Fence covering

[clogs]

took me a long time to find a place I liked with no neighbours....and up a private road......1/2K to the nearest house......Yesssssss....
shame we cant all do it.....
I'd be happy with the fence but I spend most of my life working in the shed......
I'm v/sorry for ur wife.....
if it upset my wife that much, we'd be moving on.....happy wife--happy life....

 

[timothyedoran]

I have nothing of value to add here at all, but I did read the title as 'face covering'. Must have something else on my mind?

 

[Rorschach]

I have nothing of value to add here at all, but I did read the title as 'face covering'. Must have something else on my mind?

Sshhh, not allowed to talk about that, it upsets our benevolent overlords.

 

[Paul Narramore]

Thanks for the replies.
I took a photo this morning

View attachment 97255

I don’t know if you can tell from the photo but the timber back rails are barely 3/4” thick it really is the cheapest fencing I think I’ve seen so I also now have my doubts about about the quality of the concrete posts & boards as I’ve seen these degrade rapidly before.

With this in mind I’m unwilling to fix anything to it in case I open myself up to liability should, as certainly looks likely with the panels, they fall to picecs in quick time & I’m blamed for premature failure due to anything I’ve fixed to it.

I cannot quite believe what I'm reading. My neighbour has recently replaced his fence with one identical to yours and I find it quite attractive. Especially compared to the ramshackle ancient fence that was there before. Neither do you have to wait 'years' for plants to cover it. I've erected a wire and post framework a few inches away from the fence where I am training climbing roses. I also have an existing Mock Orange bush and an existing Forsythia which partly covers it. I'm really fine with it the way it is.

 

[marcros]

I cannot quite believe what I'm reading. My neighbour has recently replaced his fence with one identical to yours and I find it quite attractive. Especially compared to the ramshackle ancient fence that was there before. Neither do you have to wait 'years' for plants to cover it. I've erected a wire and post framework a few inches away from the fence where I am training climbing roses. I also have an existing Mock Orange bush and an existing Forsythia which partly covers it. I'm really fine with it the way it is.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder though, and the OP doesn't like it!

I think that the wire and post framework is a good idea though, at least for part of it.

 

[Paul Narramore]

I have seen far worse and far cheaper than those. Our front fence is far lower quality and the only parts that have failed are the top capping (loose piece) and the bits that contact the soil (no gravel board). They have been in the 10 years that we have lived here but are a project for the coming spring because the wooden posts have rotted. I don't know about the concrete posts and if/how they degrade. The panels will get wet and dry out but will generally do so without too much hassle. Even my antique ones haven't rotted in the areas where they can dry out and get the wind around them.

If I were you, noting your concerns about fixing to the fence, I would put up with it for 12-24 months whilst your planting grows up. Some freestanding structures for plants to grow up will take the eye away, and things like sweet peas will grow quickly enough next year whilst slower stuff catches up. You could even put up some posts and wires within your side to 4 or 5ft and start to train some stuff along it. Clematis, passiflora, honeysuckle spring to mind but I don't know about your soil, shade or what direction they like to face.

At least they are bow topped panels. New fences always look a bit stark but you will stop noticing so much after a short while. My new one needs painting but it is too cold for the barn paint to adhere (apparently) so it is having to wait. I have already stopped being annoyed by the orange colour after a month.

I can't stand painted fence panels and prefer to allow them to bleach naturally in the sunshine. Once painted the appearance soon goes downhill and will need doing again and again. Next year the fence between me and my neighbours will need replacing. Yes, it's been painted, patched, repaired and screwed, it's time for a new one, and one which will bleach nicely and naturally.

 

[Paul Narramore]

I don't know what silly person decided that the neighbour should look at the good side of the fence if you are paying for it. Certainly wouldn't happen in my garden.

Dear me. The new fence my neighbour's had erected shows the 'wrong side' towards me. Am I bothered? I think it looks fine, and life is much to short to be concerned by such trivia.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Day to day (unless you s[end a lot of time in the garden) you may only be reminded of it from a kitchen or lounge window.

You may be able to obscure it from "day to day" view simply by planting a large shrub (or two) at the start of the run - eg: in the sight line from the kitchen window!

 

[Doug B]

I am more than happy to accept that folks like this style of fencing, I certainly see enough of it going to other people’s properties to work to realise how popular it is, but that doesn’t change the fact that we don’t like the look of it.

I also accept that I have little choice other than to suck it up as someone put it, as Ive already said it is my neighbours boundary & he has done nothing wrong in having it erected, but this still doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Some appear to be under the misunderstanding that this fence has replaced a worn out eyesore of a fence, it has not. The picket fence that was there was only a few years old, there’s was nothing wrong with it & it had been well looked after.

I can only imagine that it was changed to give more privacy but as I’ve also said we were not involved in any consultation just told they were changing it. I fully accept we are stuck with it & just wanted ideas on how to reduce its impact as we spend a lot of time in the garden.

I would happily move house to one down a beaten track with no neighbours if it wasn’t for the fact it’s taken me 16 years to get the workshop of my dreams & I really don’t want to start again, then again

 

[Yorkieguy]

It’s a common but mistaken belief that fences between properties belong to one party or the other, but that is often not the case. It might be worthwhile for you check the Title Deeds and Land Registry entry as to the ownership and responsibility of boundary fences and walls. Due to a dispute with a neighbour as to ownership of the fence between her property and ours, which she believed she had sole ownership of and thought she was within he rights to remove it, I checked the deeds of our house, the relevant pasts of which are numbers 4 & 5.3 below:

As regards ‘ownership’ S 5.3 states:

‘the division of walls or fences separating the property from other sites except where otherwise marked with a “T” mark shall be mesne or party walls and fences and shall at all times be used, maintained and enjoyed accordingly’…

There are no “T” marks on the site plans and thus, both the fence between her garden and ours, and that portion of the wall/fence along our drive are in shared ownership with a shared responsibility for maintaining it. She unilaterally removed the fence without discussion with us due to her mistaken belief that it was wholly her fence to do with as she wished. It most certainly is not.

As to duties and responsibilities outlined in the deeds for keeping the fences and walls in good order, S 4.1 of the deeds states: ‘the transferee will pay a reasonable proportion of the expense of repairing maintaining and renewing all party walls and fences and all service lines used or intended to be used in common with any other person or persons’.

4.2 states: ‘the transferee will at all times hereafter maintain repair and when necessary renew with a similar type the fences (if any) on those boundaries of the Property as belong to the Property’.

4.3 states: ‘the transferee will permit the person upon whom or in whose favour the same are excepted and reserved freely to use and enjoy the easement rights and privileges excepted and reserved in the Second Schedule hereto’

Hence, in accordance with the Title Deeds it follows that she and we, have a shared duty and responsibility to maintain the fence in good order and when necessary, to ‘replace it with one of a similar type’. As she unilaterally removed the fence, it fell to her to replace it with one of a similar type at her expense, which she did, but would not have done had I not checked the deeds and drawn the error of her ways to her attention

So, you might be in a much stronger position than you believe.

Hope that might help.

David.

 

[Rorschach]

@Yorkieguy you are referring to fences on boundaries though where they are in shared ownership.

If the fence is on your own property and you own it, you can do what you like with it.

Did your neighbour seek legal advice? If not, she should have, you might well have been in the wrong.

 

[Yorkieguy]

But often, fences are not on 'your own property'.

When streets of houses are built by a developer they will generally have identical deeds. (This is an estate of 40 private houses built by a developer 30 years ago). If there are 'T' marks on the plans then yes, that indicates who the boundary wall or fence belongs to. The deeds make it clear enough, as they did in our case, (joint responsibility to maintain). Without checking the deeds, householders may often make mistaken assumptions. I've no doubt in my case, the neighbour had an honest but mistaken belief that the fence was hers to do with as she wished. She is now better informed.

As to whether or not she sought legal advice, I've no idea, but I did, as I did when a wild cherry that she'd planted within a metre of the boundary fence and two metres from our brick garage and greenhouse fifteen years ago, had grown to such proportions (already 40 feet high, and still immature) that it was overhanging our property and the roots were disturbing our patio slabs and undermining our brick greenhouse foundations. I obtained an arboriculturist report which indicated that it was the wrong tree in the wrong place and the only way to abate the nuisance was for it to be felled. Fortunately I have free legal cover on my house insurance, and she was given notice by lawyers that unless she removed the tree within 28 days a civil action to abate the nuisance would ensure and would proceed to court. The tree was duly felled.

It also states in our deeds that the front gardens must retain an 'open aspect, with no hedges or fences'. However, at the front of her garden adjacent to the pavement, some years ago she planted a laurel hedge which is now 14 ft high and 6ft deep, overhanging the pavement. Not a matter of concern for me, but it is for the Local Authority as the hedge is obstructing the pavement (classed as part of the Highway).

It would be quite wrong for me to refer to her as a 'nightmare neighbour' as she's rarely to be seen. She is simply reclusive, estranged from all other neighbours, has venetian blinds at every widow which are always closed.

All I'm saying is that it makes sense (to me anyway), to not make assumptions about who owns what, but to check the deeds. Where life does get complicated with boundary disputes, is that the the lines on the plans do not indicate with total precision exactly where the boundary is, which is why boundary disputes so often escalate over a 15cm strip.

In conclusion, I didn't think the fence in the first post of this thread looked too bad. Much better than a dilapidated one. But it seems to me that both the OP and his neighbour have an honest belief that it's the neighbour's fence to do with as they wish. That might be so - it might not.

In a troubled world, it makes sense for neighbours to try to get along together as best they're able.

 

[Rorschach]

@Yorkieguy sorry but you are not correct there. The deeds set out who is responsible for maintaining a boundary, not necessarily who owns the fence/wall that is on it. If you build a fence on a boundary that your neighbour is responsible for maintaining, that doesn't mean your neighbour now owns that fence. We built/own the wall on one of our boundaries but technically the neighbour is responsible for it on their deeds. The neighbour wanted a fence but since the ground height changes at the boundary we opted to build a retaining wall instead at our own cost. We own that wall no matter what any deed says about boundary maintenance.

Could it have been the same for your neighbour? Sounds like there is a possibility you bullied your neighbour into doing something she might not have been legally liable for as she could well have legally owned that fence.