Re: Whose responsibllity?


Peter Crosland wrote:
A stockproof
fence would have to be made of the appropriate materials. Before
you blame the owner of the horses check what if any covenants exist.


It is possible that the fence had fallen into sufficient disrepair
(eg rotting posts, etc) that it was easily damaged by stock. In
such cases it would not be appropriate to expect the neighbour to
repair a fence that you are responsible for.

Just for the record the four year old fence is generally in good
condition, it is made of 100mm x 100mm solid oak uprights with solid
oak cross members 100mm x 50mm (called I believe 'Lincolnshire
Fencing') the only damage is that perpetrated by the horses which
have variously eaten away much of the cross members by continually
gnawing at the wood, using the main posts to scratch themselves and
thereby loosening the structure and variously 'backing' into the
fence generally and pushing it over completely! This happens about
two or three times a month and we are fed up of having to keep
repositioning and refixing the posts (usually this operation take a
whole morning (4 hours or so) whilst our horse owning neighbour
merely looks on with disinterest!! Our plan is simply to remove the
fence and as the only function of the fence, as far as we are
concerned, is as a boundary marker we would leave a few uprights in
place giving the horses access to our property and ultimately the
road. This in the hope that the owners might take resposibility for
their own animals welfare... Any comments?

Not a very sensible course of action. You might end up being held partly
liable for any consequences. The fence you describe is clearly not
stockproof and is intended mainly for show or has not been constructed in a
proper manner. Have actually tried discussing it with the owner of the
horses? Have you checked in your deeds for any covenants regarding
maintenance?


How 'stockproof' is stockproof, surely if the horse owner demands
unconditional 'stockproof' then he should provide that at his own
expense? That would seem entirely reasonable to me? Horses weight in
at about 200 - 250kg. I guess, and it would take some serious (and very
expensive) construction to completely 'arrest' that volume and mass
pushing against any barrier! We did (last year) plant young hawthorns
every 15" or so but alas, the horses merely put their heads over the
fence and ate the lot (£60 worth of young trees). We have tried the
'reasonable' lets talk about it approach but without any success (we
just meet with arrogance and hostility) and on checking our deeds there
are no maintenance covenants, indeed we cannot even establish from the
deeds that we are the owners of the fence, it may in fact belong to the
neighbour in any case!! Peter, I do appreciate you taking the time and
interest in this matter... My grateful thanks.

Peter Crosland

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