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Almost 15 months ago, the guy that lives in the house behind ours came round and told us he was having the fence at the back of our garden replaced the following day and asked us to not let the dogs out. He also asked if we’d contribute to the cost and I said we couldn’t afford to at the time but we would be willing to when we could afford it.
There was no discussion prior to him arranging for the fence to be replaced, and no discussion about cost.
The following day, the fence was replaced and all the labels have been installed with the ‘nice side’ facing them.
A week or or so later, they came round with a receipt for the cost of the fence panels and posts and told me our of the overall cost was £368 (for 6 fence panels, concrete bases and 7 posts). We were shown no receipts for the labour costs.
Again, I reiterated that we can’t afford to contribute at the time and would contribute when we could afford to but at no time agreed to the £368 (although we didn’t dispute it either).
A couple of weeks ago, he knocked on our door and got quite irritated when I told him we still couldn’t afford to contribute. His wife then contacted my place of work via Facebook, asking what we do when someone doesn’t pay what they owe.
I responded saying that I’ve not said I don’t want to contribute, and explained that the receipt that they showed us shows 50% of the fence visible from our side comes to £140. I offered this as a voluntary contribution and said that we could pay this over three instalments. I then asked for evidence of the labour costs so I could see what we could offer towards that.
This was met with a response (a week later) stating that if I don’t pay the £368 right away, they would issue a court claim against me and informed me I would then have costs to pay
I replied (rightly or wrongly) saying that my offer of £140 was now withdrawn and if they wish to pursue it through court, please do.
3 days later, they filed a claim with moneyclaim online which has now arrived at my house.
The claim states ‘we had new fencing erected between our properties of which there were 3 neighbours. He was consulted if he would make his contribution to which he agreed. This was June 2017. Despite asking for the payment even in instalments he has not refunded us for what we have paid out as agreed.’
I would like to fight this because firstly we never had any discussion as to the type of fence or the costings before the fence was erected and have always said we would make a ‘contribution’ when we could afford it. We have never specified how much we would contribute until the voluntary contribution I offered a couple of weeks ago and the cost of ‘our share’ is his assumption as to how much we should be forced to pay.
One would hope that you cannot simply decide to spend £368 of a neighbours money at your own will.
We are currently experiencing financial difficulties and finding it hard enough to pay our mortgage let alone agree to pay £368 for a fence that we never wanted nor asked for.
Any help would be extremely appreciated.
There was no discussion prior to him arranging for the fence to be replaced, and no discussion about cost.
The following day, the fence was replaced and all the labels have been installed with the ‘nice side’ facing them.
A week or or so later, they came round with a receipt for the cost of the fence panels and posts and told me our of the overall cost was £368 (for 6 fence panels, concrete bases and 7 posts). We were shown no receipts for the labour costs.
Again, I reiterated that we can’t afford to contribute at the time and would contribute when we could afford to but at no time agreed to the £368 (although we didn’t dispute it either).
A couple of weeks ago, he knocked on our door and got quite irritated when I told him we still couldn’t afford to contribute. His wife then contacted my place of work via Facebook, asking what we do when someone doesn’t pay what they owe.
I responded saying that I’ve not said I don’t want to contribute, and explained that the receipt that they showed us shows 50% of the fence visible from our side comes to £140. I offered this as a voluntary contribution and said that we could pay this over three instalments. I then asked for evidence of the labour costs so I could see what we could offer towards that.
This was met with a response (a week later) stating that if I don’t pay the £368 right away, they would issue a court claim against me and informed me I would then have costs to pay
I replied (rightly or wrongly) saying that my offer of £140 was now withdrawn and if they wish to pursue it through court, please do.
3 days later, they filed a claim with moneyclaim online which has now arrived at my house.
The claim states ‘we had new fencing erected between our properties of which there were 3 neighbours. He was consulted if he would make his contribution to which he agreed. This was June 2017. Despite asking for the payment even in instalments he has not refunded us for what we have paid out as agreed.’
I would like to fight this because firstly we never had any discussion as to the type of fence or the costings before the fence was erected and have always said we would make a ‘contribution’ when we could afford it. We have never specified how much we would contribute until the voluntary contribution I offered a couple of weeks ago and the cost of ‘our share’ is his assumption as to how much we should be forced to pay.
One would hope that you cannot simply decide to spend £368 of a neighbours money at your own will.
We are currently experiencing financial difficulties and finding it hard enough to pay our mortgage let alone agree to pay £368 for a fence that we never wanted nor asked for.
Any help would be extremely appreciated.
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