Boundary issue

[shnozz]

OK chaps, I know I should know this, but I drifted off to sleep during most of the conveyancing course I was obliged to do....

How do I establish who must maintain various borders outside my house? Fence panels both sides of my garden have blown down. One side has no adjoining property so must be my responsibility, but how do I know if the "shared" fence is my responsibility or not?

[TheDarkSide]

Your local Land Registry office should be able to confirm, iirc.

Failing that, your mortgage lender will have the title deeds to the house which will have the information you need - the conveyancing solicitors who dealt with the purchase should also have copies.

So that's three places to start looking - HTH

[Flat in Fifth]

Correct answers given above.

There does seem to be a sort of rule of thumb convention that if one stands at the front of property facing towards rear:-
- Fence on LHS is yours,
- Fence on RHS is owned by neighbour on RHS.

Gets complicated at rear as it all depends which is why you need to refer as advised earlier.

eg Villa FiF
LHS/RHS fences as described above.
At the rear the house behind us is at 90 degrees.

So their LHS fence is our rear fence.

Deeds show that their LHS fence up to and level with the rear building line of their property is their fence, beyond that it is our fence. Trouble is the said building line is half way along an 8 foot panel......DOH!

[anonymous-user]

I've just had exactly this issue. A wall on the edge of my property fell down. the house is an old farmhouse that was built C1700. The deeds showed the boundary but no mention of who owns what. I telephoned the land registry who were very helpful. They checked both the records for our house and the adjoining property and established that no mention was made on the details for either. In such a situation they advise you to treat the wall / fence as a party wall / fence. This we did and we are sharing the cost of a new wall.

[shnozz]

Flat in Fifth said:

Correct answers given above. There does seem to be a sort of rule of thumb convention that if one stands at the front of property facing towards rear:- - Fence on LHS is yours, - Fence on RHS is owned by neighbour on RHS. Gets complicated at rear as it all depends which is why you need to refer as advised earlier. eg Villa FiF LHS/RHS fences as described above. At the rear the house behind us is at 90 degrees. So their LHS fence is our rear fence. Deeds show that their LHS fence up to and level with the rear building line of their property is their fence, beyond that it is our fence. Trouble is the said building line is half way along an 8 foot panel......DOH!

balls. How about if I stand at the back door and fence on the RHS is the neighbours Thats the only adjoining fence

Looks like I'll have to put in 4 new posts then.

Its hard to muster enthusiasm when the house is going on the market next week

Thanks for your help chaps

[touchingcloth]

shnozz said:

Flat in Fifth said: Correct answers given above. There does seem to be a sort of rule of thumb convention that if one stands at the front of property facing towards rear:- - Fence on LHS is yours, - Fence on RHS is owned by neighbour on RHS. Gets complicated at rear as it all depends which is why you need to refer as advised earlier. eg Villa FiF LHS/RHS fences as described above. At the rear the house behind us is at 90 degrees. So their LHS fence is our rear fence. Deeds show that their LHS fence up to and level with the rear building line of their property is their fence, beyond that it is our fence. Trouble is the said building line is half way along an 8 foot panel......DOH! balls. How about if I stand at the back door and fence on the RHS is the neighbours Thats the only adjoining fence Looks like I'll have to put in 4 new posts then. Its hard to muster enthusiasm when the house is going on the market next week Thanks for your help chaps

Lh side being yours is correct as a rule of thumb but get it checked out first anyway. Our left hand fence blew down 2 days after moving in, cursing my luck I assumed it was mine based on the above - neighbour popped in just before I booked a man who can and told me it was definitely theirs and seems our street worked backwards to most. This topic has always stumped me though as in a standard run of say 6 houses there would need to be 7 fences so someone must logically have responsibility for 2 fences at some point.


>> Edited by touchingcloth on Saturday 3rd December 11:52

[esselte]

What if there's a fence at the bottom of the garden?Who is responsible for that?

[adqt]

Our property is the reverse of the rule desribed earlier. Our rear fence is on the left as you look out from the house. This was confirmed by a builder who told us to look at who has the 'face' of the fence on their side. On a standard lap fence the 'face' is the side without the support batons.

[anonymous-user]

esselte said:

What if there's a fence at the bottom of the garden?Who is responsible for that?

The Gnomes.

[ncs]

Sounds to me like you need the help of a decent solicitor - do you know any?

Nick