We seem to have at least one serious storm every year in the UK, and the results of these storms are fairly predictable – old fences get damaged or fall down and neighbours end up disputing who is responsible for fixing the damage.
Working out who is meant to maintain which fence is not particularly complicated, provided you go about the process methodically and follow our guide.
The ‘Left Hand Side’ Rule is A Myth
Lets get this out of the way – there is no legally binding rule that says that all owners are responsible for the left hand side fence (or the right for that matter). Every property is different. You absolutely must consult your property deeds if you wish to know which fence is your responsibility.
How is Fence Ownership/Responsibility First Established
Most houses are not built in isolation; usually a larger piece of land is divided into plots and numerous houses are then built on those plots. The original owner/developer that creates these plots has the opportunity to make each plot owner responsible for a particular fence or fences, and they then insert a covenant into the transfer/conveyance of each plot making the owner legally obligated to maintain those fences. They don’t have to assign fence responsibility, but it is good estate management because, as we will see below, if they fail to do this it can create confusion later on.
The Legal Position on Fence Ownership
Ownership of and responsibility for fences go hand in hand. If you own it, you are responsible for maintaining it. Similarly if you are responsible for maintaining it, you are the owner of the fence. Your deeds will rarely use language in the context of ownership, and are much more likely to speak in terms of responsibility. The legal position is that a property owner is only obligated to maintain fences where there is a covenant in the deeds to this effect.
It is important to note that the title documents for your property will only tell you whether you are responsible for any of the fences at your property. They will not tell you whether anyone else (i.e. adjacent property owners) is responsible for any of those fences.
How Does The Land Registry Help in Determining Fence Ownership
I always think it best to remember this one simple fact: The Land Registry is simply a source of information on decisions that have already been made by owners/sellers/developers – it does not make any decisions itself. This means that there are 2 very important details that you need to keep in mind:
- The Land Registry does not decide who owns/is responsible for fences; and
- You may find that you are not responsible for any of the fences around your land, meaning you are not obligated to repair any of them in the event of damage.
It is not the Land Registry’s role to decide who owns a boundary structure, or who is responsible for maintaining it; the original builder/developer of a property decides which boundary features will be the responsibility of the property owner (if any), and inserts covenants into the deeds to reflect that. All the Land Registry can do is inform you of any obligations which already exist.
How to Determine Fence Ownership From Your Title Deeds
To see all applicable restrictive covenants, you will need the title register, title plan and any filed deeds registered against the property. You will get all of these documents in the Comprehensive Title Deeds package.
The particular provisions you are looking for can be written in any number of ways and may be difficult to spot if you are not used to reading property deeds. You can always ask us for help if you are having trouble finding the information.
>> In purchasing your documents, you must accept the risk that the your title documents may simply contain no boundary structure information and no maintenance covenants, so the only information you will learn from them is that you are not obligated to maintain any fences. As we have no control over the contents of deeds, no refunds can be provided where there is no boundary structure information and no maintenance covenants.<<
What it Means if The Title Deeds Contain No Fence Maintenance Obligations
Where a property does not have any fence maintenance covenants imposed, we would advise discussing the issue with the adjacent property owners and coming to some form of amicable agreement (which can be on any terms the parties see fit). It is then a good idea to have a solicitor record any such agreement in writing and file the same with the Land Registry so that future disputes are prevented.