Garden fence, should I? ?

The way I see it, is ask yourself honestly if your neighbour asked you to pay for half their fence would you happily contribute, because I wouldn't.

We would because I am surprised that we don't seem to be responsible for any of the fences on our boundaries so it only seems fair to either share the cost or help maintain them. It's to our benefit too.

I was under the impression that the left hand side fences were your responsibility? Works well here. Good fences make for good neighbours I think.

Out of interest, what is the fence like that your neighbours are responsible for? If it is well maintained then I would imagine having a shabby looking fence on the other side of the garden irritates them. I’m only saying this because the same thing happened to us and after many years of never a harsh word being spoken between us it turned out they’d been upset about the fence for years and it almost came to blows. Might be an idea to slip something into conversation about how worried you are that the fence needs replacing but that you haven’t got the funds to do it but that you will as and when you can afford it. They might then be quite pleased to reply that they’d be happy to chip in to get it done quicker, not having wanted to raise the issue themselves.

Good Evening; We have something called the "Fence Act"which covers this situation.
I think Grandad's comments are supported by this; nowhere does it propose referring the situation to an "Open Forum Chat Show"

Fence Act Victoria.
"If you are a property owner, you and your neighbour have equal responsibility for the dividing fence between your properties.

If the fence needs to be repaired or replaced there are rules about:

who pays
the type of fence to be built
the notices that you need to give one another
how to resolve disputes.
Discuss the work that needs to be done with your neighbour first. If you can make decisions together and agree to share any expenses, get this agreement in writing.

Legally you are required to contribute to a fence that is sufficient for the purpose it is needed. If your neighbour wants a more expensive fence, they will usually have to pay the difference in cost between a sufficient dividing fence and the higher standard."

QED; Good Health.
OoRoo

We have put up approx 25 metres of fencing so far and are about to put up another 60 or so as our neighbours house is on the market and he assumed that the hedge line is his boundary.
Not so, the original boundary wire fence is still in place, so that this doesn’t disappear we have photographed it and pulled it out of the undergrowth, he will lose about a foot of what he thought was his land.
But best to reestablish the line before buyers and Solicitors get involved and we can’t prove anything because the fence has mysteriously vanished.

Grandad the OP was very mild. What an over reaction! Alsowhy do you always feel the need to tell us you’re off to the office ? Why is that relevant ?

May7

I was under the impression that the left hand side fences were your responsibility? Works well here. Good fences make for good neighbours I think.

No, the Ts go the other way on the plans!
Strange but true.

Alsowhy do you always feel the need to tell us you’re off to the office ?

So we won't be worrying about him if he doesn't post for a few hours.
You know how women always worry, Lucca
?

Lucca

Grandad the OP was very mild. What an over reaction! Alsowhy do you always feel the need to tell us you’re off to the office ? Why is that relevant ?

Just looked in while working. I always state I am off to the office as when I did not I had a forum member ask me a question of a post I made early one morning. That forum member then by mid afternoon that day made a post stating I was "dodging answering the question".

So, these days I always state I am signing off and that is the way it will stay.

SO, dammed if I do, dammed if I do not, or could it demonstrate a high level of misandry among some forum members. ?

Anyway back to work once again, so byeeeee. ???

Grandad1943, so where exactly did I "slag off" my neighbours?

I said that I appreciated the chaps help, (and thanked him at the time for doing it) but that the fence was less than level, I mentioned that Mrs can be a bit "prickly" and wears the trousers, she herself would be the first to admit that.

During lockdown, we picked up shopping for each other, shared any excess (On a couple of occasions, Mr P bought more salad than we could eat, so I messaged her to check that she could use it, then left it on the doorstep).

No "slagging off" in any of my posts on this thread.

Oh misandry again of course.

Exactly Phoenix.

Has Mr. Neighbour suggested that the fence needs replacing, phoenix?

mentioned that Mrs can be a bit "prickly" and wears the trousers


Misogyny to add to your misdemeanours, phoenix!

Have a chat with them about how to sort out the leaning of the fence.

Maybe a local handy-person could improve the situation without spending a lot of money and without offending the neighbours.

Why did Mr Neighbour offer to fix the fence?
Was it because it was falling down and it looked like nothing was going to be done about it?
Was it because you were having a chat with the neighbours and mentioned that you couldn't afford to fix it at the moment?
Or?

Perhaps the neighbours feel that they've done their bit to be helpful and any further improvements are up to you.

Thank you Lucca

Merlot Mr is a lovely chap, but really only interested in things mechanical ?, Mrs is more keen on how the garden looks ,had it landscaped late last year, lots of hard paving, as they want a low maintenance garden, but have planted bee friendly plants in the border, and some fruit trees, one of which will suffer if the fence does go over.

Farnorth We have spoken to our local chap, he thinks some of it might be salvegable, but would still be fairly expensive to sort. I will of course talk to them, as what we do with the fence also affects the look of their garden.

So is it your fence then pheonix?
Rather than as you stated earlier planting a seed, I would just be direct and ask them. Good luck.

Whenever I’ve bought a house I have always found out whose fence belongs to who.
If it’s my fence, boundary hedge, whatever then it’s up to me (well us!, mainly him) to look after it.
It wouldn’t occur to me to ask our neighbour to help. We even cut our hedge on both sides. The neighbour has never offered to get out their hedge cutter but is happy for us to do the job.

Good luck phoenix, if you don’t ask you don’t get.

Farnorth the fence blew over in some very strong winds, Mr P was working away, and the neighbours were worried about their 3 large dogs going awol!

We've deleted this post because we don't feel it is very kind towards another poster and not in keeping with the spirit of Gransnet.

Oh Grandad1943 find something else to do rather than over analyse my posts!

Surely this is a situational and financial matter that should have been spoken in regard of between the two parties involved and never brought on to a forum such as this for open discussion.

I'm not sure what your problem with the OP is Grandad but if we were all to follow your advice and not discuss anything on this forum that has been between 2 parties, there would be no discussions at all and probably no GN either! Give the OP a break; she's said nothing unpleasant about her neighbours but you seem to be oddly insistent on making this as contentious as possible for some reason.

Grandad you always seem to pop up on Phoenix's threads, ready to criticise and condemn.

We enjoy her quirky views on life, especially at the moment.

We have read threads about people in your office, especially about a young man who came to work dressed in an inappropriate t shirt and jeans, easily identifiable if anyone cared to bother, and how you managed to get rid of him. Might I suggest, therefore, that you are in no position to criticise phoenix's lighthearted remarks.

It used to be another poster's turn to be targeted and I have noticed that she rarely posts any more even though GN is, I think, a lifeline for her.
Now it seems to be Phoenix's.

If this post is deleted I care not a toot.

Just to add, Grandad1943 you have added another thing to be thankful for to my list, one being that I'm so glad we are not governed by Donald Trump, and the other that you are not my neighbour, and to save you the bother, yes, I'm sure the feeling is mutual.

Will that suit you, or do you want to have another dig?