‘My neighbours didn’t warn me they were fixing fence – my dog could have died’

A woman was confused over why her neighbour didn’t tell her that he was having work done and would be removing the fence for a few days – despite the fact he knew she had a dog

If your neighbour was going to complete some essential maintenance works on their property, would you expect them to tell you beforehand? What about if the work was going to remove your fence, and your dog could’ve easily escaped your property because you didn’t know? This is what happened to one woman, and she was baffled by her neighbours behaviour.

She took to Mumsnet to ask people would they have given their neighbour a heads up if they were undergoing some work which could potentially impact them. She was really put out by the fact her dog could’ve escaped if she’d let him out in the garden, and she didn’t understand why they’d not communicated anything with her.

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She wrote: “If your next door neighbour was replacing their fence bordering your garden, and it was going to take two days to put the new one in, and you had a dog, would you expect them to mention it to you?

“And if, whilst there was no fence up they put their ladder in your back garden to reach some parts of their back hedge, would you expect them to ask your permission? Or at the very least tell you out of polite courtesy?

“My next door neighbour has done this very thing, with plenty of opportunities to speak to me. Yesterday after the fence was finally put in they arrived home as I was leaving to go somewhere. They could quite clearly see I was in my drive and completely ignored me.

“I’m really not sure if I’ve offended them in any way, or if there’s been some kind of misunderstanding, but I’ve racked my brains and really can’t think what it could be.

“I’ve only spoken to them once since they moved in a year ago, and we had a polite friendly conversation. I can’t imagine they’re scared of me, I’m a quiet woman on my own and he’s a strapping muscly man. Is this the norm now between neighbours?”

People were quick to point out that this isn’t normal and is rather inconsiderate, stating that they should’ve let her know beforehand – especially because of her dog.

One wrote: “It sounds like he finds you irrelevant, sadly. Shocking behaviour from them, especially making your dog vulnerable with no fence.”

Another said: “Yes, they are being unreasonable. Sounds as if they knew they were being out of order and were too chicken to talk to you about it first.

“We have neighbours like this. They look down at their feet if they’re in their front garden and other neighbours walk past. Then they get their super-noisy drills and grinding thing for cutting paving slabs out on a Sunday morning. Every weekend.”

Someone else commented: “I think the taking down of the fence without mentioning it is fine, if it’s their fence they can do what they like with it. You having a dog is not their problem if you see what I mean. They shouldn’t have come onto your property with the ladder without your permission, that was rude.”

One Mumsnetter wrote: “If I came home, let my dog into the previously secure garden to find that a fence had been removed with no word of warning, I would certainly be shocked.

“I can’t see all of my boundary fence from inside my house, as it is a detached property with a lot of fence. Perhaps others have much smaller gardens and would know immediately or have seen the work taking place.

“Yes, my dog is my responsibility, but it should be neighbourly to communicate these things. It doesn’t require a certain degree of friendship.”

Would you expect your neighbour to tell you if they were having work done? Let us know in the comments.