Storm Austen came through on Friday 23 October, and by Saturday morning plenty of SE London back gardens had a fence lying flat across the grass. You’re on one side of the gap and next door is on the other. Somebody digs out the deeds, unfolds the plan, and there’s no little T drawn anywhere on it.
This guide answers which side of the fence is mine for South East London terraces, and who books the replacement when nobody’s paperwork says.
The short answer: there is no left-or-right rule. Check your title register and plan from HM Land Registry first. Most Victorian terraces have no T-mark, and a fence the paperwork is silent on is usually treated as shared, so the fair default is to split the replacement 50/50. Our garden fencing cost guide for South East London shows what a new panel costs today.
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What’s in this guide
- Which Side of the Fence Is Mine? Start With the Land Registry Title Plan
- Why Victorian Terraces in South East London Rarely Have a T-Mark
- The “Rails Face You” Rule for Back Garden Fences, and Why It Often Fails
- Which Side of the Fence Is My Responsibility When the Paperwork Is Silent?
- Who Replaces the Fence After Storm Austen?
- Which Side of the Fence Is Mine in a Council House?
- What Our Fencers Check on Site Before Anyone Pays
- Fence Ownership on South East London Streets: Brockley, Catford and Beyond
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How Our Services Can Help
- Posts You Might Like
Which Side of the Fence Is Mine? Start With the Land Registry Title Plan
Your title has a register, the written page, and a title plan, the map with your plot outlined in red. HM Land Registry charges £7 for an online copy of each, which is their fee, not our rate.
Read the register first. HM Land Registry’s boundaries guide (Practice Guide 40, Supplement 3) says it only records who owns or maintains a fence when the old deeds mentioned it. Then look along each boundary on the plan. A small T on one side points to the owner. A T on both sides, which looks like an H, means you share it.
The plan won’t show the exact line. The same guide says the great majority of titles show only “general boundaries”, a rough line on an Ordnance Survey map.
Why Victorian Terraces in South East London Rarely Have a T-Mark
Victorian terraces changed hands on paper conveyances for decades before HM Land Registry registered them. At first registration, a T-mark or a fencing duty only carried across if that old conveyance spelled it out. Plenty said nothing about fences, which is why your plan can be blank on every side.
If yours is blank, ask the conveyancer who handled your purchase for the old conveyance. It may contain a covenant, a written promise to keep a fence in repair. A covenant gives someone the repair job. It doesn’t make them the owner.
The “Rails Face You” Rule for Back Garden Fences, and Why It Often Fails
The rule of thumb says whoever put the fence up kept the posts and rails on their side, so if you’re looking at rails, it’s probably yours.
On SE London back fences it breaks down fast. Panels get replaced one at a time over decades, by different households, so one run can flip halfway down the garden. Solid fence panels made of overlapping boards on concrete posts look almost the same from both sides. Practice Guide 40 says there is no legal foundation for judging ownership by how a fence was built.
Which Side of the Fence Is My Responsibility When the Paperwork Is Silent?
When nobody can show otherwise, Practice Guide 40 says the boundary is generally treated as shared. History is then your best evidence: who paid for the last fence, and who has painted it.
| What you find | What it tells you | How much it counts |
|---|---|---|
| A T on your side, explained in the deed | You own and maintain it | Strong |
| A T on both sides (an H) | You share it | Strong |
| A covenant to maintain in an old conveyance | Who repairs it, not who owns it | Strong for repairs |
| Receipts showing one household paid for the last fence | That household treated it as theirs | Good |
| Posts and rails on your side | Who probably put it up | Weak |
| It’s on your left as you face the house | Nothing | None |
Treat this as a starting point for a chat over the gap, not legal advice. If you can’t agree, a conveyancer or boundary surveyor can read the old deeds properly. Once you do agree, put it in writing and keep it with the deeds.
Who Replaces the Fence After Storm Austen?
Owning a fence and being to blame for it are different questions. The Met Office put London and South East England under a yellow wind warning for 23 October. Storm damage is nobody’s fault, so the owner pays, or you share it if the fence is shared.
Check your home insurance first, because many buildings policies leave fences out of storm cover. And you can’t take down a neighbour’s fence without their agreement. For the first hours after a blow-down, follow our guide on what to do when a garden fence blows down.
The replacement can go up to 2 metres in a back garden without planning permission, or 1 metre next to a road used by vehicles, under Class A of the General Permitted Development Order 2015.
Which Side of the Fence Is Mine in a Council House?
If you rent from the council, your tenancy agreement and the council’s fencing policy decide it. In a 2025 Housing Ombudsman case, Royal Greenwich said it repairs or replaces fences only where they join public land, leaving the rest to residents. Ask your housing team in writing before you pay anyone.
A fence backing onto a railway or council land is covered in our guide to fences on a railway or council boundary in SE London.
What Our Fencers Check on Site Before Anyone Pays
Before either neighbour spends a penny, Tilyo or one of our fencers, Deni or Bobby, walks the whole run and checks:
- Which side the old posts and concrete sit on. Old post stumps often show where the first fence stood.
- How the posts failed. A post snapped at ground level was rotten. Concrete that rocked loose was moved by London clay, which swells in wet winters and shrinks in dry summers. Our screwdriver test for a leaning fence post explains the difference.
- Whether a brick wall sits under the fence. A masonry garden wall on both owners’ land is a “party fence wall” under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, which can mean serving notice. Timber fences aren’t covered.
- The old height, so the new run stays inside 2 metres.
You both get photos and one written quote covering materials, labour, posts and concrete. Waste disposal is priced separately and confirmed with you before we take anything.
Want someone neutral to look at the posts before you agree a split?
Send us photos of the damaged fence for a reply within 24 hours →
Fence Ownership on South East London Streets: Brockley, Catford and Beyond
In Brockley SE4, long narrow Victorian gardens mean long fence runs, so a storm can take several panels at once. Brockley also has an Article 4 direction. Lewisham Council says new boundary walls, fences and gates seen from the street there need planning permission, as they do in Telegraph Hill and Ladywell.
In Catford SE6, terraced gardens are smaller and many have no side gate. Every panel and bag of concrete comes through somebody’s hallway, so agree whose before the day.
The full list of SE, BR and DA postcodes our fencers cover is on our areas we cover page for South East London.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who gets the bad side of the fence?
By custom, whoever puts the fence up keeps the rails on their side. It’s a courtesy, not a law, and it doesn’t prove ownership.
What is the highest fence you can have between neighbours?
In a back garden, 2 metres without planning permission, or 1 metre next to a road used by vehicles. In Lewisham’s Article 4 areas, such as Brockley, a new fence seen from the street can need permission at any height.
Is the left side fence mine?
Not by any rule. Ownership comes from your deeds, a T-mark the deed explains, or who has looked after the fence.
How can I tell who the fence belongs to?
Buy the title register and plan from HM Land Registry and look for T-marks. If both are silent, ask your conveyancer for the old conveyance, then compare who paid for past repairs.
Can I replace a shared fence if my neighbour won’t pay?
You can put up a new fence entirely on your own land at your own cost. You can’t remove a shared one without agreement, and GOV.UK suggests mediation before court.
How Our Services Can Help
- Garden fencing in South East London: storm repairs, post replacement and new runs, with a free survey.
- Garden clearance: broken panels and storm debris cleared at £85 per hour for a 2-person team.
How to Get a Quote
Send photos of both sides of the gap and your postcode. We reply with a photo-based quote within 24 hours, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm, or call 07760800457.
See our fence repair in Crystal Palace SE19, or meet the family team behind Urban Gardeners, based in Eltham since 2016.
Agreed who’s paying and want the fence back up before winter?
Ask Urban Gardeners for a written fence replacement quote →
Posts You Might Like
- Best Time to Install a Fence or Decking in South East London: Month by Month
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Related reading
- Garden Fence on a Railway or Council Boundary in SE London: Who Repairs It and Who Pays
- Leaning Fence Post in SE London? The Screwdriver Test Decides the Fix
- Best Time to Install a Fence or Decking in South East London: Month by Month (And When to Book)
- Garden Fence Blown Down in South East London? What to Do and How Much It Costs to Replace (2026)
- Paving Over a Front Garden in SE London: What You Can Lay Without Permission
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