Windy and stormy weather can leave fences damaged or broken beyond repair, which means they’ll often need to be replaced completely. Brits even need to be careful when painting fences, as they’ll need to let their neighbour know if it’s theirs. It can be hard to determine who’s responsible for picking up the bill, but according to experts at Jacksons Fencing, there are some ways to tell who owns which side of the fence.
The first port of call to do is to look out who owns the “good side” of the fence. While this doesn’t always determine who is responsible, it can help. The experts said: “Typically, you can guess who owns a fence by seeing where the rails are, with the fence typically facing away from their property so that the neighbour gets the ‘good’ side of the fence.
“This is the most secure way of facing fencing, so there are no rails for anyone to use to climb into your garden.
“This is then repeated with the neighbour on the other side to ensure that each home has both a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fence side.”
However, there is no law that your neighbour has to get the good side of the fence, so it could be the case that both sides look the same.
If this is the case, it is best to check the legal documents to state the ownership of the property boundaries.
The experts said: “Contrary to common belief, there is not a designated side of the fence to each property. The only way to know for certain who owns what side is to refer to the Title Plan or Land Registry.
“In this, the ’T’ mark is used to indicate who the boundary belongs to and therefore who is responsible for its upkeep.”
If the ’T’ mark appears on both sides to form an ‘H’, the fence is shared, according to the fence pros.
This means that both neighbours are responsible for the maintenance of the fence, which is known as a “party wall”, or a “party fence”.
While walls built on the boundary of two properties are covered under the Party Wall Act, ordinary garden fences are unnconnected to this legilsation.
In some cases, the boundary listed in the documents could be outdated and therefore not connected.
This often happens if the boundary has been altered since they were drawn up, or if neighbours have been using your land unknowingly.
If you think the boundary is incorrect, the fencing pros recommend checking the Land Registry to find out who is responsible for the fence.
The experts added: “Frustratingly, there is no way to make your neighbour repair their fence, even if it is rotting and making your garden look unsightly.
“You can look to hire a disputes expert, but this will go down as an official dispute and will have to be declared when selling your house. The only way to get around this would be to install your own fence within your boundary, right next to it.”