, but have had 5 sets of neighbours, without a single quarrel

Maybe we're just more friendly oop North ;)

Nah some of us darn sarf are OK. My next door neighbour is my best mate from school and playing partner!
 

Blue in Munich

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Theres no such thing as a right to light - no planner will turn down an application for that reason.
Older people just don't like change and you'll never reach any form of agreement with them - you are better off just getting on with a new fence your side of the boundary, job done they haven't got a leg to stand on, they keep their fence you get your new fence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_light

Whether it applies in this case seems unlikely, but there is most definitely a right to light.
 

Khamelion

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I've got similar issues to the OP, in that with my house being at the end of a cul-de-sac and surround on three sides by 5 different back gardens, all of which have different fences, so I know they are not mine. What I've started to do is build a small wall only two course on my land but right on the boundary line, I've then put in new posts and 6 foot panels, the neighbours can't complain as I built on my land and there can be no issue with boundaries as my new fence is immediately adjacent to the existing.

I'm not losing any land and the deeds remain accurate.

As others have written, build the new fence on your land next to the existing fence and the neighbours cannot complain.

In regard to the light aspect, what direction does you garden face?
 

Khamelion

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_light

Whether it applies in this case seems unlikely, but there is most definitely a right to light.

Got to disagree there Blue, neighbours from over the street complained about a large extension that was going up at the bottom of their back garden. The extension owner moved the back of his house out several feet and it was double height. The neighbours back garden faced south and had plenty of sunlight, but once the extension was up half their garden was in shade.

They complained and cited a right to light, but were told there is no such thing and nothing they could do about the extension going up.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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I've got similar issues to the OP, in that with my house being at the end of a cul-de-sac and surround on three sides by 5 different back gardens, all of which have different fences, so I know they are not mine. What I've started to do is build a small wall only two course on my land but right on the boundary line, I've then put in new posts and 6 foot panels, the neighbours can't complain as I built on my land and there can be no issue with boundaries as my new fence is immediately adjacent to the existing.

I'm not losing any land and the deeds remain accurate.

As others have written, build the new fence on your land next to the existing fence and the neighbours cannot complain.

In regard to the light aspect, what direction does you garden face?

Back of the house faces North-East and so back garden aligned SW-NE. Facing down the gardens we are the RHS of the semi,. BTW their complaint about loss of light was into their back garden - not their house
 
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Blue in Munich

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Got to disagree there Blue, neighbours from over the street complained about a large extension that was going up at the bottom of their back garden. The extension owner moved the back of his house out several feet and it was double height. The neighbours back garden faced south and had plenty of sunlight, but once the extension was up half their garden was in shade.

They complained and cited a right to light, but were told there is no such thing and nothing they could do about the extension going up.

I'll stick with the fact that there is a right to light. From the article; In effect, the owner of a building with windows that have received natural daylight for 20 years or more is entitled to forbid any construction or other obstruction that would deprive him or her of that illumination. Neighbours cannot build anything that would block the light without permission.

So it only affects the building, not the garden, hence the suggestion that it probably wasn't likely to apply to the fence.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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I'll stick with the fact that there is a right to light. From the article; In effect, the owner of a building with windows that have received natural daylight for 20 years or more is entitled to forbid any construction or other obstruction that would deprive him or her of that illumination. Neighbours cannot build anything that would block the light without permission.

So it only affects the building, not the garden, hence the suggestion that it probably wasn't likely to apply to the fence.

This is what scuppered us and out extension plans - even although the light loss would have been minimal - we may even had made things brighter given the arrangement of rooflights and windows we had planned. Anyway that was then...
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Anyway - I spoke with our fencer - a guy with experience of erecting 1000s of fences over many years. And he tells me 100% certain that as we are the LHS of the boundary the fence is ours. I said I'd been told it was a myth - he said no - 100% our fence - and asked me how we got on withj the neighbours and what would we feel about upsetting them. This morning my Mrs said she didn't care if Mrs N had a heart attack due to any stress caused by this. I think this was said in jest.
 

Khamelion

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Back of the house faces North-East and so back garden aligned SW-NE. Facing down the gardens we are the RHS of the semi,. BTW their complaint about loss of light was into their back garden - not their house

Can't see what their argument is about losing light, they would only get direct sun light first thing in the morning, the sun would then move around and your houses would create shadow into the backs gardens, then once the sun has cleared the houses it would be on their side and their garden would be in direct sunlight, barring obstruction from other houses on their side.

This is what I'm doing around the boundary of my house

IMG_1186.jpg
 
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