Fence dispute

[featherbag]

Don't want to out myself so forgive me if I'm a little vague - how would I go about finding out which house is responsible for replacing the fence between them? 4 semi-detached houses in a row - house 1 accepts responsibility for the fence between 1 and 2; house 3 accepts responsibility for the fence between 3 and 4 - is house 2 therefore responsible for the fence between 2 and 3? Surely the owner of house 2 can't just refuse to accept responsibility for any of the fences? I am not the owner of any of the houses btw, so I'm not on here trying to get out of paying for anything!

The fence between the bottom of house 2's garden and the garden backing on was paid for by the owners of the other house too. The fence in question is a panelled one, so no fence posts more on one side than the other or anything like that.

[AgentProvocateur]

It will be in the deeds of the house. I would think it unlikely that house 2 has no responsibility for any of the fences, though.

[featherbag]

I think it highly unlikely too! How would someone go about finding out, if they weren't the owner of the property?

[LadySybilDeChocolate]

IIRC, the fence on the left is your responsibility so it depends on which direction your houses face. Clear as mud?

[featherbag]

That fits with which fences the other houses are claiming responsibility for LadySybil, but is this an enforceable rule? Or just a 'gentlemens' agreement' type thingy?

[AgentProvocateur]

What LadySybil said could be right. Ours is certainly on the left, although we share costs with both sides because we're civilised

If you didn't own the property, you'd need to pay to get a copy of the deeds from the Land Registry, I think

[LadySybilDeChocolate]

T'ones at the end are a party wall so the owners of both properties share the costs, the owners are responsible for the fences on the left. Both fences here have been replaced, neighbour on the right of me paid for the fence on my right, I paid for the fence on the left.

[LadySybilDeChocolate]

You don't need deeds. You're making it more difficult then it needs to be.

[ggirl]

shouldn't house one have the fence on their left then house 2 their left and so on
check on the deeds , which you will need to settle the dispute

[featherbag]

Thanks for the responses all, I will advise accordingly!

[Collaborate]

You can't answer this without examining the deeds. Otherwise it's just guessing. There are no presumptions of the types described.

[bemybebe]

Our house doesn't have responsibility for any of the fences in the deeds (plenty of other stuff though). The house was originally on a large plot and when the old owners sold parcels of their land for development, they put the responsibility for fences on the new owners. So, though we have fences with all the neighbours, none ois our responsibility. Just saying it does happen.

[MamaChocoholic]

our deeds say we have shared responsibility for all fences with our neighbours, so it is not necessarily "the fence on the left".

[Collaborate]

bemybebe: unless the deeds say that your property has no responsibility (i.e. it positively says that your neighbours own the boundary wall/fence) then you may still be responsible. In the event of a dispute the court would use common law rules for deciding on responsibility. Often deeds are silent as to both sides of a boundary.

[bemybebe]

our deeds explicitly say the neighbours own the fences collaborate

[olgaga]

We are responsible for the fence on the RIGHT, as are the five houses to our left, because the last house has a fenced public path on their left.

Our neighbours are not responsible for their back fences, that's the responsibility of the houses behind. However, we are responsible for our back fence, presumably because there are two plots behind it.

You definitely have to look at the deeds!

[SoupDragon]

You can pay to look at the plan on the Land Registry website. The owned fence will (or rather should) be marked.