Which Fence Is Mine? Working Out Who Repairs a Boundary Fence

There is no rule in England and Wales that you own the fence on the left as you look at your house, or the right, or any other fixed side. It is a persistent piece of folklore that gets repeated with great confidence and has no legal basis whatsoever.

Nor is there any automatic duty to have a fence at all. Unless a covenant or a condition of your title requires it, no one is obliged to fence a boundary, which is why some neighbours simply refuse to replace one and cannot be made to.

That means the only way to answer the question properly is to look at the documents for your particular property.

Start with your title plan and title register, which can be obtained from HM Land Registry for a small fee. Look for T marks on the plan: a T drawn on one side of a boundary line indicates which property carries the responsibility for maintaining it, and an H shape, two Ts meeting, indicates a shared responsibility.

Then read the register itself for covenants. Older transfers frequently include an obligation to maintain a particular boundary, sometimes described by compass direction or by reference to a plan.

Be aware the plan is indicative rather than exact. Land Registry plans show general boundaries, not precise lines, so they answer the question of responsibility far better than they answer the question of where the line runs to the centimetre.

If nothing in the deeds says anything, and often nothing does, then no one has a documented responsibility and the boundary is simply a shared practical problem.

As a rule of thumb, a fence built by one owner usually sits with its posts and rails on their own land, with the smooth face outward. That is a convention and evidence of a sort, not proof, and plenty of fences have been replaced over the years by whoever was willing at the time.

It matters for a practical reason: to erect or replace a fence you need to work on your own side or have permission to go onto your neighbour's land. If the posts are on their side, you cannot simply dig them out.

Which is why the conversation with the neighbour usually needs to happen first, whatever the deeds say.

Where responsibility is unclear, the common and sensible outcome is a shared cost. Both households get the benefit, both avoid a dispute that has to be declared when either of you sells, and the fence goes up quickly rather than after months of argument.

If your neighbour will not contribute and the deeds do not oblige them, you can still fence the boundary at your own expense provided the work is done on your own land. Keep it within your side of the line, keep the height within permitted limits and keep the neighbour informed.

We are used to these jobs. We will quote in a way you can share with a neighbour, work from your side where that is what has been agreed, and set concrete posts and gravel boards so the same panel is not down again next winter. Our fencing installations carry the same ten year guarantee as the rest of our work.