I'll HUFF and I'll PUFF and I'll blow your house down

[strange_complex]

Oh dear. This is not the best way to start a morning's serious research:



I did go to bed last night feeling really quite nervous about how windy it was - though my concerns centred mainly around the enormous trees on the road outside, which I am often scared will fall over in the night and crush me in my bed. Happily, as it turns out no lives or limbs have been lost, but there clearly is now going to be tedium involving insurance companies and fence constructors. :-(

I've started the ball rolling this morning by calling the people who manage the adjoining property in an attempt to find out who is actually responsible for that fence: them or me.It's never been clear - you can't work it out by looking at which side the posts are on because they're in the middle, and I've been told conflicting things by different people who live up and down the road, too. The lady on the phone didn't know and said she would ask the owners, but of course when someone phones you up and says, "A fence has blown over: do you think it's yours or your neighbours?", any normal human being would obviously reply, "Oh, well I always thought it was theirs", wouldn't they? So I think I can guess what their answer is going to be.

Damn, damn and triple-damn.

Click here if you would like view this entry in light text on a dark background.

Comments

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's supposed to be the normal system, but I think the original arrangement down our street has been lost in the mists of time, and I suspect that there are some unfair ambiguities of the kind you describe going on. I really wish there was some kind of clear legal statement of responsibilities available, but I've scoured the lease for my house very carefully and I can't see anything of the sort.

[childeric.livejournal.com]

The normal principle is that you are responsible for the fences at the back and front of your house on the left as seen from your own windows, but I think that can differ with special arrangements or circumstances.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, but as I've said in my original post, I've asked neighbours about it and been given conflicting answers - some which agree with the principle you've outlined there, and some which don't. So I can't tell for sure what is meant to apply here.

[foxy76.livejournal.com]

Yes, and it can depend how much the neighbours actually care about maintaining the fences! My mum has ended up maintaining and replacing fences that are technically her neighbour's responsibility as they can't be bothered and she doesn't want to live without neat and orderly boundaries...

Good luck Penny, what an awful thing to wake up to!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

*nod* And in this case, since I am an owner-occupier but the house next door is inhabited by tenants, I suspect I'm going to bear the brunt of dealing with it, since of course the owners aren't going to care about it anything like as much as me. :-(