Neighbours Improvements are Damaging our Fence
Jereboy001
Posts: 2
The neighbours have had extensive work done to the front and rear of their house, the result of this being a lot of the groundwork had been dumped in their "garden", so rather than remove it they have had it levelled and "turfed".
This, however, means that the soil level is above the concrete baseframe that holds our fence panels in place, consequently, it is now starting to rot the bottoms of at least three of the six panels - now these panels were not in great shape, so are due for renewal, however, if we do get new fence panels now they will rot through in no time.
We have discussed this with the neighbour, who said he will put a kickboard in place - but that only seems like a temporary measure as the soil level is still too high.
What can we do?
Last edited: 18 March 2017 06:29:21
Posts
As this fence divides your property from them presumably they are responsible 50/50 for maintenance. I would ask them to have the baseframe raised to sit on top of their new ground level. Their expense then you can share the cost of new panels. Advantages to this is that you can top up your beds with lots of lovely organic material.
Meant to also say that even if kick board put in by them was high enough the area behind it will eventually silt up so that is a complete no-no.
What sort of height differenc are you talking about? If it's only inches, it's not really an issue, but if it's a foot or more, that's tricky. If that's the case, and they agree to raising the new fence to their new ground level, you'll have to put something else in place to retain the ground. Otherwise, any planting on your side is at risk.
I'd get that in place first. If they just go and put a new fence in at their ground level, the soil will all slide into your garden.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Ownership / responsibility for the fence will depend on what is said or shown on the deeds. There is no automatic assumption that a dividing fence is joint responsibility. If the fence is the responsibility of the OP then they also have the right to insist that the neighbour remove the soil which is the cause of the damage.
If the fence posts are concrete, putting an additional 6" gravel board in place before replacing the fence might provide a permanent solution.
Hi Esspee,
The general consensus seems to be that the fence on the right hand side is that neighbours responsibility, so as this is on the left side of our garden, it's down to us.
I think I'll let him put in a kickboard, because, as you say, it will silt up and I think it will end up washing away all his "good work" because of the slope of the garden.
Hi Fairygirl,
The problem is our gardens slopes away from the house, the neighbour has tried to level it, however, the fencing frame is stepped down to compensate for the slope so it get higher towards the bottom of the garden. It would be impossible to raise the height of the fence as the panels slot into the pre cast concrete frame. A 6" kickboard may do the trick, again as long as it's stepped down with the frame.