Whos in the right ?

If its 4 inches away from the boundary, there might be overhangs on the roof, like a gutter that could be over your customer's side, that might be something the Council's planning office would get involved with. Also did the neighbour have planning permmsion? I know that conservatories don't always need PP, but we did when we had one for various reasons. As most councils have online access to planning applications it might be easy to check and even look at the plans.

Boundary disputes are very difficult and this is more complicated because it's not you. But it sounds like the neighbours are taking advantage of an old lady which is not fair. Perhaps she has grandchildren who can be encouraged to play footie with a proper big leather ball using the fence as a goal?

 

I have a few, non-expert, thoughts on the matter.

As some of you have said, the first thing is to contact Planning at the local council. Boundary disputes must be a common problem for them.

If I remember correctly, even if the person's plans don't say which is their boundary it can usually be seen on the drawings. They always used to put an L shaped mark on the boundary. If the bottom of the L is facing your garden then that is your fence. It also showed that the flat side of the fence would be on the neighbour's side.

Having said that, how do they know exactly where the boundary is? The thickness of a pencil line on a drawing must cover a few inches of land :eek:

The conservatory is, presumably, attached to the house and may, or may not have required planning permission. This depends on whether the house has had any extensions in the past and the size of the conservatory in relation to the house. Even then, there are rules about how close to the boundary the conservatory can be. If the two buildings are detached then it is quite often the rule that the extension should be one metre from the boundary. To have it closer can require planning permission and if they did get permission the elderly person would have received notification of it from the council.

If I was asked to adjudicate the matter I would first try and do it in a friendly manner. The neighbour may have done all this innocently and not realised that they have upset the elderly person. Some one should attempt to have a friendly chat to the neigbour and bring them round to look at it, but first make sure that they understand what the elderly person really thinks about it.

Does the conservatory bother her?
What does she want done about the fence and is it practical?
Is it worth the hassle to cause problems through Planning and have the neighbour upset?
Would she be happy if the neighbour put a nice trellis on her side and helped with putting plants in to grow up it?

There are other questions that I might raise but they needn't bother if the two of them can reach an amicable solution.

Good luck