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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

We live on the odd numbered side of Frobisher Road and were wondering if anyone knew which side of the back garden fence we're responsible for. We've tried to find the deeds to the house and can't seem to locate those and the Land Registry hasn't been particularly useful either. One side of the fence was badly damaged in the storms a few weeks back and we're trying to work out if it's our responsibility to get it fixed!

NOTE FROM SITE ADMIN

To summarise this conversation.

1. Side boundaries - owners are responsible for the fence on the Green Lanes side of the garden. For south facing gardens, this is the left-hand side as you look out of your back window towards the back of your garden. For north facing gardens, this is the right-hand side as you look out of your back window towards the back of your gardens.

This seems to be the rule across the whole Ladder.

2. Rear boundaries - for the north part of the Ladder (up to the north/odds side of Hewitt Road), the rear fence is the responsibility of those with south facing gardens (the exception being numbers 1 - 29 Hewitt Road where the rule is reversed for some reason).

For the south part of the Ladder (from the south/evens side of Hewitt Road), those with north facing gardens are responsible.

This information is taken from the maps held by HoL and produced by the British and Company when the land was first developed. 

Tags for Forum Posts: boundary fence, property boundaries, rules about fences

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I've now has a chance to look more closely at this feature and can see that there are a half dozen or so short rows that also appear to have back-alleys. Most are just three or four houses next to the Passage. However one row in Hampden appears longer and is not connected to the Passage.

It's interesting next to look at the mid-20th century (47-64) OS map. The Hampden back-alley has gone, but others have appeared that were not evident on the earlier map (probably because building was not yet complete). The longest visible stretch spanned fifteen houses between 31 and 61 Cavendish.

No evidence of any back-alley near your house, Nick.

Is the school on that map?

No. However, the lots where the school was later built are coloured pink. This means they've been sold. This is probably an indication that Hornsey Council had at this point acquired the land but had yet to start or complete building. 

Great, Nick. That saves me a task. I knew there was a good reason for my selling copies of those maps!!

A couple more points on the map. For whatever reason North is down, south is up. The numbers are plot numbers not house numbers.

Finally, here's the stipulation about fences printed on the edge of the map:

Hi Nick. What is this map? Where can I find it? Do you know if it covers Cavendish Road? This would be really useful for my dispute.

Thanks

Gill

We've been talking about this map, a copy of which Nick bought from me, but it just covers the northern part of the Ladder. For the Southern part, you'd need this map.

I had all the maps scanned at the London Metropolitan Archives.

I'll add you as a connection.

Oh, you are a connection already! Feel free to message me. 

Perhaps I'm reading it wrong but I would assume that on the map if the T sign protrudes into a garden then it is that garden that takes ownership. That would make a house on the north side of the road take responsibility for the north and west fences in the back garden.

We have north side house on Lausanne and the previous owners relandscaped the garden shortly before we moved in and replaced the left (west) and back (north) fences at the same time. Our neighbour to our west has always fixed the other fence without issue. When I look out our back bedroom to other gardens this pattern appear to be consistent.

As I wrote above, the map is odd in that north is facing the bottom of the map. I've checked again and the T for the houses on the north side of the Lausanne, (those on the right as you drive up it towards Wightman), have the T on the eastern fence, that is the fence on the right as you stand in your kitchen looking directly at the back fence in your back garden. They do not have responsibility for the back garden. 

Here's a small section of the map showing Lausanne. If your house is on the north side, it's towards the bottom of the picture.

That at least was the situation in the 1880s. I find it hard to believe that there will have been any wholesale change to the legal situation since then.

I'm not at all sure so you'd need to check with a lawyer, but I have a suspicion that use and custom may trump the stipulations in the original deeds. Can anyone comment on this?

You are responsible for the fence on the east/downhill/Green Lanes side so if your garden is north-facing that would be the right-hand fence.

If it's the back fence that's damaged that's for the south-facing garden's owner to fix.

There's apparently also a protocol that when you fix your fence it's polite to install the smooth side facing your neighbour - I never realised that before, I always assumed that in the absence of info from the deeds that the smooth side was probably your own (which suggests that historically people have not been polite!).

Quite right, Joe. I was being very south-facing-centric. Thank you for correcting me and clarifying the situation.

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