Who should pay for repair to fence?

A question about : Who should pay for repair to fence?

Hi

We are responsible for the fence between us and our neighbours. Some years ago they asked if they could remove our fence and replace it with one of their choosing to which we agreed. In the recent storms several panels and one post have fallen and broken and they are expecting us to pay for the repairs.

Our argument is that they own the actual fence and chose the design (a lattice panel that was not very strong) and maybe our old fence would have withstood the storms. I know this can't be proven but there you go

They want it to be repaired asap, however it doesn't bother us as we never use the garden anyway and, due to the amount of work in the area from the storms, fence repairs have doubled in price!

Best answers:

• I would assume if your deeds say that the boundary is yours to maintain etc, but neighbours bought the fence, that you are still liable to pay for the replacement of the damaged panels - and to your specification that you desire.
  However, perhaps you could come to an agreement that you split the costs 50% if they want the similar fencing put back in - otherwise if you are going to pay 100% you put in what the heck you want
  This Garden Law site and forum may help you a bit better though.
• Ignore them, if they want a fence that badly then they will pay for it to be replaced. In my personal opinion, all fences should be shared responsibility. makes it easier all round. There is no way that you can be made to repair/replace the fence, even if it is your responsibility on the deeds. I would think that you only need to specify where the boundary line actually is, and that can easily be done with a few marker posts.
• My 2 immediate neighbours and I share the cost of fencing. One side's fence was badly damaged by "my" ivy. After I stripped it off and pulled it up the fence obviously needed replacing. So I paid for the panels and my neighbours ordered them, had them delivered and fixed them in place. I disposed of the old stuff (a few runs to the dump).
  The other neighbours ran a pet rabbit refuge and they (the bunnies) made a terrible mess of the fencing baseboard (my fence). We paid half each for the materials and my neighbour paid for someone to help him fix it all and took away the old stuff.
  I am so lucky with all the neighbours down our road and it makes life so much easier when you can negotiate this way to everyone's satisfaction.
• Fencing is one of the simpler DIY jobs - buy fence; posts* and postcrete. Remove old fence and posts. Put posts on old hole; make sure the post is vertical add postcrete; sure the post is vertical; slowly add water to postcrete as per instructions on bag wait three days for it to set attach new fence to posts.
  *I use concrete spurs so the hole never has to be dug again.