Boundary fence height

[The Gauge]

Looking for comments regarding legally erecting a boundary fence when there is a difference in heights between two gardens.

I've just helped a mate erect a fence directly on his garden boundary, back story is he has bought a strip of land from a neighbour who's rear garden backs onto his. The old fella (neighbour) passed away and the family agreed to sell him a strip of the garden so my mate can widen his path down the side of his house. All very simple and the new fence looks good, it needed erecting quickly as viewings for the neighbours empty property are about to take place, so my mate wanted a physical bounty in place.

Here's the fence when stood in the neighbours garden which slopes down and away from the fence..





To remain legal we kept the fence just slightly under 2m high when measured on the neighbours side, the neighbours garden slopes away from the fence so it kind of looks taller than it is from their side. With my mates land being about 50cm higher up than the neighbours, once he has widened the path by the side of his house the fence will only be about 1.5m tall on his side which doesn't offer much privacy to either party when he's walking along the path. Privacy wasn't an issue before as the two parties were good friends, but the new neighbours will soon be moving in so he'd like to provide a bit more privacy for all concerned. We couldn't put the fence on his side as the path by the side of his house hasn't been widened yet to be able to erect it on.

One option is to erect a new fence about 1.8m high on his path once it's been widened, and remove the other fence, but then the fence will be about 2.3m high on the neighbours side, which with the gradient of the neighbours garden could look a bit imposing. But I guess it would be legal? We couldn't build the new fence to the desired height for my mate as that would have looked too imposing and would be illegal until my mate has widened his path.

Here's the current area of 'no mans land' showing the strip of land he has purchased, my mates property is on the right with his original fence which will eventually come down, and the neighbours garden and new fence on the left..

Edited by The Gauge on Friday 12th July 07:51

[Arrivalist]

If the neighbour is happy with a taller fence then just do it. Who’s going to complain?

I did this with a neighbour in my last place as we both wanted the privacy. Fence is still there 10 years later as far as I know.

[The Gauge]

Arrivalist said:

If the neighbour is happy with a taller fence then just do it. Who’s going to complain?

I did this with a neighbour in my last place as we both wanted the privacy. Fence is still there 10 years later as far as I know.

He'll have to have that conversation with the new neighbours, but the house hasn't been sold yet so we had to just work with what we had.

[Arrivalist]

The Gauge said:

Arrivalist said:

If the neighbour is happy with a taller fence then just do it. Who’s going to complain?

I did this with a neighbour in my last place as we both wanted the privacy. Fence is still there 10 years later as far as I know.

He'll have to have that conversation with the new neighbours, but the house hasn't been sold yet so we had to just work with what we had.

Sorry, missed the part about neighbour selling. In that case it’s a risk he’s either willing to take or not.

You could always wait for the new people to move in and ask for permission but that risks a rejection.

Or

Erect a new fence now and hope they don’t care but risk a complaint.

[The Gauge]

We could have built a fence to the desired 2.5m height so that it was good from my mates side, but would have breeched regs as the land on my mates side of the fence is currently the same level as the neighbours (until his path has been widened). Though you're right, we could have risked doing it.

[thebraketester]

If you want to put in a higher fence you need to do it fast. Throwing up a new taller fence as the new neighbours are unpacking their royal doulton will almost certainly lead to a sub optimal interneighbourly (have I just made a word up?) outcome.

[OutInTheShed]

Surely a 6ft fence is adequate privacy?
Do you have many friends whose eye level is above that?

[Vtekkers]

looks like you guys have left the post a little long which is good for now, I would put a trellis type of panel in those sections and if there is any complaint from the otherside regarding regs then there is the option to remove without disturbing the rest of the fencing that has been done which i would be fine with but you know how people like to moan, its a risk i would be willing to take

[Promised Land]

OutInTheShed said:

Surely a 6ft fence is adequate privacy?
Do you have many friends whose eye level is above that?

So you have not read the OP’s post then?

On his mates side the ground level is higher hence it is not the same height to the top of the fence as on his new neighbours side.

1500 high from ground level on his own side.

[Mr Pointy]

I'm sure I've read previous posts where the 2m height is measured on the high side, not the low side.

[SunsetZed]

Will it affect light in their house / garden? If not then I'd speak to the neighbours when they move in. The majority of people aren't going to want the neighbours seeing into their garden if they can avoid it.

[Drumroll]

If the ground slopes away on the neighbours side, why make it higher?

[The Gauge]

Drumroll said:

If the ground slopes away on the neighbours side, why make it higher?

Because when my mate walks down his path by the side of his house his head and shoulders will be above the fence and he'll be able to look directly into the neighbours garden, and when the neighbour is in their garden they will see my mates head above the fence, which isn't ideal for them,

The issue is - at the time of installing the fence the land immediately on my mates side of the fence is the same level as the neighbours, so the fence had to be no higher than 2m to comply with regs, but when he widens his path it will be higher than the neighbours side by half a meter.

He could of course then put up a new fence on his path but then the neighbour will see both fences, which will be unsightly for them. They may then prefer to take down the fence we have built so they only see the one fence. I guess by then the current fence isn't a problem for my mate as he wont see it, but we both prefer to do a proper job and keep things looking neat and professional.

Edited by The Gauge on Friday 12th July 09:43

[megaphone]

I'd just stick some trellis along the top and stop worrying about it.

[The Gauge]

Mr Pointy said:

I'm sure I've read previous posts where the 2m height is measured on the high side, not the low side.

I believe this to be correct, but as my mate hasn't yet widened the path along the side of his house, the land is currently at the same level both sides of the fence so we were restricted by the 2m regs.

Vtekkers said:

looks like you guys have left the post a little long which is good for now, I would put a trellis type of panel in those sections

yes we purposely left them long to give us options. Adding a trellis now would breech the 2m regs, so we have left it until the new neighbour moves in to discuss with them. In the meantime the long posts look a little unsightly.


The problem being the trellis would be at face height for my mate and he would still be able to see straight down into the neighbours garden, which if I were the neighbour I wouldn't like that. He'll have to wait till the house sells and discuss with the new neighbour.

Edited by The Gauge on Friday 12th July 09:50

[Mr Pointy]

Why will the height of the fence measured on the higher side be more than it is now? Is he going to build the ground up so it's level on his side?

The posts look daft: just build the fence 2m higher measured from the high side & have it finished before the house is sold.

[119]

The Gauge said:

Looking for comments regarding legally erecting a boundary fence when there is a difference in heights between two gardens.

I've just helped a mate erect a fence directly on his garden boundary, back story is he has bought a strip of land from a neighbour who's rear garden backs onto his. The old fella (neighbour) passed away and the family agreed to sell him a strip of the garden so my mate can widen his path down the side of his house. All very simple and the new fence looks good, it needed erecting quickly as viewings for the neighbours empty property are about to take place, so my mate wanted a physical bounty in place.

Here's the fence when stood in the neighbours garden which slopes down and away from the fence..





To remain legal we kept the fence just slightly under 2m high when measured on the neighbours side, the neighbours garden slopes away from the fence so it kind of looks taller than it is from their side. With my mates land being about 50cm higher up than the neighbours, once he has widened the path by the side of his house the fence will only be about 1.5m tall on his side which doesn't offer much privacy to either party when he's walking along the path. Privacy wasn't an issue before as the two parties were good friends, but the new neighbours will soon be moving in so he'd like to provide a bit more privacy for all concerned. We couldn't put the fence on his side as the path by the side of his house hasn't been widened yet to be able to erect it on.

One option is to erect a new fence about 1.8m high on his path once it's been widened, and remove the other fence, but then the fence will be about 2.3m high on the neighbours side, which with the gradient of the neighbours garden could look a bit imposing. But I guess it would be legal? We couldn't build the new fence to the desired height for my mate as that would have looked too imposing and would be illegal until my mate has widened his path.

Here's the current area of 'no mans land' showing the strip of land he has purchased, my mates property is on the right with his original fence which will eventually come down, and the neighbours garden and new fence on the left..

Edited by The Gauge on Friday 12th July 07:51

Did he build the fence before getting any required proof that he has bought the land?

[DaveA8]

2 metres from the higher side or as high as you want and just say it replaced an existing fence of a similar height that had been there for years, I forgot my phone on that day so couldn't take any pictures, sorry.
No one's interested and unless the new neighbour is Glenn Quagmire and a bevy of beauties routinely sunbath in the garden, they'll be glad of the height

[The Gauge]

Mr Pointy said:

Why will the height of the fence measured on the higher side be more than it is now? Is he going to build the ground up so it's level on his side?

Yes, his ground level is 50cm higher than the neighbours garden. He plans to extend his ground level across to the new boundary fence, when he does this the fence on his side will be too low as he'll be able to see straight over it. Guess he'll have to talk to the new neighbours about any changes future once they have moved in.

Mr Pointy said:

The posts look daft

They have been left long to give him options to possibly add a trellis, or horizontal lengths of timber to possibly make up the height in the future.

A simpler way would have been to build a 2.5m fence on the boundary, but this could have looked oppressive from the neighbours point of view, and would have breeched regs as he hasn't increased the level of the land on his side yet.

[drmotorsport]

I live on a hill on the lower side to the neighbours and own the fence. I read the rules to mean that the fence can only be max 2m high on the natural ground on which it in installed. Sadly my neighbours are nosy irratating morons and I would dearly love to put some higher panels in but feel it would look a bit weird and a hedge would be best but that makes future fence maintenance problematic.

Basically if the future neighbours don't like the fence they can always plant a hedge where there are no height limits.