Hope someone can help on this one. I live next door to a housing association house, the only one in the road. The general upkeep of the house is poor to say the least. The main problem is the fence between there gardens and ours, both front and back. According to the mortgage deeds its not my fence. The rear is totally rotten and sharp peices of wood are falling into our garden, one panel is down completly and the front garden fence is being held up by there weeds!!

Not wanting to moan too much I called the association and they said the fences are the responsibility of the tennant, and if the decide to not replace the fallen down panel then there will be a 6 foot gap.

How can that be right?? they have a very scruffy back garden, almost like the Dingles from emmerdale and a scruffy dog which I dont want on my property. where do I stand cos the general upkeep of the house shows proof that they will not replace the fences themselves. Any advise as to what I can do???

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[Edited on 17/2/10 by stevebubs]

I live in a housing association house and that is a load of crap. Report it again and tell them they have 7 days or you will report it to the council. The law states in english, that it is the resonsibility of the owner where there is attached responsibility to a tenant. If it's empty, it's down to them. If it's occupied, it's down to them even if the tenancy agreement states otherwise. Give them 7 days, report to council, then local M.P. them small claims court, after all it is de-valuing your house.

More seriously - have you spoken to them? Offer of neighbour labour etc may help....

Amazing how many people don't speak / talk / even know who their neighbours are nowadays....

I have a mate who works for a housing association, on the maintenance side, it is generally the associations responsibility to maintain the property, but, some offer rent reduction incentives for the tennant if they do or arrange their own non specialist maintenance.

Still, in the end I would expect it to be the assoc's responsibility to ensure the property is maintained to a reasonable standard.

[Edited on 17/2/10 by r1_pete]

Have you checked the housing association website to see if its on there?? Normally is the Association who are responsible for external repairs of that sort so i think they are not being entirely truthful

Whats the housing association called??

Next time there's road works borrow some of the orange fencing and sling it across the gap, it should keep the dog out and alert them to your feelings about it.

I live (lived) mid terrace housing association,we suffered a house fire on the 13th jan

which has meant we have had to be rehoused. During the fire the fire brigade smashed down my fence

So they could gain access to the rear of the property.My neighbour also housing

Association has complained,they have been out and replaced fence.

Not even looked at my house to access the damage yet!!

I don't know what its like where you are (TBH I forgot to look aswell) but in the south east where there is a shortage, anything the tenent is responsible for will be given tight deadlines once the association is aware of the problem and will then evict the tenents if they fail to fix the problem. As above report it to the association and tell them your taking it further in a set period of time, then follow through.

I have not spoken to occupants as the guy who lives there is special needs and frankly and without offence would not probably understand whats needs doing. The association is Aragon and the town in Biggleswade in beds. I will report it again tomorrow but apparently the person who deals with it is off. They obviously hvae no clue as to the condition of the property otherwise they would have done something by now......

I wouldn't advise following through...

Can be embarressing..

And plays havoc with your Kalvin's...

just spoken to my father in law who sits on an association board in another town and he confirmed that the association have not resposibility to maintain fences, he quoted if a property becomes vacant the first thing they do is remove any fences that have been put up so they cannot be responsible for them along with any shed or garden bulding. Now Im right pi**ed off cos its seriously de-valueing my house as any potential buyer will take one look at the fences and walk away.......HELP.....

Can't you just repair it yourself..

And if you trying to sell offer to tidy their garden for them!!

Aragon linky dink

Scroll down to 'Your Responsibilities' and toward the end of the bullet points.....

Perhaps you can suggest that if their tenants are 'vulnerable' they may not understand the requirements and may require their (Aragons) assistance?

Fozzie

thanks Fozzie I was just looking at that. I think I have a problem here, they guy who lives there has his parents come to visit and next time I see them I will ask them to make repairs to the fence, I will also report to association as the whole garden looks like something from "stig of the dump". Hardly kept cultivated..........this is now really pi**ing me off so I'm going to relax now until I work out exactly whats best way to approach

If the guy is Special Needs then surely the Housing Association would have some form of contact with social services etc.

I think you'd be perfectly within your rights to request that the Housing Association ensure their client meets his tenancy agreement - which from my own previous rentals meant ensuring gardens were tidy etc.

Does look like a polite approach to resolve the issue with the Housing Association might be best - explaining why you dont want to approach the neighbour should hopefully get them to look at their files and see if there's any dept or family member thats taking responsibility for the tenant

ultimately if push comes to shove, whatever that may mean, to preserve your sanity and value of your property, you may need to fork out the spondoolies, whatever they may be, for the fence yourself.

such is life.

My Grandma was told that the fencing was her responsibility in her council house as the remainder of the last fence was a few crumbles of some old plywood. New neighbours came with a huge dog that left huge dog eggs everywhere so she asked them to go halves on some fencing, which they refused.
The fencing was bought and we put it up ourselves and the neighbours conduct lived up to this first meeting by trying to install a huge satellite dish right in front of my Grandma's one, blocking the signal and having to spend to get it realigned as the council still weren't bothered.
Anyhow, she died in 2006 and one of her last wishes was to return the house to the state it was in 40+ years ago, when she walked in. Amongst the things 'returned to previous state' was the removal of the fence. The neighbours went mad and called the police saying we were stealing their fence.
Not so though and we had a police escort out of the street after they called all their rubbish mates to come and swap insults. The council never said a word and the neighbours promptly burgled the empty house and trashed it after we had gone.
So, the point is the council/housing association do not give a monkeys chuff.
This story is one of many I have experienced by the way to support this claim including the one where a housing association I was dealing with through work told me to "get a f***ing life" after a drug dealing family was breaching their tenancy agreement by drug dealing and one getting locked up.

What you should have done is phoned the council and/or the police everytime the dog entered the garden, or shot it. My parents had a simillar problem in that the last people who lived next door left with a few fence panels missing on there fence. The bloke that moved in is a builder and one of the first things he tried to do was get my parents to pay him to fix his fence. He's got a dog and said about it coming into the garden (Our dog goes out on a lead to stop him digging his way out) and our solicitor said If we got three photographs of it, that would be enough to have the dog removed from him.

You don't legally have to have a fence, but it is a crime to cross into someones garden without permission. If the fence has sharp bits on it you might be able to get the council to inspect it and condemn it.