What if my neighbour's fence falls into my garden?

Establish whose fence it is before you call it your neighbour's. HM Land Registry says in terms that there is no legal basis for the belief that you are responsible for the left or the right hand boundary. Its Practice Guide 40 is equally blunt about the posts-and-rails theory: there is no legal foundation for such beliefs. GOV.UK goes further and says that in England and Wales there is usually no record of who owns the hedge, wall, tree or fence between two properties. The register shows it only where the deeds dealt with it.

If it does turn out to be theirs, your hands are tied on the fence itself. Citizens Advice is explicit that you cannot make changes to your side of a neighbour's fence without their permission, and that includes painting it, so it certainly includes propping, screwing and re-hanging it. What you can do is clear your own garden. Lift the panels off your borders, stack them at the boundary, and photograph the damage and the post bases before you move anything. Then tell your neighbour in writing or by text, so there is a record of when they knew.

There is no general duty on anyone to repair a fence. Citizens Advice puts it plainly: if the wall or fence is safe and the legal documents say nothing about repairing it, it is up to the owner whether they do what the neighbour is asking. A duty to repair comes from a covenant in the deeds. The general law imposes none. The two real qualifications are safety, because an unsafe fence can attract action from a neighbour or the council, and an express covenant or fencing easement written into the title.

Where nobody can establish ownership, there is an official answer. HM Land Registry's Practice Guide 40 says that where ownership or responsibility for maintenance cannot be determined, the boundary feature is generally best regarded as a party boundary, and that any alterations or replacement should only be done with the agreement of the adjoining owners. In practice that means a conversation and a shared bill. Citizens Advice suggests exactly that, sharing the cost of a new panel and writing down what was agreed. A panel replacement at £85 to £150 excluding VAT, halved, is cheaper than a dispute.

If it cannot be settled between you, there is a ladder to climb. Buy the title documents for both properties from HM Land Registry, which costs very little, and read the register alongside the plan. If the argument is about where the boundary runs, Citizens Advice points people to a RICS surveyor, then mediation, then a solicitor who specialises in neighbour disputes. Only a court or the Land Registration division of the First-tier Tribunal can finally determine a disputed boundary. If you rent, hand the whole thing to your landlord.

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