Can anyone de-code my Title deeds - who owns the fence?

Hi,

I have been trying to find out who owns our fences on both sides to our property.
I have contacted the Land Registry and downloaded the following info but have no clue as to what its saying:

(a) At its own expense forthwith to make along the boundary the property hereby conveyed or any part or parts thereof and any adjoining land of the Vendor not already seperated by a substantial hedge or fence and forever hereafter until such adjoining land shall become vested in the purchaser or its successors in title maintain (but wholly upon its own land) a good and sufficient stock proof boundary hedge or fence.
Your help would be strongly appreciated.

Thanks
Jayne

With the deeds to the property there should be a plan and on the plan the fences that you are responsible for will be marked with a T on your side.
Hope this helps

Paul

jlcartwright said:

Hi,


(a) At its own expense forthwith to make along the boundary the property hereby conveyed or any part or parts thereof and any adjoining land of the Vendor not already seperated by a substantial hedge or fence and forever hereafter until such adjoining land shall become vested in the purchaser or its successors in title maintain (but wholly upon its own land) a good and sufficient stock proof boundary hedge or fence.

Click to expand...

This translates to - the owner must maintain a fence or hedge around all the property boundary. This fence or hedge must be wholly on the owners land and must be suitable to contain animals ("stock proof")

There is a distinction between boundaries and fences, and fences on boundaries. The fence line is not necessarily the boundary line, and the owner of the fence is not necessarily the one who should be maintaining it as per the deeds.

The inverted T denotes who does have responsibility for the fence, but over time fences get replaced so ownership can change.

The inverted T only denotes responsibility for maintaining any boundary fence or hedge, but does not denote ownership of that fence or hedge

Also, moving a fence does not move the boundary

Thanks for your replies.
I got on to Land registry and they informed me that since our house was bought from the original builders in 1969, all fences are party fences and therefore "we should" maintance responsibilities equally. Now to see how my neighbour reacts!!!!

jlcartwright said:

Thanks for your replies.
I got on to Land registry and they informed me that since our house was bought from the original builders in 1969, all fences are party fences and therefore "we should" maintance responsibilities equally.

Click to expand...

Not correct. It will be in the deeds

e.g. We moved in 2004 , House built around 2002, and I am only responsible for the back fence, side fences are the responsibility of the respective neighbours. As advised by our solicitor when we bought and she had the deeds in front of her!!

IJWS15 said:

jlcartwright said:

Thanks for your replies.
I got on to Land registry and they informed me that since our house was bought from the original builders in 1969, all fences are party fences and therefore "we should" maintance responsibilities equally.

Click to expand...

Not correct. It will be in the deeds

e.g. We moved in 2004 , House built around 2002, and I am only responsible for the back fence, side fences are the responsibility of the respective neighbours. As advised by our solicitor when we bought and she had the deeds in front of her!!

Click to expand...

Erm yes correct, the lady at the Land Registry was reading from our deeds and I have since got a copy and she was correct.

Also remember that responsibilty for maintaining a fence or hedge is different to a responsibility to maintain the fence or hedge