Seems unlikely - but I have a good fence to the end and left that I own and maintain. The property to most of the right is also well maintained by the neighbour. But the far end 6- 8 feet is another property and today that part was bending in sympathy with the child bouncing on the trampoline. I politely pointed out that it would soon break if something wasn't changed.
I got a bit of abuse - and was told it was not my fence!
Agreed - but if it falls then do I have any reasonable entitment to require it to be replaced for my privacy and security?
Many people might say you have a reasonable entitlement. But say you don't have a /legal/ right to require your neighbour to do anything. (Well, leaving aside exceptions such as your neighbour keeping livestock that might wander without the fence.)
You don't even have right to repair the fence yourself. But if it's dangerous you can report it to the council.
Almost certainly not - there may be a covenant (which could be challenging to enforce) but in most cases you can't require someone to maintain their fence. But you are quite entitled to build your own fence, on your own land, even if it's right next to theirs.
Depends on your deeds and local conventions. Lawyers love these things, in the end its often cheaper to take six inches off your land and build your own fence then if they damage that its criminal damage. Brian
My house has a requirement in the deeds to maintain a fence, hedge or wall on the boundaries - and as it is leasehold (only £6 every six months and no other conditions other than maintaining a property of a rental value of a few tens of pounds per year on the land), not even a requirement to ask when making changes, it does mean that the leasing company might well be interested, to stop their land being taken by someone else.
Neither party may "lean goods against it". You can't lean the wheel barrow up against the fence. You can't put 20 ton of fill up against the fence "because it's me-property".
Neither can you use it for structural loads. You can't tie your elephant to it.
In the event of disagreement, you phone bylaw enforcement. You phone up, they take the description, and decide whether there is an enforceable offense of a safety issue requiring another level of government (police or fire).
There is the usual structure clearance requirement. The sheds on either side of the fence, are three feet from it. Whether they're steel or wood.
I don't know what the rules are, for building parallel structures, so you can have a "me-fence". Something must control that, or there'd be more of it about. Building a parallel fence, would prevent the neighbour from "properly maintaining" their fence. But I don't know what diplomatic language they use for that. Board fences need to be painted or maintained to a certain standard. Just as there are bylaws regarding "junk in the back yard". The gentleman who stored wood pallets on edge, until they filled his back yard, the fire officials had words with him.
The purpose of Bylaw Enforcement, is to keep peace in the valley. Precisely so you won't have to argue with the neighbour.
Leaseholds are a different matter - lease conditions are enforceable as (in theory) the freeholder can terminate your lease if you don't comply. In practice it's unlikely to come to that, but the threat of losing your house and all the money you paid for it is quite an incentive. Doubly so if you have a mortgage, as the lender won't allow you to lose their security like that and will intervene to either force you to sort it our or repossess the house so they can do it themselves.
Covenants on freehold land are not so straightforward. I said "challenging" not "impossible" to enforce - it would need a court case, and there's a lot of non-obvious catches that can mean the case fails if you don't have everything perfect. It's a good idea to comply with covenants in case someone tries enforcing them on you, but I wouldn't
*rely* on being able to enforce them against someone else. But I'm an amateur, if it matters consult a lawyer (and be prepared to spend a lot).
In the UK the land registry shows the boundaries and also indicates who owns which boundary with "T" marks. A T mark on the side of the boundary inside property A, says that the owner of property A has the *right*, but not the obligation to erect a boundary fence, wall or structure.
This is a boundary fence/wall/structure and it cannot cross the boundary. One of the common mistakes that owners of Property B make is to assume that half the fence etc is on 'their' side. If correctly installed all parts of the fence/wall are on the land owned by property A. The owner of property B has no right to interfere with it. If a wind blows the fence down, the owner of property B cannot enforce its reinstatement (unless there are covenants). The owner of property B can usually install his own fence but it must be located entirely on the land of Property B.
If there is a shared boundary structure the land registry will show T marks on both sides (so looks like an H mark).
Party walls can cross boundaries and typically separate houses joined as semis or in a terrace. These are covered by an act of Parliament which has teeth. It also applies to floors and ceilings in flats or appartment. Boundary walls are only 'protected' by common law and getting legal redress for a boundary wall is a lot more troublesome than dealing with a dispute over a party wall.
Covenants can prevent rather than require the owner doing something. Which is why flats are (almost always) leasehold, it is the only way to bind everybody to maintain common parts etc
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