Polygon
Well-Known Member
We have our horses at home and our paddocks have post and rail - no issue there. However, we rent an additional field from a neighbour. That field is separated from our next door neighbours field (different neighbour!) by post and rail. The posts are old (probably decades old, our horses have been in there just over one year, on and off) and several in the middle are rotten at the bottom and have snapped through, meaning the middle section of the fence leans towards our next door neighbours field (I've never seen our horses leaning on it but the field is slightly downhill so the gravity effect plus prevailing winds mean it leans away from us not towards). It's been like this all the time we've been renting the field. I have checked with the landlady of our field and she says the fence belongs to the next door neighbours, not her. However, next door is rented out. We've never met the actual owners as it's been rented out for several years whilst they were abroad. BUT, their tenants are having a shocking time with problems with the house and stables and have taken it up with their solicitor, and understandably don't feel like raising this additional issue with their landlords. I should add, the tenants next door have horses in the field with the problem fence. What should we do? Obviously in an ideal world I'd love the landlord next door to replace the fence but I know they won't. I don't have their contact details so would have to go through the letting agent. Of course we don't want to pay for expensive new fencing for a field we don't own - I'd prefer to spend the money getting our own fences upgraded! I believe that legally though we are bound to keep our own stock in (i.e. if they got through because the fence fell down, it would be our fault?) so I thought of putting up some wooden poles all along the boundary (on our side) with electric tape attached by those screw in things (so pretty reliable fencing) as it would be cheaper. But then I remembered there is a public footpath through both fields (rarely used), and the problem fence has a stile in it (not on the leaning part), so by doing that I'd be effectively blocking a footpath! Any ideas?! Thanks!