How high can an adjoining fence be?

JayeL

Have an odd problem that might be hard to describe, I've attached a diagram if it helps. Sorry for the length of this, btw!

My wife and I bought a two-bed townhouse 3 years ago this July. It's not a regular layout (I've certainly not encountered it in the past). Our place is within a big block of six houses; there's two houses on each side, all of which are only one room "deep" but very wide (33ft) and back-to-back, book-ended with larger 3-bed houses. As a result, these end-of-terrace houses have front and back gardens and the middle houses have only front gardens. And since we're around the "back" (cars are parked around the other side), we only have a footpath in front of us.

There's no fences or walls between houses; it's open-plan and there's no division in any way between people's gardens. But I grew up on an open-plan estate like that and being Irish, it's not long before folk want fences.....

Sure enough, our next-door neighbours came to me 2 weeks ago with a brochure. They're chipping in with the end-of-terrace opposite them for a fence and wondered if we wanted to go in with them too. For them, the advantage would be that they'd be getting a "back garden" i.e. a private outside area where stuff could be grown without fear of kids running through. The price, however, really put me off (€1,300 each plus labour) and while I was initially positive, a quick chat with my wife and we decided to leave them to it.

They had mentioned that the fence would be the same height as the boundary fence that separates our estate from the adjoining field, 1.8 metres. At the time, they said that was the height limit permitted by Meath CoCo without needing permission so I said nothing. But coincidentally, a nearby neighbour has constructed a fence just this week and frankly, it's hideous. The height is totally out of keeping with the development and rather than looking down a row of gardens from my front door, I'm looking at a big wooden wall (thankfully it's a good bit from our place all the same).

And now our next-door neighbours have started on the groundwork for their fence. They want to grow vegetables and have a place to sit out on without feeling conspicuous, which is fair enough but as we're north-facing, the little bit of sun we get is from the west in the evening, which will be blocked by this fence.

Apologies for rabbitting on so much, I'll just ask my question now: I know my neighbours are entitled to a fence, but are they entitled to a 1.8 metre tall fence without planning permission? And given that it's effectively adjoining our "front" garden, can they erect a fence of that height at all?

I suppose what makes it worse is that I'm a bit chicken; I don't want to fall out with my neighbours over anything as I grew up on a close-knit estate and feuding neighbours was unheard of, despite us living on top of each other. But then no-one would've dreamed of building a 6ft fence near their neighbour's front door.

Our neighbours seem like lovely people (on nodding acquaintance and the odd chat at the bus stop) but while we're not close, I don't want to fall out with them. I'd love to just quietly and anonymously bring it to the council's attention, just to ensure it's within guidelines. If it is, fair enough, I'll live with it. If not, then sin é.

Am I being unreasonable/unrealistic?

Paulw

My advice - contact Meath Co Co and ask their advice.

JayeL

That's the thing, the council appear to be flummoxed by it. The guidelines are 4ft max for the front and sides, 6ft max height for the back.

But this area could be regarded as the front or side of my neighbour's house and it's definitely adjoining the front of mine, the lady in the Council said it would be a "civil matter" i.e. we don't have a clue and never envisaged people building such crazy layouts in the county.

Just wondering if there's any other path I could take on this or if I should just put up and shut up for a quiet life!

Paulw

You could get the original development plans from the Co Co and see if there are any stipulations there.

It is a planning matter if the fence goes above what the authority allow, so it would be up to them to investigate before they can say that it's a civil matter.

Carawaystick

get the co.co. to answer your questions in writing. they'll always try fob you off over the phone.

Victor

I think a 2m fence is unreasonable like that. You could however, ask them to change the top section to frosted glass or something.

Be very careful about "going shares" with neighbours, you might get stiffed for more than your share.

A hedge is another option, one that you may have much less control over and indeed, you might end up having to cut.

I suspect the end houses get a slight raw deal with more people taking short-cuts through their gardens than for in between houses.