Who owns the fence seperating me and the people living behind me's garden ?

J0hnick

Hi,

I live in a terraced house and have a fence at the back of my garden separating me and the person living behind me. A couple of weeks back when we had the really bad winds, the fence started to give way.




Its now starting to fall into the garden of the person living behind me, here's a side on photo I took on a ladder.



The old woman living behind me just knocked on my door and asked me if I would sort it out. She said that it was my fence, and that the person who lived there before me built the fence originally to sort the issue.

Here's the thing, I only have her word to go on that this is my problem because the person who lived here before me said it was, that person is dead now, so I cant ask them about it. Also, if I had done something to the fence myself I would totally pay for it to be fixed, but this was an act of god, if it wasn't for the bad weather almost blowing the fence over then this wouldn't be an issue. I had a similar problem with the side wall separating me and my neighbor, but his house is a council house so they payed for a new wall to be built, both me and the people living behind me are paying mortgages so neither of them are council houses.

I'm just wondering who owns what and who has to pay for it, the old woman wasn't mad at me, but she did have a bit of a "would ya ever sort it out fast" tone to her, and I get the impression she's not willing to pay for any of it.

Thanks in advance.

J0hnick

Ive had a look at the "LAND AND CONVEYANCING LAW REFORM ACT 2009"

It doesn't mention anything about ho is liable for damages if its an act of god, it just states the following regarding ownership,

45.—(1) A building owner who is in dispute with an adjoining owner with respect to exercise of rights under section 44 may apply to the court for an order authorising the carrying out of specified works (a “works order”)

hfallada

I think on boundary walls or a fence in this case is split half and half. She benefits as much from this fence as you do. So If the fence needs to be rebuilt she needs to pay half and you pay the other half

J0hnick

hfallada wrote: »

I think on boundary walls or a fence in this case is split half and half. She benefits as much from this fence as you do. So If the fence needs to be rebuilt she needs to pay half and you pay the other half

I'm fine with that, but even though she didn't say it outright, I'm 99% sure she was implying that because the previous owner built the fence that its now my responsibility. I guess I'm going to have to have some choice words with her, I wonder how she would have felt if the wind blew the other way and it was my garden the fence was about to fall into ? .

P. Breathnach

I'd suggest that you take down the fence and then have a discussion with her about what should be done about erecting a new fence or wall. Make it clear that it should be a joint project, with each of you contributing 50% of the cost.

hfallada

Like the fence wasnt done right in the first place( it havent been the usually back then). But today a fence like that uses thick concrete posts which are stunk in cement. We had to replace our boundary fence and the materials at trade prices were about 2500 for 40 feet.

Remove the fence and leave it for a few weeks before talking to her. I imagine she will change her tone fairly quickly when you are looking at her washing her dishes.

J0hnick

Thanks for the input lads, Ill pop over to her after work tomorrow, hopefully it doesn't get confrontational :eek: .

hfallada wrote: »

Remove the fence and leave it for a few weeks before talking to her. I imagine she will change her tone fairly quickly when you are looking at her washing her dishes.

Lol, I'm not going to touch it for now but if it happens to fall or get blow into either of our gardens in the mean time, she'll have a great view of my underpants on the line

the_syco

J0hnick wrote: »

I guess I'm going to have to have some choice words with her

Honey gets better results than vinegar. It looks like you have a wall on one side of your garden, and a half wall half fence on the other side. Get prices for both of them, and pick the cheapest. Tell her you'll go halves on it. I'm guessing the current fence only has four posts supporting it, and this was going to happen sooner or later.

OMD

J0hnick wrote: »

Thanks for the input lads, Ill pop over to her after work tomorrow, hopefully it doesn't get confrontational :eek: .



Lol, I'm not going to touch it for now but if it happens to fall or get blow into either of our gardens in the mean time, she'll have a great view of my underpants on the line

Be very careful. You are assuming it is a shared fence. It maybe but I doubt it. From the pictures it looks like it is on your property not hers and if so you are 100% responsible.

Moonbeam

I would take it down if it becomes a danger but repair it if it is minor.
If ti is a danger and you need to take it down then she might see the mutual benefit of a joint rebuild.

J0hnick

OMD wrote: »

Be very careful. You are assuming it is a shared fence. It maybe but I doubt it. From the pictures it looks like it is on your property not hers and if so you are 100% responsible.

I hope your wrong, I have to get my boiler replaced at the start of next month and that's going to cost me 1100 euro minimum :-(

OMD

J0hnick wrote: »

I hope your wrong, I have to get my boiler replaced at the start of next month and that's going to cost me 1100 euro minimum :-(

From the pictures it looks like there is a significant drop between your garden and your neighbours. If so more than likely this drop is the border between the properties and again if so the fence appears to be on your side ie above the drop and is yours. Might not mean the replacement has to be though.

Ray Palmer

In fairness why don't you fix the fence? I would be very unhappy with that as your neighbour. You obviously don't care about your garden

Amirani

OMD wrote: »

Be very careful. You are assuming it is a shared fence. It maybe but I doubt it. From the pictures it looks like it is on your property not hers and if so you are 100% responsible.

If it's his fence surely he can just take it down if he wants?

He wouldn't really have any responsibility to build a replacement either? If your neighbour isn't willing to contribute, tell them to build their own fence, in their own garden.

Amirani

Ray Palmer wrote: »

In fairness why don't you fix the fence? I would be very unhappy with that as your neighbour. You obviously don't care about your garden

Why should they not contribute to it together? They're both benefiting equally from any repairs.

sweetie

thats a cheap boiler!

Phonehead

If it will be costly to put a new fence up why not take it down and replace with a hedge?

Hunterbiker

If you do find its your fence and you are a bit tight for cash you could always just mark the boundary with post and wire couldn't you? That's got to be a cheap option until you can sort out the fence properly. You can always reuse panels if they are okay which woukd cut costs.

Tayla

J0hnick wrote: »

The old woman living behind me just knocked on my door and asked me if I would sort it out. She said that it was my fence, and that the person who lived there before me built the fence originally to sort the issue.

What was the issue?

pwurple

That fence looks downright dangerous. Take it down before it collapses on top of the neighbour or someone else.

J0hnick

Phonehead wrote: »

If it will be costly to put a new fence up why not take it down and replace with a hedge?

Wouldn't they have to maintain said hedge from there end then ?, they have there back converted and covered in slabs (which is what I am looking to do myself eventually) so I don't think they would go for that. Thanks though.

Tayla wrote: »

What was the issue?

The last time it fell down I assume ?, all I know is the previous owner built the existing fence.

sweetie wrote: »

thats a cheap boiler!

Its normally 1700 but I get a certain percentage off apparently.

riclad

WELL if it falls on someone you could get sued.
You could just put down 4 wooden or concrete pillars ,4ft deep to secure the fence and stabilize it.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20518294,00.html

J0hnick

riclad wrote: »

WELL if it falls on someone you could get sued.
You could just put down 4 wooden or concrete pillars ,4ft deep to secure the fence and stabilize it.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20518294,00.html

Thanks for the info, Ive got a carpenter coming to look at it tomorrow hopefully.

J0hnick

Sorry to bump an old thread.

Got a carpenter to fix the fence, neighbor was happy, but then we had that bad wind in February and it totally blew it face down on my side of the garden.



Ive taken down the fence since



Does anyone know what the cheapest solution to this would be ?. The old women behind me hasn't come near me since, probably because it fell in on my side and not here's, but its an eye sore. I just got engaged recently so need it fixed as cheap as possible, I was thinking about a hedge seeing as she has one separating her from her neighbor on the right hand side.

the_syco

How cheap is cheap? Maybe http://www.shedworldwexford.com/new/index.php?page=fencing&quality=low ?

You'll want something that has concrete pillars. The fence to the right would probably be ideal?

murphaph

I would leave it as it is for a while and see can you come to an agreement about splitting the costs for a new boundary fence. You have the bigger garden and no offence, she seems to take more care of her garden than you do of yours so I reckon it'll be bothering her more than you! I had a boundary wall blow down during storms a few years back. The wall was originally built by the previous owner of my place but my insurance said the costs would have to be split 50:50 with my neighbours, who agreed and made a simultaneous claim for half the cost on their own insurance.

J0hnick

murphaph wrote: »

no offence, she seems to take more care of her garden than you do

Lol, none taken, I hate my Garden and cant wait for the day I can cover the damn thing in concrete ;-) . Never thought about my home insurance, I might look into that, cheers :-).

jiminho

It's funny how people carry on, actually it's funny how the Irish carry on. Don't want to pay for anything ever. The only way to solve the problem is to get a proper concrete pillar/base fence. You can certainly get a hedge as an alternative too I guess. Costs wise, it's simple, 50/50. Go up, knock on her door and politely say that you will split the costs 50/50. If she says no, you can't force her to do it but any reasonable person would. As a deterrent, why not put up a clothes line at the back of the garden? Trust me, one week of looking at your underwear and she will poney up the money.

Just my two cents :rolleyes:

hoodwinked

well an easy way to do it is who is looking at the back of the fence.

does yours look like this on one side?

because if it's on her side she has the back of your fence to look at so you'll pay, but obviously it would be best to come to a 50-50 agreement.

denver62002

Ray Palmer wrote: »

In fairness why don't you fix the fence? I would be very unhappy with that as your neighbour. You obviously don't care about your garden

What???