Fence problem. Need a little rant.

[Universal VR]

We have a neighbour who is particularly unpleasant. Loud, foul mouthed and aggressive. Their fence blew down in the high winds we had a while ago and they left it down for days. I had to take the dog out in the garden on the lead to do her business (they have a dog that doesn’t like other dogs and I was worried she’d go exploring). Eventually, he (or so I thought) repaired the fence. It seems not, he’d just propped it up somehow and his wife came round yesterday to say they were having it replaced but couldn’t afford to do it all and if we wanted it all done, we would have to pay for it. We declined their offer to let us pay for their fence! They’ve now had two panels replaced and it looks awful! The new fence is concrete posts and gravel boards, the old fence is wooden posts and boards. They’ve also put the new panels in back to front so we have the cross struts our side. On the old part, they face their side. Because of the way the houses sit, they won’t notice it because their shed and gate cover it. From our side, it looks really terrible. They are also not replacing one post which leans into our garden. I did mention it to her and she said they knew but couldn’t afford to go all the way along. I’m not unsympathetic and I’m sure if he was more pleasant, I’d feel I could approach them about it but I’m scared of him. All the people around here have had trouble with him and one called the police when he was particularly aggressive towards her over her dog. He either punched, kicked or threw something at the fence when my dog was barking out there the other day and yelled at me to shut my effing dog up. I’m too scared to go round there or do anything about it but it just looks awful out there now and I needed to rant about it!

[Disney_time]

Have you got any fence of your own (on that side)? Are you relying on them putting up a fence that separates the two gardens. While I wouldn't want to negotiate with these folk, by the sound of them, and also taking into account that you don't like their choice of fence, the fact remains that you still need a fence to separate their garden from yours.

In that position, I would wait to see what they put up, then put something up yourself to hide their fence. That way you know your dog is safe to go out by himself.

[Universal VR]

Originally Posted by Disney_time

Have you got any fence of your own (on that side)? Are you relying on them putting up a fence that separates the two gardens. While I wouldn't want to negotiate with these folk, by the sound of them, and also taking into account that you don't like their choice of fence, the fact remains that you still need a fence to separate their garden from yours.

In that position, I would wait to see what they put up, then put something up yourself to hide their fence. That way you know your dog is safe to go out by himself.

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They’ve finished now. It’s half and half, concrete posts half way with one type of 6ft panel and then the other half is wooden posts with different 10ft panels. I thought I might get some shrubs to put in and cover it up a bit. I have a lilac tree there but that’s not doing too well as it’s so shaded. I’ve been googling shrubs that like shade. I’m not very green fingered though!

[Lisa123wm]

Grow something up the fences. Put some trellising and clematis up, they’ll soon grow an cover an unsightly fence.
Other than that, put your own fence up too, but you’ll lose a little of the garden.

[lindylou46]

Don't know if this will help but l put a clematis in to cover my back fence about a year ago and it is thriving and has nearly covered the whole of it. I just trained it along the fence with cup hooks.

[Universal VR]

It’s an odd set up because they are actually behind us but our garden is wider than it is long so they are quite close. It’s a bit like their side faces the back of our house. The new fence doesn’t now meet next doors fence so there is a gap of about eight inches (they must have lost some garden somewhere there and next door have gained). The gap is between us and next door. They are really lovely but away at the moment so I’ve piled some bricks up to stop our dog squeezing through (she’s quite the Houdini!). That should hold until next door come home and he will be thrilled he has a job to do, he loves a bit of DIY. He replaced that whole fence himself a few months ago so now he’ll have to patch it. We replaced ours a couple of months back and the guy behind was all too happy to come round and have a go at us because he wasn’t happy with the way our guys had joined on to his rotten post. he told us in no uncertain terms what we had to do and our fencing guys replaced his post free of charge.

[Floridatilly]

Would / could you both not go halves for the cost?
We have had both side (on different occasions) blow down during bad winds. My husband always repairs them but any material costs are always split with the neighbours (free labour).

[Rac20]

Sounds like you live next door to my neighbour. Our neighbour builds fences out of anything he can find. We had our own fence put up as high as I legally could get it. Don’t have to look at his miserable face any more. If only they were sound proof.

[Universal VR]

Originally Posted by lindylou46

Don't know if this will help but l put a clematis in to cover my back fence about a year ago and it is thriving and has nearly covered the whole of it. I just trained it along the fence with cup hooks.

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Will a clematis grow in the shade? There’s a tree that overhangs about 8ft into our garden so it’s hard to get anything to grow there. I’m know we can cut it back but he’s so intimidating, I’m sure he’d have something to say about it. We don’t even go out there much now. It feels too uncomfortable and I worry we’ll do something to upset him and he’ll start yelling.

[Twin mummy]

To be honest, and I know this won't be popular, if I could afford it I would pay to replace the rest of the fence. We have a lot of fencing in our garden and weirdly our deeds say we are only responsible for half of one side (and none of the other side). We have gone halves with both sets of neighbours, even the ones we aren't responsible for. It means we have ended up with a secure and well maintained boundary.