A bit of advice regarding a border fence

[Lacan07]

Hi all

The fence between myself and my neighbour is due to be replaced on Monday. Its there property so they've arranged the contractors.

Rather unusually this property, formally a farm, was built with the ground levels too high - up to and perhaps beyond the level of the interior floor. So in summer I lowered my side. Not that I think this makes much difference but the fence posts were the line of the border and the old corrugated fence had been attached to the back on there side. The result of me lowering the ground however means the contractors are going to have to use longer posts and double gravel boards and dig deeper and my neighbours are expecting me to foot the extra costs. They say I've lowered beyond the natural level. I only want to do the right thing and I'm happy to pay but have any of you wise heads any thoughts on this? It seems an odd situation.

This was the old fence before i dug the ground out:

 

[Cubist]

Why did you conclude the ground level was too high? Were you working to a guide based on the level of a DPC in your house?

If so then maybe someone landscaped/contoured the garden area incorrectly/badly. May be a bit of a stretch but if the responsible person were still in residence or, is perhaps the neighbour wanting you to contribute some hard earned, then they MAY have some culpability. In which case that could perhaps be the basis of some push-back/negotiation.

 

[Lacan07]

Why did you conclude the ground level was too high? Were you working to a guide based on the level of a DPC in your house?

If so then maybe someone landscaped/contoured the garden area incorrectly/badly. May be a bit of a stretch but if the responsible person were still in residence or, is perhaps the neighbour wanting you to contribute some hard earned, then they MAY have some culpability. In which case that could perhaps be the basis of some push-back/negotiation.

Hi Cubist, well the house doesn't really have a DPC (1800) although I've seen evidence of slate in various places. The original air bricks were below the ground level which was pretty much at the level of the interior floor, or even higher. When I first arrived I dug a trench along the stretch of the house but as it seemed to fill when it rained so eventually I decided to dig out the whole lot.

The suggestion is the property was built this way with high ground levels. It has no foundations and is built on clay with soil and iron stone piled on top, probably to help with drainage, but this means its above the floor line.

I can see the problem with the ground levels between the 2 properties not being equal, I guess I'm just wondering if you would be happy to contribute if it were you in this situation? Its an odd situation.

These neighbours aren't the best to be fair, if the roles were reversed there is no way they'd contribute lol. He knew I was digging it out as I'd told him. I just want to keep the peace.

EDIT; just to add the original survey had flagged up the bridging of the DPC and the damp proof reports commissioned by the seller, although obviously they didn't really know much about old houses.

 

[Kearn]

It’s a tricky one, that we will need to resolve at some stage - oddly also a farmyard once, but our side is about a foot or so higher, and the fence is shot and that’s our responsibility.

The challenge is I can’t bring our side down much lower, for many reasons, and it never was significantly lower I can only conclude that when the neighbouring house was built and the yard split, they levelled some of their side and dropped it. Quite possibly offloading some spoil to our garden as we have some odd high spots and it was one owner at the time for the whole plot.

They’ve asked how we can resolve their side at the base, and I’ve only researched to date. Seems either as you say, extra gravel boards or extra long posts and more materials on panels/infill. Things 6ft is the default height for fencing, so getting anything higher isn’t easy or readily available, and costs.

To be fair, the chap who owns next door and lots of other properties, can deal with his side of the border. My requirement is at least a 6ft fence. I can’t mitigate an historic height delta. However, what I do have a challenge with is securing fence posts on the edge of a higher plane!
Currently they, or previous owners of ours, have bodged a mixture of brickwork/breeze block and the cement post foundations are effectively above ground. I can’t give away any space to bring my fence inwards as this is a side passage, so will probably need to consider taking taller posts down to their level. Then let them add gravel boards to hide the soil, which isn’t ideal.

 

[Cubist]

Hi Lacan, sorry but I don't think I can be of much more help with this one. Unless there were some way of proving the neighbour was liable for increasing the height of your garden, to the detriment of your house, then there seems no other way than friendly negotiation.

One odd thing strikes me though, assuming the photo above is of your garden, there used to be a convention that when erecting boundary fences 'the nice side' was arranged to face the neighbours while the posts and rails were positioned on the boundary owners side. I've no idea if that was ever in any by-laws or BC regs but may be something to bear in mind with an obstructive/unhelpful neighbour.

Relevant Non Sequitur - Chap who owned the land behind our place grumbled about me hopping over a fence to clear some deadfall from his land that fell over the boundary fence, I thought I was doing him a favour. Few days late a couple of young cops arrived to tell me he was making a trespass complaint so I asked for the talkative ones Warrant Card. I got a call a day or two later from the then Chief Constable of West Mercia Police, an acquaintance of mine, to tell me he had sent a rocket in the direction of the young cop who had turned out to be my neighbours nephew. Ah the country life, more who you know than what you know every time.

Good luck with your boundary issue Lacan,

Cheers, Cubist

 

[malcolm]

It's common for ground levels to alter each side of a boundary. They built retirement homes behind my house in the 1970s and levelled the ground. That ended up lower than the foundation of the wall and half the wall had fallen over and been replaced by fence before I moved here. I rebuilt the rest of the wall with foundations starting a little lower.

I replaced the fence at the back using concrete posts with the length chosen to suit ground levels on the other side. Posts are available in various lengths. I used 2 gravel boards in height to get them above my ground level.

It would not have occurred to me to ask the neighbours for money. That feels unreasonable. The difference in costs is a bit of height in the fence posts and maybe some more gravel boards which isn't much of the cost of a fence. I didn't ask for money from the neighbour who wrote off their car driving it into the fence. It was me who had asked her to move it back a little in the first place for access and I wasn't very happy with that bit of the fence anyway.

 

[Lacan07]

It's common for ground levels to alter each side of a boundary. They built retirement homes behind my house in the 1970s and levelled the ground. That ended up lower than the foundation of the wall and half the wall had fallen over and been replaced by fence before I moved here. I rebuilt the rest of the wall with foundations starting a little lower.

I replaced the fence at the back using concrete posts with the length chosen to suit ground levels on the other side. Posts are available in various lengths. I used 2 gravel boards in height to get them above my ground level.

It would not have occurred to me to ask the neighbours for money. That feels unreasonable. The difference in costs is a bit of height in the fence posts and maybe some more gravel boards which isn't much of the cost of a fence. I didn't ask for money from the neighbour who wrote off their car driving it into the fence. It was me who had asked her to move it back a little in the first place for access and I wasn't very happy with that bit of the fence anyway.

Thanks Malcolm, I've asked my other neighbour who's builder and he's adamant he wouldn't pay anything. He says I'm just protecting my house by lowering the ground level. Like I said I'm happy to contribute if its not a huge amount, how much are gravel boards these days? I always assumed fencing wasn't cheap!

 

[Cubist]

About £20 for a 12inch concrete gravel board and £40 for a post.