Garden fence damage

Hi
I own a terraced house in an estate where the back gardens are seperated by wooden fences which are probably about 9years old (same age as the house).

The house next door is rented and new tenants moved in back in March. There are 4 kids in the house and from the moment they moved in they have been damaging the fence. We did have to speak to them one time as they broke a massive lump off the fence so they could come into my garden to get their football. The mother assured me that they would fix the fence but all she did was nail a piece of chipboard that the kids had been scribbling on over the biggest hole.

Eventually I got sick of waiting for them to fix it and said i would do it myself and went out and bought some wood, screws, nails glue etc.
I also had to buy paint ( I usually spray the fence but since the damaged parts would need to be replaced with fresher would I reckoned I would have to paint it by brush so would take 4 or 5 times more paint).

It turned out that the week I was about to start fixing the fence they broke about 3 or 4 more pieces off it so I got very annoyed as I had only gotten enough wood to fix the bits damaged before that week.

I mailed the management company asking them to pass on my mail to the house landlord ( I don't have any contact details for the landlord) asking for them to arrange to fix the fence, they did pass it on but the mail was ignored.

Due to the state that the fence was in and the amount of damage done to it, last weeks strong wind completely finished it off. Half of the fence is now lying on the ground.

I again asked the management co to get in touch with the landlord and stated that if my mail from 3 weeks earlier had not been ignored this would not have happened.

As it stands the fence is still broken and I have still gotten no reply to my mails.

Can anyone tell me where do I stand legally on this?

I am sick of looking at a broken fence and we are too embarassed now to have any visit us due to the state of it.

Sorry for the long post.

Land a

Go here
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2009/en/act/pub/0027/print.html#sec43

What you need to do is look at Sections 43, 44 and 45 of the Land and Coveyancing Law Reform Act 2009.

These sections are relatively new and most people are unaware of just how extenisve the powers you actually have.

You coud do this yourself or at least quote the Act to the Management Company and to to the Tenanants and give them notice of what you intend to do.

You could hire a Solicitor if you have the money or take a flyer.

I fail to see why the management company would have anything to do with the landlord over a dispute regarding the private fence between two parties to the rear of their houses.

Management companies typically look after the public areas of the estate including paths, green spaces, guest parking spaces and landscaped areas.

The landlord is liable for the upkeep of the house unless the tenant is there under a full maintaining and repairing lease.

The first thing you should do is contact the landlord and you need to ask the tenant for this information.

I assume the poster meant that the occupier was a tenant .. thats how I read it ONQ

Thanks for that link Wizard, exactly what I was looking for.

onq - since the tenants moved in they have been a nightmare. We have had (civil) words with them before regarding loud music, TV on all night etc.
Also I kind of got sick of the kids knocking on the door 3 or 4 times a week looking for stuff to be thrown back over the fence and the mother dropping over looking for cigarettes.
As a result the last time she came over uninvited I wasn't particularly pleasant to her ( I wasn't rude either) so don't really feel like asking her for her landlords number.

WizardDr said:

I assume the poster meant that the occupier was a tenant .. thats how I read it ONQ

Click to expand...

Me too

However I am assuming there is a private management company looking after the estate that takes direction from the directors of the management company, if you get my drift. If its not something they are responsible for they won't bother to get involved.

The private management company of an estate do not have powers that extend into the private rear gardens of houses on an estate, any more than the Council do if and when the estate is taken in charge.

As regards the landlord being a member of the management company, then the OP may have access to who the owner is via that route, but some estate companies are reluctant to give information to other members for fear of data protection offences.

As I said, the next job is to ask the tenant who the owner is.

MrOutraged said:

Thanks for that link Wizard, exactly what I was looking for.

onq - since the tenants moved in they have been a nightmare. We have had (civil) words with them before regarding loud music, TV on all night etc.
Also I kind of got sick of the kids knocking on the door 3 or 4 times a week looking for stuff to be thrown back over the fence and the mother dropping over looking for cigarettes.
As a result the last time she came over uninvited I wasn't particularly pleasant to her ( I wasn't rude either) so don't really feel like asking her for her landlords number.

Click to expand...

I see where you are coming from, but you don't have too many choices if you want to keep this low key.
If you have money and time to burn then over to you, but Chapter Three of The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 is a short route to the Courts.
Perhaps that is where this is going to end up, because your first letter was ignored and you may need to either ask the police community officer to call or start issuing solicitors letters.

I was only using the management co as a gobetween onq. Like I said, I don't really want to speak to the neighbour as they have been nothing but nuisances since they moved in.
Anyway I looked into it before and the house in question is not registered with PRTB. So if they don't get their finger out i will let them know I will advise PRTB of such

As another poster pointed out in a separate thread, this may not amount to much, just a letter looking for arrears and a demand to pay the registration fee.

A different result might be obtained by considering a referral to the revenue commissioners in relation to undeclared income.

But of course the landlord in question may be fully registered and paid up since your last inquiry.

Might be good to check before writing any letters to avoid the risk of defamation.

I think the management company would be in breach of the data protection act if they divulged information about the landlord.

Have you checked land registry to see who is the registered owner of the property?

Have you checked whether the landlord is registered NRP?

ajapale said:

I think the management company would be in breach of the data protection act if they divulged information about the landlord.

Click to expand...

It depends on whether it is a management company for an estate or just a property letting company. If the estate has a management company then all owners are entitled to a list of all members of the management company ie all of the owners. That would give names only, you are not entitled to details of non-resident owners.

As an aside, I don't understand why people don't report problem non-registered units to the PRTB. A quick email to enforcement@prtb.ie is a great way to get landlords to be more interested in their property

As I suggested in Post #9 above, referral to a body like that may not produce much interest, according to another poster - unless you know to the contrary.

Having had to make a third party complaint to the PRTB about drug dealing going on in a non registered property, I can tell you they were VERY interested.

What did they do?