Kind of off topic, legal

[SS]

In just the nick of time I have managed to sell my house in order to downsize. Now unemployed, a mixture of health and age reasons.

Anyhow I move out in 10 days time but the B...dy fence (approx 15 ft section) blew over last night, it is now propped up and looks `normal` from my side. I would normally do the repair myself but with packing up the house dont have time, and I cant afford to get someone to do it. I dont think my house insurance covers.

Any thoughts on my legal position if I just leave as is for the new tennants. Its not something I am happy about but I am in a corner with the time window I have.

[Tim W]

Everybody always leaves rubbish in the garage, shit in the spare room, takes out the light bulbs, treads mud through the hall and stairs....

Even if you specifically said you would repair the fence, you get to midday Saturday and you are 'completing', unless they come round to inspect (and they won't because they are in a flap trying to move out of their own old place), it goes past twelve and it's done, it's their house, their problem, no comeback and you just walk away - buyer beware is what they say. It is perfectly normal, don't worry about it. You are more considerate and honourable than the rest of the world, feel good about it, don't let it bother you.

Tim W

[Tim Watts]

Yep - I wouldn't worry about this eithe - just unlucky, but so trivial that I don't think anyone would care.

Could always be nice by leaving some tea/coffee/sugar and a couple of bog rolls in the house (and lightbulbs!) when you leave - that will be so appreciated that they'll be less inclined to start whining about the fence.

[Peter Crosland]

Once you have exchanged contracts it is for the buyer to insure the property. Unless you were negligent in some way then you have no liability. Nevertheless it would be courteous to mention it to the buyer.

Peter Crosland

[Adrian]

"SS" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

For me, the golden rule in these situations is to reverse the positions. If you were buying, and found that the seller had left that situation for you, what would you think?

[Mark]

Yes. Just apologise and explain you did not have time to fix it.

Better than one house I bought where the electric shower literally exploded the first time I tried to have a shower.

[jgharston]

Surely it would be the (new) owner's responsibility, not the tenants'?

JGH

[Owain]

Could you offer to go round and repair it in a few weeks' time for the new owners?

Owain

[Tabby]

If you do they'll interpret that as an admission of liability, and when you discover the fence foundations are inadequate and its beyond you to put new posts in, they'll then sue you for a vastly inflated professional job, plus all sorts of questionable consequences of not having a decent fence, plus costs, including assorted dubious expert opinions. Dont make the mistake of interpreting this as just a joke.

NT

[Tim Watts]

Agree - it is better not to be too helpful...

[SS]

Well fate is kind of helping, the adjoining neighbour has already asked someone to have a look at the fence (unknown to me at time of posting) I offered to shore it up until better weather. Neighbour doesnt know I am leaving. Neighbour stated as he is going away (today) for 2 weeks he cant get guy to look at fence until after then, almost to the day I depart. So my question now is.... Do I just go or do I leave a note for new owners stating fence loose but neighbour dealing with it.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Who does the fence belong to?

[jgharston]

You could leave a note saying the neighbour is going to replace /his/ fence.... ;)

JGH

[Tim Streater]

Have you exchanged contracts? Not your responsibility if so - and

*particularly* so if the fence blew over *after* you exchanged. But I think someone else alluded to this already.

[Frank Erskine]

In _Real Life_ a fence (or a hedge or a wall) is presumably to separate one household from another so it makes total sense that both parties should be equally responsible for its provision and upkeep. Certainly in my case the deeds specify joint responsibility. It can be a little complicated when perhaps a tenth or so of a bit of fence appears to be owned by a near neighbour sort of diagonally opposite, but it's surely possible to come to a gentlemen's agreement when repairs are necessary.

In the case of an owner about to leave the arrangement (move!) it still makes sense for him to contribute to the scheme of things until the "bitter end". Heck, we aren't exactly talking "loads of dosh", are we?

[Jethro]

When we bought our house, we made a cup of tea, went to wash up, and the ****ing sink had a massive crack. It was then we remembered that when we viewed the house, we went to give the cups a wash (being good guests) and were almost flattened as the vendor rushed in and took them off us ...

Could have been an expensive job, but as luck had it, the electrician we hired to put some wall lights in had a brand new sink in his garage. Turned out he had a fitted kitchen a while back, and they had ordered the wrong sink, which was easier to leave behind, than exchange. Paid =A320 for it !

[Andy Champ]

It might make sense, but these rules were written by lawyers. Who of course have a vested interest in making sure ordinary people can't understand them and need to pay for professional assistance.

I own the fence on 3 sides of my plot. The fourth (longest one, and the side of a rectangular plot) is shared between the three plots that back onto it. It's all marked with T on the land registry docs.

Andy

[Tim Streater]

We still need to know when/if the OP has exchanged contracts yet.

No, it's quite simple in this case. If you own the fence it's up to you to get it fixed. If the neighbour who owns the fence refuses to fix it, you can put your own up. In the OP's case, it's gonna hinge on whether he's exchanged yet or not. If he has, it's no longer his business. If he hasn't (exchanging and completing on the same day), *and* he owns the fence, then it's his business to fix it before leaving.

Any sort of agreement is about boundaries - physical in this case. Only a fool, IMO, leaves these things to chance, expecting that when a problem occurs it can be sorted out in a gentlemanly way. No. You nail it down ahead of time so that you've both got something to refer to when the time comes.

[Andrew]

In message , Frank Erskine writes

No, the land registry entry will indicate who owns which boundary and this is usually the left hand one when you look out of your back door.

If the boundary is marked by a chainlink fence the posts are on the side of the boundary owner. If either party builds a wall or installs slotted fence posts then these do NOT straddle the boundary, they are wholly installed on one side or the other of where the boundary line is.

Only party walls can straddle a boundary.

[Andrew]

In message , Tim Streater writes

But make sure it is wholly contained on your side of the boundary.