New House/Garden

Some of you may remember me and that I was buying a house with my girlfriend.. well, we bought one last November and we've renovated the house completely, everything back to brick and rebuilt (I'm a plasterer by trade) and next year I want to start doing the garden - as I'm chomping at the bit as I haven't gardened properly for about 3 years..

The garden is a decent size, the hedge to the right is easily 30 inches in depth... we will probably take these back at some point and have just a fence for now or replant a nicer hedge.

The only issue here is that the neighbours to the left have put all of their outhouses/sheds on the border as fences... so we'll need to fence right up to it.. and our garden goes further past the garage but the previous owner left a bit of space in front of the garage doors I guess to stop anyone blocking him in.. so next door got a garage and put the side door coming right into our garden which is annoying..

Fingers crossed it all goes alright! The greenhouse in the photo is gone now, as it was leaking and very old, but I've been promised a new one!

 

How exciting! I'd say, don't feel you need to rush into it--sometimes it's sensible to wait and see where the sun falls, which bits get waterlogged, what comes up in the borders, etc. etc. On the other hand, autumn will also be a great time for planting--bulbs, bare-rooted trees and shrubs....

 

Thanks all - we've had a quote for fencing, £3,300+ I'm not really a fan of fences, as I like the slatted ones but my girlfriend doesn't..



We've been weighing up buying some mature trees, which over time will look so much better and cover more air space.. even with half of that price we could get some pretty big/nice trees

 

Hi @kyleleonard - good point from @Fat Controller and @Loofah - the land registry documents should clearly show whether the boundary has allowed access - and anyway, your solicitor should have informed you of any right of access during the conveyancing. If it isn't you need to ensure that it doesn't become a right of way! As for the mixed hedge idea, it looks good if the plants are about the same vigour. I have one where I put golden privet, hawthorn and cotoneaster simonsii. Started fine, but the cotoneaster couldn't compete. Just needs a bit of care.

 

That slatted fence is 29 courses of brickwork high, therefore 2.175 metres high, and anything over 2m requires planning permission.

There will only be reference to any such rights at the Land Registry if they were on original conveyances prior to registration or if the neighbour has aquired rights by prescription [1] by using that door for the likes of access to maintain their buildings, or they may also have a right of access if both properties were in the same ownership and the neighbour"s was sold first without the necessary exclusions in the conveyance, plus these rights (if any) have been registered by them. They could be unregistered rights.

What did the vendors say about that door when you purchased the property?

 

UPDATE:

Hey guys! not posted since I last posted in this thread 3 years ago.

We decided to go with cladding, we used 100x100 posts, so we lost a few inches but it was the only way we'd have been able to cover next door's outhouses (over 6'6'' so no fencer would do it to this height).

This was taken last year during the process, took us about 3 days to do, we've now painted the cladding black, built a brick wall where the pallet is on the left of the photo and have a large (48m2) patio area.. we even have some plants! It's a slow process, but hoping this time next year the garden will just been plant-focused and no building work needing done.

Cheers!

 

Thanks @JWK, I'm going to try and keep this thread updated as a bit of motivation!